• Korea Hashathon 2024 - Day 5

    17 Eylül 2024, Güney Kore ⋅ ⛅ 32 °C

    It was a two-fer day. Two trails of hot and humid fun. First trail was the English as a Second Language H3. South Korean hashing has a strong military influence, but it also has a large international teacher community, and they love to hash too. The ESLH3 marks trail using the letters, usually in order . . . E . . . S . . . L. They also make their true trail marks with the letters. This was another excellent trail, very well marked, and fun. It rained off and on, but we eventually all regathered at the end, had a quick circle, then it was off to the train station to get to the second trail of the day.

    Trail 2 was a fun 7 km night trail with the Seoul Full Moon H3. One of the first trails I ran in Korea when I first got here back in 1997, was co-haring trail #3 with Running Bare (who I knew from Virginia) on the SFMH3. Always loved hashing at night / in the dark. Just seems to add to the mystery of finding trail. This was another excellent dash through the city, with a considerable amount of shiggy as well. By the time we all finished, had a quick circle, and started to head back home, it was getting late. So had a little trouble getting the train back, so just jumped in an Uber and made a bee-line for a hot shower. Had to do some late night laundry as well, since I am burning through 3-4 shirts per day with multiple trails.

    5 Day tally, now 8 trails (and one beer mile) for a total of 51 kms.
    Okumaya devam et

  • Korea Hashathon 2024 - Day 6

    18 Eylül 2024, Güney Kore ⋅ ☁️ 32 °C

    It was yet another two-fer. We started at 1500 with the Jeju Makgeolli H3, and a hot 5.5 km run in the sun. It was a most excellent trail with many great views over the city. We then rehydrated, transited to the next location, and prepared for the dreaded Seoul Team Delta H3. The STDH3 is a mini military operation, were you track the trail using hand and arm signals, or makeshift owl or other bird calls. This ended up being the best trail of the week so far, but only a disappointingly short 8.5 kms. 🙂 I just love hashing at night, and there were so many hill tops and view points to see Seoul in the dark. Good end to another great day of hashing.

    6 Day tally, now 10 trails (and one beer mile) for a total of 65 kms.
    Okumaya devam et

  • Korea Hashathon 2024 - Day 7

    19 Eylül 2024, Güney Kore ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C

    Finally, a day to sleep in, and only one trail at 1900. This one was straight up the side of a mountain in the dark, A to B, only 5.4 kms, but took an hour to finish with climbing all those stairs. Although Hashathon goes on for another 3 days and 5 more trails, this is the end of the line for me. I have a 7 am flight to Tokyo, headed to All Japan Nash Hash this weekend. More good times ahead.

    7 Day tally, now 11 trails (and one beer mile) for a total of 70 kms.
    Okumaya devam et

  • All Japan Nash Hash - Day 1

    21 Eylül 2024, Japonya ⋅ 🌬 30 °C

    We started off the day with a pleasant 3 hour train ride down from Tokyo to Izu-Inatori. After some fish for lunch, we gathered at the train station for an exhilarating 8 km trail through town, and then up the mountain. Nice temps in the mid 30s and very humid made for a sweaty afternoon. After showers and rehydration, we had an excellent BBQ dinner, then recessed to the reception room for circle. A great day.Okumaya devam et

  • All Japan Nash Hash - Day 2

    22 Eylül 2024, Japonya ⋅ 🌬 28 °C

    It had rained a lot during the night, and it was still raining in the morning. We looked on in anticipation of a WET day of hashing. The BB trail departed at 0930 . . . me, in my infinite wisdom, decided to slink back to bed for another hour and run the medium trail for a paltry 9 kms. It was mostly uphill, but not as brutal as yesterday. Although it had a few downpours while we waited to start, during our trail it really only rained hard for a few minutes during our 90 minute excursion. Dinner and circle followed, for yet another great day of hashing.Okumaya devam et

  • All Japan Nash Hash - Day 3

    23 Eylül 2024, Japonya ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C

    It was up early to hare the Hangover Trail today. SOMF hoodwinked me into haring with him, and it was almost a total disaster. He had scouted parts of trail yesterday, and deemed it worthy. When we went out to set this morning, the zoo staff (we ran past the local zoo), chased us down and told us we could not go that way (see the long out and back in the upper left of trail. So we improvised a trail up into the extended parking lot, found an old abandoned set of stairs going towards the back side of the resort, and bush wacked the last 100 meters into the finish. All in a days work. It was shorter than expected, but after the a$$ woopin' the hares gave us on Saturday and Sunday, no one was really complaining. 😆🤪

    Nagoya H3 will be hosting Japan Nash Hash 2025, details to follow.
    Okumaya devam et

  • Bangkok Harriettes #2180

    25 Eylül 2024, Tayland ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    I survived the Korea Hashathon and Japan Nash Hash (total of 14 hash trails over 11 days) and now back in Bangkok. Just relaxing for a few days before heading off to Pan Asia Hash next week.

    Excellent trail with the harreittes, we had a solid pack of 18-20 hashers. Our hare apologized right from the start, claiming that when scouted two days prior, trail was completely dry, but due to the heavy rains this week, that we had a couple ankle deep sections to navigate. We found them, and it was no big deal. Excellent, but extremely humid so gave up lots of sweat . . . good thing there was beer on hand to fill the void.
    Okumaya devam et

  • Bangkok Thursday H3 #457

    26 Eylül 2024, Tayland ⋅ ☁️ 32 °C

    It was overcast at the start, but all was dry. About 45 minutes into trail the skies opened up and dumped some heavy rain on us and mostly washed the trail away. I had to resort to zenning my way into the finish (which added a couple extra Kms), but it was a very fun evening on trail, circle, and dinner. Well done to our hare for the evening.Okumaya devam et

  • Bangkok H3 #2426

    28 Eylül 2024, Tayland ⋅ ⛅ 32 °C

    Bangkok H3 #2426

    I set trail on Saturday for the Men's hash. It was a solid 8-9 kms of alternating alley ways with sections of shiggy. I purposely set this one in the same general location as trail #1 back in 1977 to honor my friend Bill Panton, the founder of the Bangkok H3.

    I even wrote a sonnet for the pack . . . (RIP Tumbling Bill)

    Bill Panton set the first trail here,
    Promising shiggy and plenty of beer,
    But now it’s all city,
    This trail may be shitty,
    I’ll do my best so have no fear.

    It was 47 years ago last June,
    How have the years passed by us so soon,
    We still promise beer,
    So please have no fear,
    After dinner you’ll be over the moon.

    In a couple minutes you’ll be on the run,
    Hopefully under the mid-day sun,
    Keep that rain away,
    That’s all I’ll say,
    Now set off and go have some fun.
    Okumaya devam et

  • Pan Asia Hash – Main Event

    5 Ekim 2024, Malezya ⋅ 🌩️ 29 °C

    In a moment of over confidence, I went out for the Super Long Trail (a.k.a. Ball Breaker trial) at 7 am. We had a 90 minute bus ride from the venue, and we were off at 9. There were time cutoffs for each of 5 legs of 5 kms for a total of 25 KM. First leg was given 90 min (1/3rd of the total time), as it was the hardest. It was killer, starting with stringing out the pack with an uphill single file track, and continuing like that for nearly the whole 5 kms. It was some of the toughest trials I have ever done, and drained the life out of me. I got to the first water point at 105 min, but they were still waving us through. About 200 meters into the second leg, going down a slope I slipped on the mud and fell flat on my back . . . I immediately thought . . . this is a sign. So I walked back to the water point and got on a bus, in defeat. It didn’t matter, I would have been bumped at the next water point anyway, along with the additional 30 or so that were pulled off trail there. In the end, about 2/3rds of the pack did not finish. Makes you wonder what the point was to make it that difficult. Shorter and younger hashers did better overall, as there was a lot of ducking and crawling in the first leg. Anyway, I got a couple hours on trail for the day, and the beer tasted just as good afterwards.

    They gave out medals for top 3 male and female, as well as shirts to all finishers. The first hasher in was a local Johor Bahru hasher, 20 years old, and about 5’ 8” . . . he was in full beast mode finishing strong. Second place was 20-30 minutes behind him. Only about 10 finished in the allotted 4.5 hours, the rest that finished were out past 5 hours. I was not humbled by dropping out of the run, what I felt humbled by was meeting the first place finisher. His hash name is Shopu (translates to sex in his native tongue). After he finished, and had his down down on the ice, he was getting a drink and he turned and started walking towards me. I thought he was going to talk to someone behind me, then he came right to me and stopped, started asking me questions about hashing around the world. I immediately congratulated him on his run, and we started chatting. I mentioned something about hash history . . . and he said he knew me from my website and writing. Now that humbled me, a young hasher knew who I was. I rarely see any comments on my posts, so never know if anyone reads it . . . it’s the small things in life that impress me. On On
    Okumaya devam et

  • Pan Asia Hash – Hangover Trail

    6 Ekim 2024, Malezya ⋅ 🌩️ 26 °C

    After a hard day on Saturday, Sunday morning came around pretty quick. Fortunately it was not a 7 am bus, we only needed to turn up by 9 am for the hour bus ride out to the venue. We all arrived at the same location, and there was just one trail for all 2000 participants (I would guess that only half actually did the trail). After a brief description of trail, off we went into the jungle. This trail had its fair share of jungle, twists and turns, but offered a LOT more opportunity to run than on Saturday. And I was able to reduce my Saturday average of 20+ min per km, down to 10 min/km.

    The pack rolled in for the next hour or so, and we were treated to another fine meal of pork, fish, and other delights. After the hour bus ride back to the venue, a quick shower and on on to dinner and dancing the night away.

    Overall, huge congrats to the Johor Bahru Hash House Harriers for a very impressive job hosting PAN ASIA HASH 2024.
    Okumaya devam et

  • Hash House Harriers – Singapore #3219

    7 Ekim 2024, Singapur ⋅ ☁️ 31 °C

    Hash House Harriers – Singapore (Father Hash) #3219

    Traveled from Malaysia to Singapore today, and did not miss a day of hashing. It was only a 2 hour drive down, so plenty of time to check into a hotel, get on my kit, and off to the next trot. There were a total of 22 hashers on hand, with 5 of us visitors from Pan Asia Hash, and a couple others. The COVID era hit this hash hard, and numbers are way down. They stated they are lucky to get 10-12 at best these days. Too bad for such a storied hash club. It has been 25 years since I last ran with the second hash club ever. Last time was in 1999 for the 2000th run weekend, so I only missed a bit over 1200 hash trails these past couple decades.

    Trail today was an excellent mixture of jungle (hard to believe there is so much jungle right in the middle of the city, but they found it just for us), dirt paths, and a bit of pavement. The first mile included some serious ankle twisters. Once we broke out of the jungle, it was smooth sailing and good for stretching the legs as we dashed along. After an interesting circle, most of the pack went out for a fine Chinese dinner and a beverage or two. Good times here in Singapore. Next up, the Seletar H3 tomorrow.
    Okumaya devam et

  • Seletar H3 #2192

    8 Ekim 2024, Singapur ⋅ ☁️ 30 °C

    Singapore's third oldest hash, founded in 1980, the Seletar H3 is a men only club. We had a most excellent trail last evening, with a pack of over 50 hashers.

    Trail was just over 5 kms, but due to an unusual situation, I ended up running in circles for a while. About halfway through trail, we hit a check in the middle of an old parking lot. Trail made a long loop to the right, cut through a hole in a fence, then skirted a park just over a grass berm adjacent to the parking lot. It seems that one lucky hasher went over the grass berm and found paper. The rest of the pack followed, and created a path through the grass. Someone dropped a couple pieces of paper to mark the way, thus creating a dooolooop. By the time I came back around after finding the actual way the hares set, I came back to the spot the pack had trampled down, and turned up there, not seeing where they had gone. So after looping around in a bit of confusion, I finally figured it out and was back on track, albeit a long way behind. I eventually passed the walkers, and finished up the trail on my own.

    Singapore has some awesome shiggy trails hidden within the city. There are several old abandoned or torn down areas now covered by jungle overgrowth, so within the jungle there are staircases and various other old structures (lots of trip hazards too).

    The boys had a fun circle, with lots of comradery and singing, and all of the visitors were heartily welcomed. Included in the price of hash cash, was a full on dinner of excellent food catered on site.

    A great day on the hash.
    Okumaya devam et

  • Singapore Harriets #2573

    9 Ekim 2024, Singapur ⋅ ☁️ 31 °C

    Only three days in Singapore, and I successfully managed to get all three hash runs. Tonight I had the pleasure of running with the Harriets . . . although, only 3 of the local harriets turned up for trail (and one of them was a hare).

    It was a bit of a struggle to get the start info, as their website was not updated for today . . . but I looked around and found a FB group, and was able to find the start location in time. A pack of 13 assembled (2 hares . . . 3 visitors from Pan Asia Hash, and the others were a mix of locals and returners).

    We had a most excellent 8 km trail, with plenty of shiggy tracks through the local forests. Much like Bangkok, the humidity was killer and I was totally soaked in sweat within minutes. We had one point on a false trail, that the FRBs found a fawn caught in a fence line, so they diligently spent the time to free it, performing their good Samaritan duties for the day.

    As we trundled into the finish in the dark, a couple coolers of water and beer awaited us. Sweet!! After a quick circle (with a few of my favorite songs), we proceeded to a Thai restaurant for the après. This culminates another great visit to Singapore, and tomorrow it is off to Bangkok for the next month of fun in the sun. On On.
    Okumaya devam et

  • Bangkok Full Moon H3 #236

    11 Ekim 2024, Tayland ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C

    The Nigerian hared this fiasco . . . and by fiasco, I mean there were issues. Chalk talk at the start included passing out paper to the pack, to help fill in. The trail circled around the King's residence, yes, the palace. So our hare thought it was a good idea to not make marks while he was setting, and just let the pack take the hit if there was any trouble.

    The only trouble we had was finding trail after the gaps. For those that hung back on trail, and waited for the hare to point them in the right direction . . . all was well. But for the runners . . . now that's a different story.
    All's well that ends well. Zenning is a sport unto itself in hashing, and one way or another we all made it back. We had a good circle, followed by a rooftop dinner. Hashing is awesome.
    Okumaya devam et

  • Bangkok H3 #2428

    12 Ekim 2024, Tayland ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C

    It was out to the countryside for a near no-pavement trail by Ladyboy. We had 17 visitors in town from the Royal South Side H3 in Hong Kong. Trail was pretty much all rice paddies and mud, and very little hard top. Our visitors did not seem to appreciate such a trail, as Hong Kong provides a much cleaner experience. 🤪

    We were so muddy by the time we finished, that the restaurant that we started at (way out in the middle of nowhere) asked us to leave. We moved circle up the road, while our hare figured out a new place for dinner. Once again, the hash prevailed. Good circle, good dinner, all salvaged after an awesome shiggy trail. Well done Ladyboy.
    Okumaya devam et

  • Siam Sunday H3 #616 The skies looked omi

    13 Ekim 2024, Tayland ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    The skies looked ominous as we gathered in the parking lot for the start. It was a B to A trail, and we were taken by truck to the B. Just as we started loading up, the skies started dumping some serious rainfall. It was about a 10 min ride to the B site, and just as we started unloading, the rain tapered off as if G himself was looking our for us.

    The trail was almost entirely on klong paths, the whole 8+ kms. It was also a quite linear trail . . . but it was actually a lot of fun, and well marked. Only real problem we had, was when Drunken Donut got out in front on one check, and from the front turned around and said FALSE TRAIL. But the little sh*t was spinning a yarn. It was the true trail, and we made him pay in the circle.

    Circle was fun, and the rain continued to hold off. We followed up that with an excellent dinner, AND an evening of karaoke. Fun times on the hash.
    Okumaya devam et

  • Bangkok H3 #2429 Rayong Outstation

    20 Ekim 2024, Tayland ⋅ ☁️ 30 °C

    Bangkok H3 #2429.1 and 2429.2

    The weather forecast showed thunder showers all weekend, but we lucked out and it only rained before and after our two trails. As a matter of fact, it is nice and sunny out right now.

    This was our outstation down to Rayong, the main event trail was an awesome 10 km wander through some palm orchards. We followed that up with a great circle and an awesome catered dinner on site.

    This morning, we woke to more rain, but as we gathered for the hangover trail . . . the skies brightened up and the rain went away. We had three lengths of trail offered up, all along an elevated boardwalk through the mangroves.

    All in all, a most excellent weekend on the beach here in Thailand.
    Okumaya devam et

  • Bangkok Monday H3 #2130

    21 Ekim 2024, Tayland ⋅ ☁️ 33 °C

    Noriega returned to hare us an excellent trail on a Monday evening. Trail quickly found its way to some khlongs and then down a dirt street we found a water puddle in front of a chain link gate. Some of the pack were able to skitter their way through and keep mostly dry feet, but some of us gave in early and just plowed through the water and continued on our way. Crossing a few more streets, trail then passed through a temple area and onto another khlong.

    After about 500 meters along the khlong, we found a check under a bridge, and this is where things got hinky. The pack circled around in all directions, unable to break the check. Many eventually gave up, and found their way back home. The actual trail had gone straight down the khlong (but similar to the last couple times we ran through this area, some paper got cleaned up).

    All in all, a fine day for a fine hash run. Well done to Noriega, and cohare 4x2. On On.
    Okumaya devam et

  • Bangkok Thursday H3 #460

    24 Ekim 2024, Tayland ⋅ ☁️ 33 °C

    It had rained hard for a couple hours during the afternoon, but had mostly stopped by the time we met for the hash at 1830. The hare came into the start with a cautionary tale of how some of the streets had been flooded, but he had gone back to remark them.

    So off we go, and about 200 meters later, we have a large puddle at an intersection. Some tried to work their way around, but many of us had already conceded the fact that our feet were going to get wet tonight. It was not long after that, we turned left down a street that was flooded over, and for the next 200-300 meters, we were in anywhere from ankle deep to knee deep water. After this point, it was 'mostly' small puddles along this 9 km trail in the dark.

    It was a most excellent swim through Bangkok, and trail snaked its way through some interesting alleyways as it made its way on this A to B trail. Well done hare.
    Okumaya devam et