A sample of each type of Kip (Lao currency). 500 is being phased out since it's worth less than a US nickel. The largest bill, 20000 Kip is worth almost . Laos doesn't use coins but will soon have a 50000 Kip bill.

The Laos Unicycle Tour (LUT) of Jan/Feb 2006 consisted of 19 unicyclist plus a guide from Grasshopper Adventures and a local staff (guide, two drivers and two helpers). While we did have a major disaster with Ken (the unicyclist organizer) breaking his leg badly halfway through the trip, overall the tour was a great success. Even though there were only 6 riding days, those days were quite strenuous and covered nearly 500km. In addition, we had two back-to-back days where we climbed a total of 2800m.

These photos attempt to capture some of the amazing people and scenery of Laos as well as our riding experiences. I hope you like them.

Riding day statistics (GPS, heartrate, elevation etc):

Day 4, 59km
Day 6, 78km
Day 7, 95km
Day 8, 57km
Day 10, 107km
Day 11, 95km

Gallery pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 > >>

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Nathan Hoover > Jan 20, 2006: Our Cathay Pacific 747-400 sitting at San Francisco, about to fly us for 15 hours (!) to Hong Kong for the first leg of our trip to Thailand.

Nathan Hoover > The Mekong River in Laos, seen from 37,000' on our Hong Kong to Bangkok leg

Nathan Hoover > Our three Hunter 36s assembled and ready to go in Chiang Rai, Thailand

Nathan Hoover > Jan 23, 2006 - Day 1 of LUT. We take a bus to the Lao border. Tony passes out the excellent LUT T-shirts he's brought from New Zealand.

Nathan Hoover > Our bus at the Chiang Rai airport, to pick up Barry and
Nick's unicycles that were waylaid in Sydney. Rob, Thomas and Sid in front.

Nathan Hoover > After lunch, loading unicycles onto small ferries to cross the Mekong River to Laos.

Nathan Hoover > A load of unicycles and baggage crossing the Mekong. The flag on the boat is the Lao P.D.R. (Lao People's Democratic Republic).

Nathan Hoover > A sample of each type of Kip (Lao currency). 500 is being phased out since it's worth less than a US nickel. The largest bill, 20000 Kip is worth almost $2. Laos doesn't use coins but will soon have a 50000 Kip bill.

Nathan Hoover > Grace on her first ride in Laos, coming back down the hill into the town of Huey Xai.

Nathan Hoover > View from the hotel balcony including the Mekong River and Thailand

Nathan Hoover > Grace on the hotel balcony looking out at Huey Xai

Nathan Hoover > 6:30 pm sunset over the Mekong River

Nathan Hoover > The vegetarian table at dinner - our first sampling of the famous Beer Lao

Nathan Hoover > One of the great things about Laos, Beer Lao. An uncountable number of these were consumed on the LUT.

Nathan Hoover > 9pm - time for bed in our hotel room in Huey Xai. This was our first introduction to what I call "cardboard beds", stiff and all too common in Laos.

A sample of each type of Kip (Lao currency). 500 is being phased out since it's worth less than a US nickel. The largest bill, 20000 Kip is worth almost $2. Laos doesn't use coins but will soon have a 50000 Kip bill.