Bad company

As much as we're going to miss Khii Ling, maybe it's best that she's leaving us next week. She's clearly fallen in with the wrong crowd.

A Hashy New Year

Just when you were worried about where your next party was coming from, Softcock and Temporary Relief have sprung to the rescue with a gathering at their place In Benjaporn tomorrow evening (Tuesday 31st December until late).
Map below just in case.

Hatyai H3 today

A classic run - in the sense that every so often someone feels the need to set it and afterwards we all stand around and praise the countryside. This time around the bulldozer had reduced the possibilities to the point that the only way to slow down the FRB's was a spurious F and a following 360 where the paper was far enough ahead on the main trail that the pack was forced to go through the motions.
Otherwise a fairly predictable if scenic 7.5k which Sex Printer ate in 1 hr 19 mins. Maximum height was 240m with a total ascent of around 380m. The short run at 5.2k was generous but at least caused the short run pack to get a little lost, returning via the road instead of the in trail.
Just a hint of dissatisfaction with the location, with 2 or 3 regulars not appearing, so that the after run party was just a tad subdued.
On on to 2014!

Twisted Beaver

This is yesterday's long run and I think you'll agree that it's a pretty strange twisted track. So how could just one guy go off and immediately find paper at almost every check, so far ahead of everyone else that it was as if there were no checks at all? Anyhow Sex Sprinter made it back in 1:04, with most of the rest following about five minutes later. It was almost exactly 8km long with a modest total ascent of 272m. The short run (not shown, but basically just a loop around the upper right) was 4.5km. The circle concluded as dusk fell and the festivities continued at the Coffee in Love Bar, featuring -- god, not again -- a kathoei show "direct from Pattaya!". Send them back, I say.

Preface to the alternative routes

Sunday's macro-map above. Hares should read Khai Jiew (Jeow?) and Kii Long - be warned!

Alternative routes

Astute readers may have noticed a subtle change in the location of this week's SH3 runsite which is unlikely to cause any confusion since the effect is to move it slightly closer to Poonakan in order to avoid some nasty potholes in the final track caused by recent inclement weather. For the record, the change has been highlighted in red below.
An early morning inspection of the route to Sunday's runsite has detected some similarly unpleasant road conditions on the final 100 meters of the track leading to Hatyai H3's runsite on Sunday - nothing to cause any problems to drivers of real men's vehicles but owners of vehicles with low ground clearance my feel automotively challenged. Therefore above is a suggested alternative route (marked in yellow) which avoids the worst of the problems. Anyone in a pick up or with reasonable ground clearance should follow the standard route (in red).

Festive Fare

Sandwiched between Christmas and New Year, the final weekend of the year will feature runs by Beaver and Egghead as well as a party on Saturday night at Coffee in Love in case anyone needs to top up their alcohol level between festivals.
Saturday's run is:
Songkhla Hash House Harriers' run #1697, Saturday 28th December 2013, 4:00 p.m.
Hare: Beavershot
Misdirections: From the Ko Yo intersection take the old Hatyai road for 4.7k and turn left for 8k then right (at Wat Keow Kloy into Th. Poonakan) for about 1.2k then turn left for about 200 meters to the run site.
Sunday's (December 29th, 4:00 p.m.) HH3 run will be from the football field behind Ban Sai Kao (From the Kao Saeng intersection take the old Yala road for 16k and turn right before Wat Kun Thong. Go 3.5k to the big tree and turn left, then go straight ahead as the road bends round to the right after 200 meters for about 500 meters to the run site). The hares will likely be Kai Jeow and Kii Long.
The Coffee in Love party on Saturday night promises free food, fireworks and fu... a special show as well as live music and a lucky draw. The battered remnants of the Hash will probably get there sometime after eight.

Stats update

So here are the figures for visitors to this site by country for the first three weeks of December. We seem to have a lot of fans in the U.S. What are all you guys, ex-Songkhla hashers? Also a surprising number of visits from Russia, which suggests either anonymous hacking attempts or a very bored Conebrain in the snows of Siberia. Anyhow, don't just read us, comment once in a while, OK?

Hare and hound

Tired and emotional

At the on-after at Bak Toy's house this evening:
Solving the problems of the world, one beer at a time.

Great run by ... who?!

The hares arrive at the site.

Well it seems that we have to deal with a really troubling new fact: Khii Leum is starting to set some truly good runs. How is this possible? Does it portend a coming Apocalypse? Or should we just thank Khii Ling for her adult supervision?

Kee Kee Kee Kee Kee!

The Online Scum's cyberspace research team have managed to dig up some interesting images from the past of this week's hares. Nothing incriminating that we don't already know about Kee Leum, who has no money anyway, but Kee Ling.... well! Just a selection fit for family consumption above. The rest will be withheld providing payment is left at the beer truck in small denomination used notes by Saturday 5:00 p.m.
Details of the run:
Songkhla Hash House Harriers' run #1696 Saturday December 21st 2013, 4:00 p.m.
Hares: Kee Leum and Kee Ling
Misdirections: From the Kao Saeng intersection, take the old Yala road for 4.25k and turn right after the army base. Go 750m and bear left about 100m before the back gate of the Gor Sor Nor, then follow the track for about 500 meters to the run site.
After the run there will be a quiz nite at the Office Bar, the start of which is being delayed to 8:30 so that we can join in. The quizmaster is Alex.
Finally, details of the HH3 run on Sunday below.

From the Ko Yo intersection take the old Hatyai road for 4.7k and turn left for 8k then right into Poonakan Road for about 8k and look for a sign on the left.

Low but no cigar.

August 2010? Not even close! Beaver's run #69 (set jointly with Handjob) attracted a total registration of 15, a figure which has been plumbed on 4 other occasions (run #'s 55, hares Sofar and Ouab Im; 75, hare: Egghead; 79, hares: Sex Sprinter and Toyboy, and 82, hare: Egghead. But that is a 50% improvement on last nights debacle and is beaten by run #85 ( Hares Egghead and Peppered Pussy) which attracted 13 people, run # 80 (hare: Egghead - are we establishing some kind of a pattern here?) which attracted a mere 11 people, and equaling last night's paucity, run # 45 set by, you guessed it, Egghead and Kii Leum, which also attracted only 10 people.

Full Moon 105: not many people did it

Haven't we been here before?

Shockingly, set without a recce, but in some of our most familiar territory, HFM105 was a whisker under 6k with a total ascent of 65 meters and a dizzying maximum height of 61 meters. The lack of a recce lead to some rather unpleasant bushwhacking at two points in the run where formerly viable trails had simply disappeared, and some minor feet-wetting was more or less obligatory considering the time of year. But the run took place in cool, near perfect conditions and was followed by a pleasant moon-lit on-on with copious food and beer. The only thing missing were hashers as most people seemed to have found other things to do. But the seven people and two dogs who did it enjoyed it, which added to the hare and the two non-runners added up to our lowest ever turn-out of 10 humans.

Full moon 105: a good reason to celebrate

For those who don't know, Only a Yolk became a grandmother yesterday when her son, variously identified as Hua Chee and Black Devil (guess which is the HH3 name!) produced a daughter, or at least his wife delivered a daughter - you get the picture. By coincidence, this month's Full Moon H3 run will take place tomorrow evening: Tuesday December 17th, 7:00 p.m. at Egg Towers when the baby's head will be duly wetted - after the run of course which will be set by Egghead. Bring a hand-light if you intend to run and contributions of food, beer or other baby wetting materials welcomed.
For anyone not sure about the location, From the Ko Yo intersection take the old Hatyai road for 4k and turn left for 5.2k then go right through the temple arch. Follow the road for 200m then bear right along the temple wall for 500m turning left at the T junction at he end and right after about 50m to the car parking area.

Outstanding outstation

Here's the run: 5.5k without the checks, 6.8 with them, Maximum height: 106m, total ascent: 198m. First runner home in 55 mins. The reverse run on Sunday took 44 mins. More generally, thanks to HH3 for another excellent outstation run at a great location which served some of the best food we've had on any outstation since Ko Mak all those years ago.

A few outstation run shots

A look at Google Maps revealed an interesting fact about Saturday's excellent run by Khai Jiao: it encompassed two provinces. (The river that we crossed twice is at that point the dividing line between Phattalung and Nakorn Sri Thammarat provinces.)

And while it will probably never be recorded in hash stats, let it be known that there actually was a Songkhla Hash run, starting at 7:30 am. on Sunday. Like the very first SH3 run, it attracted exactly three runners (Egghead, Khii Ling, and Beaver). The route was Saturday's run done in reverse, with the occasional shortcut around the hills. And like all the best hangover runs, it was painful but effective.

HH3 outstation weekend and an accelerated quiz nite

No SH3 run this weekend, but a map to the HH3 outstation run at Lung Tang Homestay at Nam Mot Daeng, Phatthalung, Saturday 14th December, above. If anyone not on the hash circulation list needs a digital (.gdb) copy of the route, contact miccurrie@hotmail,com. Registration, 250 Baht for HH3 active runners; guests etc., 850 Baht. Run on Saturday starts sometime after 3:00 p.m. Registration also includes (basic) accommodation, dinner, beer, party etc. etc. For more information come to the pre-lube tomorrow (Thursday 12th December) at Buk Toy's yard, 7:00 p.m.: From the Ko Yo Intersection take the old Hatyai road for about 12k and turn right just before the big black Buddha. Attendance is obligatory if you want to do the car rally which will precede the run and will start at about 9:00 a.m. on Saturday from a site to be announced tomorrow.

Stop press: Due to a clash with the Buzz Stop Christmas party on the 20th December, the Quiz Nite has been brought forward to this Friday, 13th December. Usual venue: the Office Bar, 8:00 p.m. Quiz master is Big Alex.

Governments may come and governments may go but a good run lasts forever (...and ever and ever!)

As is often the case, yesterday's HH3 run will probably be remembered for all the wrong reasons. It should be remembered for being a 7.5k yomp through some largely unexplored territory just off the Chana highway, with a waterfall thrown in for those lucky enough to see it, and a 3.3k short run for those lucky enough to coincide with Leum Kii's arrival at its point of departure. For those who didn't, which consisted mostly of the kids, they embarked on the rest of the long run and had to be rescued by GM, Star Soccer or guided home by Big Foot.

So that is the first reason it shouldn't be remembered - the run that almost ate the next generation of hashers! The second reason then manifested itself as the GM and members of the Sex Sprinter clan abandoned the reins of power to Moo Sahb presumably to prepare to bring down the government on the morrow. Moo Sahb then made a valiant effort to run a bilingual circle and almost carried it off aided by some traditional water throwing courtesy of Full Moon. The main recipient of FM's attention was Big Foot whose crime of rubber abuse represents the third reason for which the run should not be remembered, but which went otherwise unpunished since the owner of the rubber tree he backed into did not arrive to claim a financial recompense.

A great run though. Sex Sprinter claimed to have completed it in 1 hour and 2 minutes, but had he dallied long enough would probably have been iced for some creative trail running. No one else had a stop watch handy but it felt more like a 1hr 15-20 min run. Thanks guys - we won't forget even if it is for all the wrong reasons!

1695

1695: 7k with checks etc., 5.7k without; maximum height 247m, total ascent about 300m. The short run was a generous 4.7k and got up to 222m with a total ascent of about 200m. Nothing much we haven't done before, but the bulldozers had been out at a number of strategic points providing some great views. Great moment when the short run who were off paper met the long run  at the 5th check and sent them off along a checkback as Gan Yao reached the check coming the wrong way down the right trail...errr.

Hare angst and a farang disaster

Discourtesy of Beavershot, i.e. his permission was not sought!

As the Egg family agonises over just who will lay tomorrow's SH3 run, the headline: 'A proportion varying between two sevenths and one of tomorrow's hares' was rejected when details of HH3's run (see below) landed in the in box this morning.
So, SH3's run tomorrow will be:
Songkhla Hash House Harriers run #1695, Saturday, December 7th 2013; 4:00 p.m.
Hares: Egg family representatives
Misdirectons: From the Kao Saeng intersection take the old Yala road for 16k and turn right before Wat Kun Thong then go 3.5k and turn left just past the big tree and follow signs for about 1.5k to the run site on the concrete road behind Sai Kao village.
NB (and this is a biggie) PLEASE DO NOT TRY TO PARK IN THE RUBBER as the ground is soft and we don't want to piss the villagers off. There is a U turn about 100m beyond the designated run site; turn and  PARK ON THE ROAD.

And So to HH3 on Sunday, which will take place at the back of Nern Pijit and will be set by Big Foot (aka Gan Yao) and Leum Kii (aka Kii Leum) . For those who need verbal instructions: From the Ko Yo intersection take the old Hatyai road for 4.7k and turn left for 10.9k (going straight ahead at Wat Keow Kloy). Turn left and follow the road for about 2.4k to the end of the black top then take the right fork to the runsite in 200 meters. Kick off 4:00 p.m.

Two-thirds of yesterday's hares

The other third was Muu Sap but she doesn't get a photo here because she denounced a certain respected senior hasher for "short-cutting". And that is such a cruel, hurtful word.

Business as usual

HH3 today: Long run: 6k, Maximum height 184m; total ascent 270m. Short run: 4.5k; max. height the same, total ascent 108m; both home in about an hour-ish. Not a bad afternoon's entertainment.

Run or recce?

Yesterday's relay run was more like a recce as successive hares probed the forbidden Western slopes of the Chompoo Ridge, discovering that it is STILL impenetrable as it has always been as long as we have been running in this area. After Only a Yolk had led us off, Stick Insect, Buk Toy and Beavershot all made attempts to ascend the hill, but eventually it was left to Kii Leum to bring us out of the wilderness and to Perky and briefly Kee Ling to give us a run at the end in better country. Total length was about 4k which took almost an hour and a half to complete.
On! On! to better things today at Sala Hin Kliang if the rain lets up.