Autopilot delivers...

... 7.3 kilometers or thereabouts; max elevation: 110 meters; total ascent: 234 meters.

FROP, Sex Sprinter back in 1 hour 21 minutes.

Nosin, still smiling brought up the rear in 1h.35m.

Stick Insect found 5 out of 6 false trails (tee hee hee!)

And all this wrought by a GPS guided robot and three doggies (Oh, and Only a Yolk as well who is all too human!)

But despair not, The Pussies will set a real run next week. Be there and weep!

Autopilot kicks in

Heart-felt appeals for hares this week notwithstanding, the autopilot has seamlessly kicked in and this weeks SH3 details are:

Songkhla Hash House Harriers run #1538, 27th November 2010, 4:00 p.m.

Hare: Egghead and canine friends

Misdirections: From the Kao Saeng intersection take the old Yala road for 11 1/2k and turn right. Follow the road ahead for 3.2k (straight across the crossroads at 2.2k) to the run site on the left.

(Anyone coming from near the Ko Yo intersection will find it easier to go all the way up the new Yala road and turn right at the An Tong intersection then go 1k up the old Yala road and turn right at the hash sign. Then follow the road ahead for 3.2k etc.

For those coming from Hatyai the quickest route is from the Nam Noi traffic lights, turn right and follow the road for about 11k then turn left into the road to Khao Ron; after 600m take the right hand fork, i.e. don't go up Khao Ron, then follow the road through the village for a further 800 meters to the run site on the right.)

Heart-felt appeal for hares:

We have only 4 runs left this year after this weekend, and autopilot is already down to set the last one on Christmas Day so will not be available for any of the 3 intervening runs respectively on 4th, 11th, or 18th December. That means we weally weally need hares for those weeks. Now we don't want to invite an unseemly and potentially life-threatening stampede but the Hare-board will be at the run site this week for YOU to choose which of these 3 runs you want to set. But don't be disappointed if you don't make it onto this year's hare-list - there's always next year which is virginally chaste as we speak.

Sunday's HH3 run (November 28th, 4:30 p.m. – let’s be realistic!) will be set by Toy Boy and Sex Sprinter, HH3's very own autopilot, and the run site will be at the Sai Kao Resort (where the HH3 500th was held): coming from Songkhla take the old Hatyai road for 4.7k and turn right for 6k, then left for about 4k and it's on the left (OR just follow Saturday's misdirections above, but carry on beyond the SH3 run site for 1.4k and turn right then go about 1k to the run site on the right.

Camping it up

There's a CHANGE OF RUNSITE for Saturday's SH3 run, and we will now be running from behind Prem's Place. This is to accomodate the Full Moon run and campout mentioned below. So the details now are:

Songkhla Hash House Harriers run #1537, Saturday 20th November 2010; 4:00 p.m.
Hares: Sex Sprinter and Buk Toy
Misdirections: From the Ko Yo intersection take the new Yala road for 800 meters and turn left. Follow the road for about 1.2k up the hill, 400 meters past Prem's place. Park on the LEFT hand side of the road then walk across the road to the run site on the right

Please don't try to park on the right as there is very limited space and it is difficult to turn round once you are in. There is plenty of space to park on the left of the road but if you are not intending to stay overnight or you don't fancy driving up the hill, you might want to park in the car park at Prem's Place and walk up or catch a ride with someone else to the actual run site. If you are intending to stay overnight then it is probably a good idea to get there early to grab a decent tent site!

Some time after the SH3 circle there will be:

Hatyai Full Moon Hash run #72, Saturday 20th November 2010; 7:00 p.m.
Hares: Sex Sprinter and Buk Toy
Misdirections: Stay at the SH3 run site!

Following the Full Moon run there will be over-night camping across the road from the run site. As usual contributions of food will be welcome and there will be a BBQ available. We will be selling beer in the normal way at the SH3 run and there will also be a limited supply of Full Moon beer on sale for the Full Moon run, but it is suggested that everyone intending to stay overnight should bring along most of what they want to drink.

Just to add to the fun, we're expecting about 20 guests from Malacca H3 on Saturday for the Songkhla Hash run so if you see anyone who looks like a hasher wandering up the hill, do stop and pick them up!

The Hatyai H3 run on Sunday (21st November, 4:30 p.m.) will be set by Nichaeow and will be from somewhere down Poonakan Road in the vicinity of the Gam Ling Reservoir (from the Ko Yo Intersection take the old Hatyai road for 4.7k; turn left for 8k then right at Wat Keow Kloy for about 8k and look for a sign on the left.

Vaseline (and Scud)'s worst.

Those of us who feared that Vaseline was going to go out on his own with a bag of paper and randomly wander around the hills behind Nam Noi in the hope of eventually ending up back where he started were proved wrong. He went out with Scud and randomly...

And actually there was nothing very random about the process. They had obviously and quite sensibly decided to follow an old run as the old shreddy we kept seeing bore witness.

But things have changed up there; some things have grown and some things have been knocked over. If the pictures (below) of Hatyai two weeks ago lead you to believe that's all that happened in the great storm of '10, think again. Trails which we've run for years are now strewn with fallen trees and sections of the hillside yesterday resembled a scene from The Great Chainsaw Massacre meets Big G Goes Mud Wrestling. The result was that this little 4.6k tour took an hour and 20 minutes to slog round with almost no opportunity to stretch our legs and prove what we are capable of until we actually hit the flat near the run site.

But we all got back; eventually. A chastened Off T having miraculously not got lost on Saturday took his new GPS with him and stuck closely to Moo Sahb just in case, and Gogo Pock alias Tuttee Fruity having escaped the clutches of Chao Kuay was assisted round by Sofar and Ouab-Im as far as the Wat before they escaped to the road and were assisted home by a passing Sawng Tao.

This month's storm is going to affect the way we do things for a while. Bits of 'our' countryside have been devastated and some of 'our' trails are going to be difficult to use for a while until either the debris is cleared or more likely until it gets eaten by the bugs. The moral is that until we work out what's changed, unrecced runs are unwise if not positively dangerous ... but then some of us worked that out a long time ago!

Run 1536: Was this what the hares meant us to do?

'cos it sure wasn't what this hound did. But a process of guesswork and editing out the numerous extra bits and diversions suggests that this may have been approximately where the paper went. 4.7k of hashing in the raw (red) and 2.7k of road running (blue) , or, if you were sensible, being ferried home by Kii Leum in Stick Insect's limo.

But look at it this way: Vaseline? Give us your worst son; you're on a winner today!

An ominous weekend

The compass Khii Leum is planning to use to set tomorrow's run, assisted by the directionally-challenged Stick Insect.


U.S. President Barack Obama speaking in Jakarta last week warns of the dangers of Vaseline.

Yes, dam that Beaver!

He was atop Beaver Manor and here's what it looked like. That's chin-high water in most places, and probably about five meters deep in the center of the photo, which normally is the Mae Rian Klong.

In his defense, Beaver was reported to have said, "I always thought bio-degradable dams were a good idea."

Where's a Beaver when you need one?

Wikipedia says:

Quote Beavers are known for their natural trait of building dams ... also build canals ... Beaver dams are created as ... protection ...and to provide easy access to food ... Beavers always work at night and are prolific builders…Beavers can rebuild ... primary dams overnight…unquote

So where was the Beaver last Tuesday then?

Did we have fun?

I don't remember; but these guys seemed to have enjoyed Saturday night.

But on the assumption that it was fun, thanks to everybody who braved the stone age conditions and came and helped me to celebrate hitting 60 last Saturday.

Thanks in particular, to :

Buk Toy for the gift of electricity courtesy of his generator, Rocky for the Indian food which was almost cooked to perfection and arrived just when Only a Yolk's feast seemed to be in danger of running out, Hand Job for the arm power in the som tam factory, Softcock and Temporary Relief for the PGS (Pussy Guidance System),

City Tits, Ram It In & Tutti Fruity for the gift of Beer,

Solong and Safe Sex, Eightball, Giraffe Whisperer and Chris for the gift of wine,

Chao Ngor, Meals on Wheels, Freehand (alias Homey) and M for breaking the embargo on birthday presents in general, and to anyone else who I haven't mentioned including everyone who filled the icebox which never ran out.

Who's next then?

Run #1536: A proposition from Wittgenstein?

Basil tells Manuel how to get to Saturday's SH3 run

Manuel: Hhwater Tank?
Basil: It's not difficult Manuel.This is not a proposition from Wittgenstein.Go to Ko Yo intersection, turn left; go 6 kilometers; turn left; go up track - 150 meters; park near water tank.

(Ok, Ok! here are the official misdirections:
SH3 run #1536, Saturday November 13, 2010; 4:00 p.m.
Hares: Stick insect and Kii Leum
Misdirections: From the Ko Yo intersection take the new Yala road for 6k and turn left up the track for 150 meters. Park near the water tank.)
On! On!

P.S. Sunday's HH3 run is from the Old Hatyai road, 9k on the left near the former gas station and is being set by Vazzerlean.

Mine is longer than yours

"In 2004, the most recent year for which there are final figures, life expectancy at birth in the United States was 77.8 years. That’s 75.2 years for males and 80.4 years for females. But if you’ve made it to sixty your life expectancy is 82.5 years: 80.8 for men and eighty-four for women."

-- from Mine Is Longer Than Yours, by Michael Kinsley, New Yorker magazine

(OK, these figures are for Americans, whose lifespans have been freakishly extended by diets of milk and honey and gold dust, not to mention fluoride and other anti-Communist drugs put into their water supplies. But still, they suggest that, despite people like Egghead insisting on having birthdays normally consistent with decrepit geezerhood, we probably still have a few decent years left in us. Kinsley's article is worth a read, especially if you have hopes of still hitting the ski slopes and rogering young women into your 70s and 80s.)

Cracked but unbroken

You would have thought that the Biblical tempests and floods, power and water outages, plagues of locusts, etc. descending upon all of us this week would have suggested to Egghead that maybe the heavens were aligning against his birthday celebrations tomorrow. But no, he claims it's all going ahead as scheduled. With one special request: BRING BEER! We'd hate to run out while celebrating such an august occasion.

Songkhla Hash House Harriers Run #153-something or other
Saturday, 6 November 2010
Hares: Egghead (& dogs & relatives?)
Misdirections: Chez Egg (from Koh Yaw intersection take the Old Hatyai Rd. 4km, turn left and go 5.2km, turn right and follow the curvy road around the righthand side of the wat)

It's an A-to-B run, with transport to the A site leaving Egghead's at 4 pm. sharp.
From Songkhla you can catch a ride on the beer truck, leaving the Hot Bread Shop at 3 pm.

Birthday pix