What have they done to our hill?

Pictured above as recently as March 19th this year, The hillside between Saturday's runsite at Wat Keow Geow and Songkhla Zoo has undergone some fairly dramatic excavations of late, so it is probably timely that we should run there before the whole becomes subsumed in a 6-lane highway connecting Tesco with the water park.
Details are:
Songkhla Hash House Harriers run # 1668, Saturday, June 1st 2013, 4:30 p.m..
Hares: R2D2 and Perky
Misdirections: From the Kao Saeng intersection, take the Hatyai road for 3.5k and turn left for 600m to the runsite on the left.
Sunday's HH3 run is not a million miles from last week's site and is near Wat Tung Ngai on Poonakan Road.
Map below:

Oh, Ok then: From the Ko Yo intersection take the old Hatyai road for 4.6k and turn left for 8k. Turn right (at Wat Keow Kloy) for 5.5k then left for about 2k and look for the sign on the right.

Beaver shows his fangs

In light of the imminent return of Beaver, watch this horrifying story of beaver-abuse in Belarus:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-22707094

...we're all quite mad!

All smiles before the run

After the run: Sex of the Man shows the strain; Tsunami phones for an ambulance.

The birthday boy shows his concern for all the pain he has caused

Little brother offers no sympathy

Sticky disposition

Or, so much pain, so little paper

As the sun set on Saturday and the battered remnants of the runners made their painful way down the kilometer or so of road they had set out on some 2 hours earlier either on foot in the case of the long runners, or on the back of a pick up,  the question on everyone's lips was...why?
Why, with a party in prospect, had the hare (or hares if we are to spread the blame to include the hapless Gary who looked as shocked as anyone else) sent the long runners off on a (conservatively) 12-kilometer slog? Why was the short run almost 7 kilometers and why weren't they warned? Why was there no beer stop or at least some water as we embarked on the second half of the run after sliding down the hill to where the grinning hare awaited us at the Chinese temple. Why did we get to Napong Village via Rong Rien Don Kiilek when the two are more or less 180 degrees apart from where we crossed the road at the half way point? And why, with the light failing and the paper reduced to a few scattered shards, did we descend from the hill above the run site via a rock strewn cliff face instead of just taking the nicely manicured track down to exactly the same point that we eventually came out at?
But at the end of the run, after a consoling beer or two, most people seemed to have enjoyed the experience in rather the same way that people recall with glowing fondness Kii Hua's A-B run or Rotten Johnny's midsummer monster. We are, when all is said and done, quite mad!
So Sticky has successfully completed his 5th cycle and marked the occasion in a manner that only he could get away with, by setting a run which broke most of the loosely observed rules, the bulk of which he has been responsible for laying down, then throwing an excellent  party at which the food was copious and the beer free-flowing and at which we were entertained by Gary's  singing and guitar playing until a broken G-string brought his performance to an untimely end. He chose his songs well to pay tribute to his long-time buddy, Old Man, and Sympathy for the Devil among them. Perhaps under the circumstances he should have added, It's Alright Ma, I'm Only Bleeding!

The Wannabe Full Moon Horror Run

Continuing the fine tradition (starting last month) of not wanting to make the full moon runs too easy, the long run on Thursday night was just over 7.3kms long, including the 7 false trails and 7 checks, but no check backs which could possibly have helped the runners to find the paper a bit quicker.

 

The graph shows a total ascent of 277m but done in a couple of easy stages, after allowing the short runners to return to the beer truck after the first ascent. The short run was 4.0kms long and took most of the walkers / joggers about 1 hour. The long runners took about 1 hour & 20 minutes to return to the beer truck after which no time was wasted in attempting to drink the “free”(??) beer esky dry. No that wasn’t free beer, well not for a few of the attendees anyway.

Generally another entertaining Full Moon On After with Stick Insect / Lady of the Lamp supplying the free entertainment in the way of new runner Gary, flown in by special request all the way from Australia, singing a medley of western / rock songs to the accompaniment of his excellent acoustic guitar playing. On On to the celebration of Stick Insect's 60^th birthday today at the SH3 run at Tung Jaeng restaurant on New Yala Road. Be there to take advantage of the offer of free food provided by the hare.

As the doggies said, three times the fun!

Three runs this week, with the first taking place on Thursday evening in the hills above Prem's place. Details are:

Hatyai Full Moon Hash House Harriers run # 97, Thursday 23rd May 2013, 7:00 p.m.

Hares: Inch Dick and Kii Long (a.k.a. Yardstick and Perky)

Misdirections: From the Ko Yo intersection take the new Yala road for 800 meters and turn left then follow the road for about 2k, turning right up the hill then left beyond Prem's place after about 800 meters. The run site is at the top of the hill on the right.

The view towards the run site: "It's up there!"

Saturday's SH3 run celebrates Stick Insect's 60th birthday and will be at Tung Jaeng with dinner to follow. Details are:

Songkhla Hash House Harriers run #1667, Saturday 25th May 2013, 4:30 p.m.

Hares: Stick Insect and mysterious special guest

Misdirections: from the Ko Yo intersection take the new Yala road for about 9k. Tung Jaeng is on the right. (As there are road works at that point you need to go about 100 meters past the restaurant then turn right across the new carriageway and go back to the restaurant)

Dinner after the run will be courtesy of Stick Insect but beer will be up to us. The beer at the restaurant is pretty cheap so if you are intending to buy some beer for the occasion, the suggestion is to buy it from the restaurant - they won't object if we take our own and there will be an ice box on hand, but it would be nice to give the restaurant at least some of our beer trade to say thank you for hosting this glittering event.

Last word on Saturday: the hare has let it be known that this will not be a very dog friendly run so if you are intending to bring a canine chum, bring a lead as well and keep the dog on it when you are in the restaurant which is a haven of feline tranquility.

Finally in our full calendar, the Hatyai run on Sunday is Poonakan-ish.

If you are coming from Songkhla the preferred route is: From the Ko Yo intersection take the old Hatyai road for 4.6k and turn left at Wat Keow Kloy for 8k then right for about 5.5k and turn left just before Wat Tung Ngai, then look for the run site on the left (?). If you are coming from Hatyai, take Thanon Poonakan from its junction with Kanjanawanit road at the corner of Prince of Songkla University and go for about 6k then turn right at the hash sign after Wat Tung Ngai. The hares are the Sex people.

Follow the signs stupid!

So much for predicting the run site for Sunday! The general area indicated below was correct, but the detail was not. The precise access to the run site is apparently weather dependent, so the advice is to take the road from Tha Kham going towards Sai Kao Resort and to look for and follow the sign somewhere around 1.5 - 2k.

All fired up

This weekends runs are both conveniently located for Songkhlites. Saturday's SH3 run will be from Prem's place or thereabouts - i.e. not up at the top of the hill but either at the National Library car park or outside the house itself. Details are:


Songkhla Hash House Harriers run # 1666, Saturday, May 18th, 2013; 4:30 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 for another 800 meters then look for signs of intelligent life (and avoid it - the hash is more fun).
Sundays HH3 run is from Sala Hin Kiang, which is the big sala not far from Tha Kham for those whose minds work in approximations. Precision freaks will prefer:
From the Ko Yo intersection take the old Hatyai road for 4.6k and turn left for 6k then left for 1.5k. Turn right and follow the road for 500 meters to the run site on the left. The hares are pleasantly indeterminate: a map and further details will follow or be added to this post when it arrives.

NOT the shortest distance between two points

Set jointly but severally by Kai Jeow and Moo Sahb, yesterday's HH3 run demonstrates the stylistic differences between the members of the egg partnership, with the first half gracefully sweeping in flowing arcs around, up and down Kao Lam, while the second half seems to stutter drunkenly in every available direction, before plunging decisively into Wat Bologam and the final approach to Egg Towers. By that time, half the pack had apparently had enough as they avoided the transit of the Wat, which was really the whole point of the exercise, and trudged back the long way round the road. Inch Dick was duly iced for the sin, although he was not amongst the sinners who committed it!
A substantial turnout, with more than 30 people doing either the long or short runs, which were respectively 5.9 and 3.2 kilometers long, the maximum height reached being 195 meters, with a total ascent in the low 200's. Short Screw got a bit lost, possibly because he had been instructed to hunt down Robocop, who strayed onto the road early thus avoiding Moo Sahb's drunken ramblings. Most of the attendees departed for the festivities in the wat immediately after the circle, leaving the Atheist Tendancy to finish off the beer, a feat which they failed to achieve by 1 can. Shame!

Run 1665 Rehash

Through some clever F... manipulation there were actually 4 runs this week. The long run (in magenta), the short run (in cyan), a medium run (the first part of the long run and joining onto the short run), and a very short run (the first part of the long run and back on the short run out trail) as run by Kankai and new runner Chris. Our other new runner Brett completed the long run as did returning runner Short Screw, thankfully not in his previous guise as fanatical front runner, ...yet!

The long runners returned within a couple of minutes of each other in about 58 minutes, while the short runners were back in about 50 minutes.

Run statistics for the long run were:  total length 6.6km (if you were lucky enough to find all the false trails), max elevation 173m, total ascent 287m. For the short run:  total length 2.6km, max elevation 130m, total ascent 111m.

Balls?

After a week's break, this Saturday's SH3 run is in the capable hands of Yardstick and Perky (with some short assistance from R2D2) who in time-honored tradition have stepped up at the last minute to fill the gaping hole in our hareline which continues to recede alarmingly.
Details are:

Songkhla Hash House Harriers' run #1665, Saturday May 11, 2013, 4:30 p.m.
Hares: Yardstick, Perky and R2D2
Misdirections: From the Kao Saeng intersection take the old Yala road for 16k (5.3k past the An Thong intersection of the old and new Yala roads) and turn right just before Wat Kun Thong, then follow the road for 2.7k and turn left for 0.9k to the runsite. (Direction-savvy hashers will realise that there are alternative routes involving going 1k East past the big tree at Ban Sai Kao then turning right. Anyone coming from Hatyai should take a right at the Nam Noi traffic lights and go for about 13k to get to the big tree.)

Sunday's (12th May 2013) HH3 run is from chez Egg and is loosely associated with another time honored tradition happening this week at Wat Borogam  which is celebrating  Fang Luknimit, a ceremony involving burying balls, pithily summed-up by Google Translate as:

"Loknimit as part of the church. The church. Was buried Loknimit show territory.And territorial integrity of the church, it is a condition. In doing many activities of the discipline. So I do not have to parse every virtue yet."

Technology, huh? Where would we be without it? Anyway, the Thais understand what's going on and will be coming along in force to make merit. The run will be set by the dynamic duo of Kai Jeow and Moo Sahb, making it 3 weeks in a row at HH3, and will be an A to B to C run ending with a passage through the Wat at Borogam and thence to Egg Towers, which is located:

From Ko Yo intersection, take the old Hatyai road for 4k and turn left for 5.2k then turn right through the temple arch. Go 200 meters and turn right before the entrance to the temple itself then follow the road with the temple wall on your left for 300 meters. At the T junction turn left for 50 meters, then right and park on the left.

Transport from Egg Towers to the A site will leave sharp at 4.18 and 20 seconds p.m., so don't be late!

To boldly go - or not to go.

The location for Hatyai Outstation 14 proved to be as spectacular as promised - a great resort set beneath an imposing looking hill and next to some of that rolling rubber so familiar from running at the late lamented Sadao H3.
Strangely however, Saturday's hare, Sex Star eschewed the chance to boldly explore the hill, chosing instead to set a run of less than 3k (in red above) which only went up about 100 meters before returning to the resort. Sunday's run (in green) opted for the rolling rubber which proved to be flatter than expected, but logged up a creditable 6k which the pack ate in 53 minutes. In between there was an evening dominated by the upshot of the morning's car rally won by Sex See during which the usual excess quantities of food beer and wine were consumed.
With most regulars finding reasons not to attend, SH3 were largely represented by the pussies who turned out in force although Yardo did make it down for the Sunday morning run and the trip to Wat Khao Rup Chang. Hmmmm....

Jakra what?

Here are some directions to this weekend's Hatyai H3 outstation run at the Jakraphat Resort in Padang Besar, and it's only a hop, skip and a jump away from our old haunts in Dannock, a mere hour's drive from down-town Hatyai. The web address on the directions doesn't seem to work, but there is a good Facebook page with lots of pictures at: https://www.facebook.com/jakraphat.resort. The location looks beautiful and the accommodation a bit better than what we are used to, so do try and come along for the weekend or at least for Saturday's run.

The plan, for those who enjoy car rallies, is to meet at Buk Toy's yard (see directions below for last Saturday's SH3 run) at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday. If you can't make the car rally, then make your own way down before the run time of 4:00 p.m. Prior to that, there is a meeting at Buk Toy's place on Friday evening (May 3rd) to agonize over the final details of the weekend (at least that's the excuse!) Then on Sunday morning the plan is for there to be a 10:00 a.m. live-hare hang-over run, followed by a visit to a local wat.

For the record, there is no SH3 run this weekend but we will be back, bigger and better than ever on 11th May.

Gumbies?

Separated at birth?

As the intellectually stimulating debate about the provenance of Living Next door to Alice subsides into recriminations, threats and verbal abuse, an interesting sidelight on the names of the bands who performed the wretched song.
The first group were from Australia and were fittingly called New World, a kind of outbacky, pioneering spirit, G'day Bruce sort of name for a band from Oz. The British group were originally called Smokey (although they were later obliged to change it to Smokie after threats of legal abuse from Mr Robinson of that ilk who thought his fans might be confused by the similarity of the names; derrr...), a suitably grimy industrially sort of name as befits a band from the land of the dark Satanic mills.
And the Dutch band to whom we are all eternally grateful for indelibly fixing the classic line, Who the fuck is Alice? in our memories? Gompie. Now to anyone from the Monty Python generation, that name can (but probably doesn't - so don't bother running for Wikipedia, Braniac) mean only one thing.
So, the question is, were they inspired by Kii Leum or is he just a closet fan?