I sat down at the bar at the Rosen Plaza Hotel one night with Ken & Riki Russell and Ben McPhee. It was the World YoYo Contest, I don’t remember what year, and it was the end of a long day. We were all drinking beers and chatting about past adventures. Ken said something about some country, and everyone chuckled except me because I hadn’t been there. I think it was Colombia. Might have been somewhere else. But as soon as the gang realized that I was the only one who hadn’t been there, Riki said “Well, now you have to drink.”
I have always loved the idea of a bunch of salty old yoyo demonstrators bellying up to the bar, slapping their passports on the counter, and turning their travels into a drinking game. There aren’t that many of us, and we’re an odd, rare breed of yoyo player. We stick together, mostly.
So it’s with a smile on my face and more than a little jealousy in my heart that I present this video of my friend Hans, throwing yoyos in Tibet. Good luck finding a more thrilling or exotic example of where yoyos can lead you. This beautiful country, difficult to travel reach both from a travel and a bureaucratic standpoint, has some of the most stunning geographical sights and some of the most extreme weather in the world. Mired in controversy and steeped in tradition, Tibet has become synonymous with “exotic destination” and few tourists are even allowed to visit.
So, of course, the next time I see Hans…I’ll be drinking to Tibet.
