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  PLEASE SUPPORT OUR MAJOR SPONSOR, SAN MIGUEL! Contact Mr Tien for all San Miguel products in Vung Tau: email: tienvtvn@yahoo.com phone, text/sms: 0168 385 1068 Home, office, party etc deliveries a specialty! See also San Miguel Special Festive Season Offer! 26 January 2014 BIG MOUNTAIN: AUSTRALIA DAY & UXO/OXO/OOPSO FAREWELL RUN!  Despite being in the middle of the annual Tet holiday period, an enthusiastic bunch of Hashers turned up for the Australia Day cum UXO/OXO/Oopso farewell run on Sunday. We climbed aboard the fleet of taxis and headed off to the beachside café at 83 Tran Phu to offload the eskies and blue "VTH3 bucket" for apres-run use. Then it was "On On" to 544 Tran Phu (much further around Big Mountain) to the start point. After a quick chalk talk (run briefing) by Hares CNR and Falcon, we embarked on a long, long hike along a dirt track that eventually led to a vertical climb to the road around the side of the mountain. A right turn, then 500 metres and a left turn off the road to climb once again. This time, it was a struggle through thick forest to reach the top of the mountain then along the rocky and familiar (to some) Rowdy's Ridge - which always offers excellent views of Vung Tau city and coastline. Refreshed by such wonderful scenery, we had to keep focused during the extremely "tricky" descent - quite steep and slippery in places - which took us down past the small Jesus statue. From there, it was down 800 steps to the monastery at Hem 148, followed by a short walk on "terra firma" to 83 Tran Phu for "beer and chips". Much socialising and beach-strolling later, the Circle was called. The trail by Hares Falcon, CNR and Samson was awarded an exceptional 12/10 by UXO (probably would have been even higher, but there weren't any unexploded bombs for him to play with this time...). VTH3 virgins Christian and Nina were welcomed; then major sinner of the day CNR was penalised for giving the taxi driver the wrong address - and he was one of the Hares! Then it was time to farewell two long-time VTH3 stalwarts, Hash Cash OXO and her perpetual FRB partner UXO, who will be taking newborn "Oopso" back to Russia and Ukraine "for Hash training". Thanks for everything guys - we'll really miss your ever-smiling enthusiasm that lit up so many of our runs over the past couple of years! We finally went back to Offshore Bar for more farewell drinks with OXO, UXO, Oopso aka Sofia, Vasya, Vanya (Ivan), and Sofia's equally delightful Mum, and then it was time to call it a day. Next week's run will be a new trail on Small Mountain set by SamSon (many thanks for taking time off work during busy pre-Tet week) and CNR in his new guise as The Gardener - so re-named because of his efficiency in cutting trails through the undergrowth: "click, click go the shears, boys...". They say it will be an interesting trail passing cultural artefacts along the way, so don't forget your camera! In the meantime, "Chuc Mung Nam Moi" to Vietnamese everywhere, and especially our Vietnamese fellow Hashers - we hope the 2014 Lunar Year of the Horse brings everything you wish for!  Reporting: Falcon, Uncle Hares: Falcon, CNR, Samson Hash Flash: Pekka VTH3 #613 PHOTO GALLERY>>>   
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  PLEASE SUPPORT OUR MAJOR SPONSOR, SAN MIGUEL! Contact Mr Tien for all San Miguel products in Vung Tau: email: tienvtvn@yahoo.com phone, text/sms: 0168 385 1068 Home, office, party etc deliveries a specialty! See also San Miguel Special Festive Season Offer! 19 January 2014 BIG MOUNTAIN ("MOUNTAIN GOAT SPECIAL") Some familiar faces joined us this week for VTH3 run #612 on Big Mountain – yet another “torture trail” by arguably the most aptly-named Hasher of all time: Mountain Goat! Off we went along Le Ngoc Han to Hem 89 and then up the stairs through the houses to Vi Ba. Right turn and all the way to the end before turning left into Hem 14. From there, it was an even longer hike to Hem 105 off Le Loi until we made another left turn near the end that took us through several lanes to the base of Big Mountain. All that way and we hadn’t started climbing yet! But that soon changed into a very steep climb up some rocky steps that led to a trail which wound around the mountainside. The trail was also very difficult and steep in places, and it led our 21 intrepid Hashers through several different types of vegetation and undulating terrain before finally emerging at a temple on Vi Ba (the mostly sealed road that winds around the mountain from top to bottom). With that challenging trek behind us, we headed back down the mountainside and past Offshore Bar 1 to the twin goldfish in the Front Beach park on Le Loi, where we tucked into an excellent repast supplied once again by Mountain Goat, duly washed down by the contents of many gold and silver bullets courtesy of our valued sponsor San Miguel. It's surely fair to say that healthy exercise leads to an extremely healthy appetite! The Circle was called and this latest in Mountain Goat’s repertoire of testing trails was given an excellent score of 9/10 by CNR – himself a Hare of some renown, who is not known for awarding points unless they’re well-deserved! VTH3 Hash Virgin Vesa was introduced as a friend and compatriot of 'flying Finn' Pekka. Then returnees Tiny Tim, Terminator and Mother Theresa were welcomed back to the fold (along with a furry new chum for K9-extraordinaire Hashputin, perhaps?). And just to prove we still haven’t run out of new and innovative ways to go up, over, across and down Big Mountain, next week’s trail will also be set on the Vung Tau icon by Hares Falcon and CNR.  Reporting by Falcon, Uncle Hare: Mountain Goat Hash Flash: Pekka VTH3 #612 PHOTO GALLERY>>>    PLEASE SUPPORT OUR MAJOR SPONSOR, SAN MIGUEL! Contact Mr Tien for all San Miguel products in Vung Tau: email: tienvtvn@yahoo.com phone, text/sms: 0168 385 1068 Home, office, party etc deliveries a specialty! See also San Miguel Special Festive Season Offer! 12 January 2014 BIG MOUNTAIN This week's "return to Big Mountain" began with a 'multinational' walk along Le Ngoc Han to the familiar Hem 89, where we turned left and climbed the steps through the residential area to Vi Ba (the mostly sealed road that locals use for their daily exercise on Big Mountain). After the usual 'chalk talk' ('run briefing', for the uninitiated!), we continued to the end of Vi Ba, then changed terrain onto a rough track towards the popular theme park on top of the mountain. And that's when the fun began! We left the track and joined the trail under the cable car system as far as the crossroads at the top, where we made a right turn onto the steep rock-strewn trail that descends all the way down the mountainside back to Vi Ba. Then it was down the steps through the houses and along Le Ngoc Han in reverse direction to the "Twin goldfish" in the Front Beach park on Le Loi. After many beers, chips and snacks of Russian bread, pork and pickles (supplied once again by Mountain Goat and her faithful hound Hashputin), the Circle was called. Hares Falcon, Samson and KFC were awarded 8/10 for the trail by Punjabi Express. VTH3 Hash Virgins Mark (Sperm Polluter) and Annie were welcomed from Pattaya, and Punjabi Express and Stubble were welcomed back after work-related absences - a feature of the oil & gas industry, of which Vung Tau is Vietnam's epicentre. This week's sinners included Faulty Brakes and Punjabi Express for some spectacular 'Hash crashes', intrepid Hare Samson for new shoes, and several others for various misdemeanours. The highlight of an extremely enjoyable day was Sperm Polluter and Annie presenting beautiful red sarongs from Pattaya Hash to all the ladies!  Reporting: Falcon, Uncle Hares: Falcon, Samson, KFC Hash Flash: Pekka Next week's run #612 will be set by Mountain Goat at the scene of her many "torture trails" - Big Mountain. VTH3 #611 PHOTO GALLERY>>>    PLEASE SUPPORT OUR MAJOR SPONSOR, SAN MIGUEL! Contact Mr Tien for all San Miguel products in Vung Tau: email: tienvtvn@yahoo.com phone, text/sms: 0168 385 1068 Home, office, party etc deliveries a specialty! See also San Miguel Special Festive Season Offer! 05 January 2014 LONG HAI MOUNTAINS There was a surprisingly large number of runners this week, considering we're in the middle of the holiday season. After loading the bus with San Miguel "specials" plus accompanying soft drinks and chips, some 18 enthusiastic Hashers (and 1 dog) climbed aboard for the trip to Long Hai. We eventually parked the Hashmobile opposite the Bo Bo Café and Coffee Shop (tour guides please note!) and headed off along a dirt track for 1 km to the start point - where Falcon briefed the troops on what they were about to encounter. As usual, the trail involved a steep climb, this time up concrete steps that led to a path which, in turn, wound around the side of a mountain. Some 2 km of mixed terrain and vegetation later, we reached our goal: the Chua Long temple. Time for everyone to catch their breath, immerse themselves in culture and/or socialise, before heading back to the Hashmobile in reverse direction along the same trail - but which now looked and felt quite different, as all experienced Hashers would know! Mountain Goat and K9 companion Hashputin kindly supplied Russian bread, pork and pickles to complement the chips(!) as the troops relaxed after an interesting afternoon's exertions. A group photo first, and then the Circle was called. The trail was awarded 9/10 by Pekka (who was probably hoping such a generous score would get him relieved of Hash Flash duties, but he was wrong!). Hash Virgins Binh, Hein and Chris were welcomed into the fold - and many sinners were punished for "foot faults" and sundry other misdemeanours both real and imagined. Importantly, it was also time to recognise Mr Son, who has done more Hare sets in his relatively short time with VTH3 than many far more experienced Hashers! (nudge, nudge, wink, wink...). Appropriately, Mr Son will henceforth be the proud owner of Hash moniker "SAMSON"! <loud applause> We eventually headed back towards Offshore 1 just before sunset - and after many Vietnamese, Russian and Beatles songs we arrived back at base camp to stow the eskies and all-important "blue bucket" for another week. Next week's run #611 will be on Big Mountain, set by Hares Falcon, KFC and Samson. We'll meet, as usual, at the Offshore Bar 1: 2pm for 2.30pm start. In the meantime, if anyone is interested in helping with VTH3 communication duties (emails, this website, etc), please go to "Positions Vacant" - we'd love to hear from anyone who might be interested.  Reporting: Falcon, Uncle Hares: Falcon, KFC, Mr Son Hash Flash: Pekka, Radio Wave VTH3 610 PHOTO GALLERY>>> SEE ALSO http://yadi.sk/d/f3vvp2mzFVmRU FOR ADDITIONAL PHOTOS BY RADIO WAVE, WHO CAN SUPPLY 5184x3456 RESOLUTION. MAKE YOUR REQUEST HERE  |
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