Vietnam Mountain Marathon info

We now have something like seven or eight people pretty much committed to either the half marathon or the 10km at the Vietnam Mountain Marathon, 24-25 September in Sapa, Vietnam. Now I'm not volunteering to be the organizer -- I suspect this is going to be more of a do-it-yourself operation -- but it obviously it would be a lot more fun to try to take the same Hanoi-Sapa train and to stay at the same hotel in Sapa. So here is some plane, train, and hotel info.

Flights

Air Asia: unfortunately the Air Asia flights to Hanoi from both Don Meuang and KL leave first thing in the morning (06:45 and 06:30) respectively, so if you're coming from Hatyai you'd need to spend a night in either Bangkok or KL. But the return schedule is perfect: the daily Hanoi-Don Meuang flight leaves at 09:00, arriving at 10:50, so you can catch a noon flight to Hatyai and be back by early afternoon.

Jetstar: if you want to get to Hanoi in one day, this is how you can do it. Jetstar flies from Bangkok to Hanoi daily at 14:20, arriving at 16:10, which allows plenty to time to get to the Sapa train (see below). Just one catch: they fly out of Suwannaphum, so you either have to pay the extra to fly Hatyai-Suwannaphum on Thai Smile or else take the shuttle bus from Don Meuang to Suwannaphum.

Nok and Qatar also fly to Hanoi from Don Meuang and Suwannaphum respectively but their times are about the same as Air Asia and Jetstar, so you'd still have to spend a night in either city. If you'd rather spend the night in Singapore you can fly Tigerair from Hatyai to Singapore daily at 14:30 and then catch their flight to Hanoi the next day at 13:00.

Train

The two express trains from Hanoi to Lao Cai (from where you can catch a cab to Sapa) leave at 21:40 and 22:00, arriving at 05:30 and 06:10 respectively. Return times are 20:15-04:20 and 21:05-05:09. There are also lots of buses throughout the day, some quite fancy and comfortable, so that might be a better way to do the return journey.

For booking train and bus tickets in Vietnam I can highly recommend Vietnam Impressive. Very efficient and helpful service.

Hotels

I've never been to there so can't vouch for it, but Sapa Dragon Hotel looks good, and it's just down the street from the start line. It's also big enough that they'd probably have rooms for all us. (Many hotels in Sapa seem to have only five or six rooms.) If nothing else we should coordinate on staying at the same place. And this one I will organize, if you want.

Visa

Thais don't need visas to Vietnam but us honkies do. The last few trips I've used myvietnamvisa.com, which despite the silly name does a great job.

It's still three months off but we should start talking dates pretty soon.

Animal love

Pee Wee gets to know Buddy, the new Eightball family dog. Notice the median strip in the background: the runsite was in the middle of a four-lane highway.

Barbie with a newfound friend at last night's spontaneous on-after dinner at Thung Jaeng.

Soiled air!

Just in case you find yourself nasally embarassed at this weeks SH3 run,
here are a few suggestions!

This week's SH3 run details are:
Songkhla Hash House Harriers' run #1828, Saturday 25th June 2016, 4:30 p.m.
Hare: Sex Sprinter
Misdirections: From the Ko Yo intersection take the new Yala road for 6.2k then cross the carriageway and take the unused section of road South for 600m to the run site at N 7 05 11.70. E 100 36 39.31 . The run site is also accessible from the Napong side: from the Ko Yo intersection take the old Hatyai road for 4k and turn left. Go about 4k then at the road junction, go straight ahead as the main road bends to the right. Follow the road for 3.4k then carry straight on to the dirt road at a three-away intersection where the hardtop bends round to the left and another road leaves to the right into Napong village.. Follow the dirt track past the pig farm to the very end (about 750m). If this all sounds too complicated, let your olfactory senses do the work! Just roll down your window and follow your nose!
Sunday's (June 26th, 4:30 p.m. or thereabouts) HH3 hare is In-u-endo alias Pong Ning and the directions are: From the Klong Wa  Intersection beyond Macro, take Route 43 East for 8.5k to the Na Mom traffic lights. Turn right and go 800m to the power pylons / dirt road and turn right then go 1.7k to the runsite. Or if you want it in Thai: 

แยกคลองหวะ ไปทางถนนหาดใหญ่-จะนะ  ไปประมาณ 8.5km ตรงแยกไฟแดงนาหม่อมเลี้ยวขวา ไป 800m ทางเสาไฟฟ้าแรงสูง ถนนลูกรัง เลี้ยวขวาไปอีก 1.7km จนถึงรันไซต์ วันอาทิตย์ 4.30pm
Finally there is a quiz night on Friday at the Office Bar (24th June, 8:00 p.m.) The quiz master is, ahem, me, so the Hash team should have every chance of making up for last month's debacle. Come along and support and if you have any books collecting dust at home, bring them along as Carsten is in the process of making up a package to donate to the Danish Embassy in Bangkok.

Running for a cause (other than beer)

Yesterday's run, set by Robocop from the Autistic School. I measured a length of 7.9km but that includes the loop on the road in the upper left -- evidently the paper turned back toward the runsite somewhere before there. Though it felt like a constant up and down, total ascent was only around 130m.

A friendly dog at the school, between the legs of our resident dog-botherer.

The shirt cost B250 but I reckon it's going to pay for itself in bar discounts.

And finally, straight out of a voodoo ceremony, this horrifying shot of the birthday geezer, courtesy of Little Tool/Jumbo. See kids, this is what happens when you have too many birthdays. Click for full effect.

SH3 Run #1827

I hope it didn't feel as boringly circular as it looks here.

This one basically just went around the small but steep hill that lies above Thung Yai. Distance was about 7.9km including false trails and checkbacks. From the runsite at 75m ASL it went up to a high point of only 162m for just over 200m total ascent. If instead of going around the hill we had gone over it, as was the original plan, it would have been well over twice that. But we'll save that one for a training run just before the Vietnam Mountain Marathon (details coming shortly).

Incurable

There's medicine for most things these days but not for the aching regret of missing the 14th or so edition of the Beavershot Birthday Run. Nothing monstrous, just a nice rustic runsite from which the hare will try to connect together a few favorite bits of trail.

Details are:

Songkhla Hash House Harriers run #1827, Saturday June 18th 2016, 4:30 p.m.
Hare: Beavershot

Misdirections: From the Ko Yo intersection take the Old Hatyai Road for about 10k to the Nam Noi traffic lights. Turn left and go 2k, then turn right into the dirt road next to the creek. Go 1.6k and when you see a sala, a little dam, and the end of the road, you're there.

Sunday's HH3 run is from, and in aid of the autistic school at Ban Pru. The hare is assumed to be Robocop who promised that there wouldn't be 4 hills this week! For those in need of directions, take the old Hatyai road and keep going past Hatyai until you reach the Klong Wa intersection (with route 43). Carry straight on through the traffic lights for about 2k and look for the hash sign on the left at the entrance to the Chinese cemetery. Turn left and follow the road to the autistic school which is behind the cemetery.

Not so Short Screw

Here is Saturday's run courtesy of Short Screw, which was about 6 - 6.5k and took about an hour, with the short run, which only seemed to cut off a small section of the long run, being about 5k and taking a little longer. The high spot, as the hare points out, was losing Stick Insect but for the literal minded the maximum height was 150m.

Egghead's new pup

Who can resist that adorable wrinkled face, those big floppy ears, and that puppyish eagerness to please? And here's his newest dog!

And the hare this week is...

...and the details are:
Songkhla Hash House Harriers' run #1826, Saturday June 11th 2016, 4:30 p.m.
Hares: Short Screw and Screw Loose
Misdirections: From the Kao Seng intersection, take the old Yala rd. for 8.2k, do a U turn then turn left after 100m (next to Ban Dan School) and go 2.5k to the runsite. Those coming from Hatyai and/or Ko Yo: from the Old/New Yala rd (Ang Thong) intersection, go 2.6k north along the old Yala rd. and turn left at the hash sign.
HH3 on Sunday is being set by Robocop - map below or if you prefer it: from Wat Keow Kloy take Poonakan for 5.5k and turn left before Wat Tung Ngai. Go about 5 k and turn right at the hash sign then follow the road/track to the run site.

Scum scoop: today's run!

A grab shot of the hare's GPS track for today's run, which by the way is not on Baan Nai Rai, but down the Khuan Samrut Maditation Center road (from Songkhla: left just before Wat Thung Ngai, go 4km, turn right and go 2km).