 PLEASE SUPPORT OUR MAJOR SPONSOR, SAN MIGUEL! For all San Miguel products in Vung Tau: Ms Dao Email: [email protected] Office phone: 08.39976377 (Mondays thru Fridays, 8am - 5pm) Mobile: 0903 886 899 Home, office, party etc deliveries a specialty! 26 June 2016 MINH DAM SECRET ZONE - "Million Dollar views (in good weather)" Hares: SamSon, Uncle, Anti Hash Flash: Cousin. Additional photos: Radio Wave Ringmaster: SamSon Report: Uncle We set off from Hon Ru Ri for Minh Dam Secret Zone in light rain – leaving the final choice of trails until we arrived. It was still raining as we reached the entrance gates, so everyone except our Live Hares dismounted for the 2 km uphill hike to the Minh Dam car park where co-Hare Anti would be waiting to point out the correct trail for today. At the car park, Hares SamSon and Uncle opted for the newer trail to the well-protected boulders overlooking the north and north-east, including the East Sea, because the ground was less likely to be affected by the rain. The trail over softer ground to the “nuns houses” and lookout rocks on a different peak was shelved for “next time”. The trail went up and down, but more up than down – and the Hares enjoyed the sight of aptly-named Terminator hobbling along behind them for his first “run out” since the accident that broke his leg. Nearly everyone made it to the lookout spot, and lots of photos were taken despite the less than perfect weather! Then it was back to the car park, but via a slightly different route marked by the Hares to test everyone’s observation (most failed!). Mother Teresa once again provided delicious snacks, washed down by ice-cold San Migs; then a rather wet Circle was called by Ringmaster SamSon. Radio Wave thanked the Hares and rated the trail 7/10, with an extra 3 for “the weather”: 10/10! No Hash Virgins for the first time in many weeks, so we welcomed returnees Perro Caliente, Suction Cup and Fot Tret. Sinners were many and varied, including Radio Wave and Alex for being the first to reach the car park (Hash is not a competition!), and all those who didn’t follow the re-set trail markers back to the car park – but that would have exhausted our supply of drinking cups so it was decided that those who DID follow the markers would get the Down Downs instead: well done SID, Sidney, Perro Caliente and Suction Cup! A “christening” was next, and after some discussion of alternatives, Dianne’s Hashtag was suggested as “Lady Di” by Yulia, with full agreement from the Circle. Then the Hares were charged by Suction Cup for being “lazy” by staying on the bus to get a head start on laying the trail – and Uncle was awarded the “Tube of Shame”. He was already wet, so splashing himself with beer didn’t make much difference! The call for Hares to lay next week’s trail resulted in “S2” (SID and Sidney) volunteering to lay a local trail on Small Mountain, with Down Down back at Hon Ru Ri. And then it was back to town on the bus, accompanied by the usual international singalong – featuring a medley of folk songs from the Russian choir led by Radio Wave, Yulia and Vadik! We’ll meet again next Sunday, as usual, at Hon Ru Ri – 2 pm for 2.30 pm start, in any weather! On On! VTH3 #739 PHOTO GALLERY  GPS trace and run stats below courtesy Radio Wave. And here's the link to Radio Wave's photos: https://yadi.sk/d/Fkyu1szosoUzE 
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 PLEASE SUPPORT OUR MAJOR SPONSOR, SAN MIGUEL! For all San Miguel products in Vung Tau: Ms Dao Email: [email protected] Office phone: 08.39976377 (Mondays thru Fridays, 8am - 5pm) Mobile: 0903 886 899 Home, office, party etc deliveries a specialty! 19 June 2016 BIG MOUNTAIN - Many steps up, more steps down! Hares: Shaun, SID, Basil Hash Flash: Cousin. Additional photos: Radio Wave Ringmaster: SamSon Scribe: Uncle It was another pleasantly overcast day as we filled the taxi fleet at Hon Ru Ri for the trip to our start point just around the corner towards the fishing village from the end of Le Loi. Taxis were all paid by Basil and we moved a bit further away from the busy street scene for a chalk talk outside one of the many pagodas in the area. Basil explained that the onset of rainy season also means the snakes are on the move, so co-Hares Shaun and SID distributed “snake sticks” – a nice touch! Then it was “On On” up many steps, literally almost rubbing shoulders with the locals as we passed their house-fronts until the man-made steps ended and nature took over. Up a bit more and follow the marker tape until we reached the concrete track which one local has somehow managed to have laid to his front gate! Hairpin turn left and up the narrow dirt track to several shrines which mark the top of the familiar route down to Tran Phu. 602 knee-jarring steps later, we (well, some of us, anyway!) staggered through the pagoda gardens "back on level ground" and turned left on Tran Phu for the short hike to Motel 102, and SamSon coincidentally arriving with the eskies – brilliant (lucky) timing! After lots of socialising in the motel forecourt, Duty Ringmaster SamSon eventually called the Circle and Dianne rated the trail 10/10 with no hesitation! Hash Virgins Elina, Alexei, Ania, Mang, Alex and Yulia were introduced and welcomed, then returnees Punjabi Express and Kate were unable to convince the Circle to be lenient, so they were both awarded the “Tubes of pain” with the usual hilarious results! Visitor Miss Saigon (SH3 Hash Geek) said “Hi” and then sinners were called for – but there was so much chaos in and around the Circle that your scribe got completely sidetracked dodging flying liquid bombs and totally missed the next few minutes! Somewhere in the melee it was decided to give Shaun a Hashtag and, as he’d proposed to SID on bended knee not so long ago, he was unanimously awarded SID-knee (aka “Sidney” – or even “Sydney” for the Aussies amongst us!). Then we had two announcements: “Don’t forget to give your email address to Basil at registration” (in fact it was later agreed to add phone numbers for possible safety contact – another good idea from the Circle); and then Uncle thanked Dianne for posting a review on Trip Advisor, explaining that it all goes to help promote the Hash and increase our numbers. If you haven’t posted a review yet, please consider doing so – simple instructions are always given in the weekly “run report notification” email. A call for Hares resulted in Uncle volunteering to do a Live Hare run at Minh Dam Secret Zone next week unless someone volunteers to mark a trail in the meantime. The Circle was then dissolved (almost literally!) and everyone made their way back to base camp – some in taxis, some on foot – to empty and stow the eskies, blue bin, etc with the hardcore few having a last “one or two for the road”. So it will be back to the Long Hai Mountains next week – and we’ll meet again at Hon Ru Ri on Sunday, as usual: 2 pm for 2.30 pm start! On On! Disclaimer: As always, every effort has been made to ensure accuracy, but so much happens in such a short time that your scribe cannot possibly accept any responsibility for mistakes! However, any errors that are pointed out will be rectified immediately, if not sooner! VTH3 #738 PHOTO GALLERY  GPS TRACE AND RUN STATS COURTESY RADIO WAVE Also click on this link for Radio Wave's photos: https://yadi.sk/d/VRa2tGXVsgpGB   PLEASE SUPPORT OUR MAJOR SPONSOR, SAN MIGUEL! For all San Miguel products in Vung Tau: Ms Dao Email: [email protected] Office phone: 08.39976377 (Mondays thru Fridays, 8am - 5pm) Mobile: 0903 886 899 Home, office, party etc deliveries a specialty! 12 June 2016 SEAVIEW TO THE SEA - A pleasant day in the countryside! Hare: Uncle Hash Flash: Uncle. Additional photos: Radio Wave Ringmaster: Basil Report: Uncle It was a pleasantly overcast day as we loaded the bus at Hon Ru Ri for the trip to Seaview Apartments and a trek to the beach. We left the residential area in the diagonally opposite corner to where we’d dismounted from the bus, then a quick chalk talk while avoiding passing traffic, and “On On” through the suburbs. We passed the notorious Phuong (Ward) 10 and turned left after the canal, onto Hem 225. From here it was a direct 3 km hike through the countryside to the Le Quy Don School via several bridges and a water jump, then carefully across the highway into the rural beachside area and, eventually, our bus with the bright red eskies and Terminator – still injured but perfectly capable of guarding the food and drinks! Many took the opportunity for a swim after the rain shower that caught most of us towards the end of the trail, while others opted to sit around and socialise. It was an extremely relaxing environment so far from the noisy highway, with the soothing sounds of waves as background to Mother Teresa’s delicious snacks. Not quite so soothing was the red pepper-infused vodka being liberally offered around to complement our sponsor’s ice-cold San Migs! Ringmaster Basil eventually called for the team photo and Circle – with Dianne scoring the trail 10/10, despite having sampled some of the local mud “up close and personal”! Hash Virgins Boly, Linh (VN), Helen and daughter Victoria (Russia) were welcomed; then returnees (and recently married) SID & Shawn – and Ms Thuy (mother of Boly and Linh), who was back after four years! Uncle charged Basil and his group for “shopping on the Hash!” (he’d seen them emerging from a local shop when he went back in the rain to find them) – but Basil admitted it was his idea to shelter in the shop from the rain, so he took the “fall” and associated Down Down for Sinners. Announcements followed: first that Terminator and Mother Teresa (back from Hanoi with daughter Superteen) were celebrating their 23rd wedding anniversary today; and then Radio Wave explaining that his son, Short(!) Wave, would be returning to Russia and university. Congratulations all round! A call for Hares resulted in Shawn & SID volunteering to help set next week’s trail with Basil on Big Mountain; and then we left the area clean and tidy after an extremely pleasant day in the local Ba Ria-Vung Tau countryside. We’ll meet again at Hon Ru Ri on Sunday, as usual: 2 pm for 2.30 pm start! On On! VTH3 #737 PHOTO GALLERY   TEAM PHOTO ABOVE & TRAIL STATS BELOW, COURTESY RADIO WAVE And follow this link to his photos: https://yadi.sk/d/DMzY2s8msSeB2   PLEASE SUPPORT OUR MAJOR SPONSOR, SAN MIGUEL! For all San Miguel products in Vung Tau: Ms Dao Email: [email protected] Office phone: 08.39976377 (Mondays thru Fridays, 8am - 5pm) Mobile: 0903 886 899 Home, office, party etc deliveries a specialty! 05 June 2016 NUI DAT - Red Dress Run: International Childrens Day Hare: Uncle Hash Flash: Cousin Ringmaster: SamSon Report: Uncle It was a blur of red as Hashers gathered at Hon Ru Ri for our RED DRESS CHARITY RUN and helped to load the eskies, food and other gifts of toys, books, clothing, etc onto the trust Hashmobile. All loaded, we headed off for our rendezvous with Diggers Rest principal Jason Fenech at Nui Dat (historic site of Australian Task Force in 1960s and early 70s - see Trip Advisor for details: "Things to do in Vung Tau"). Along the way we picked up Hope Solo and Ronaldo, who had donated so many gifts they couldn’t carry them into town! We also collected Mr Tuong and family at the Seaview apartments (lakeside), and Bus Stop at a bus stop (where else?) closer to Ba Ria. We eventually dismounted at the RV, and the bus followed Mr Jason and his jeep to Diggers Rest to await the Hashers. A quick chalk talk and then we went down a long straight track with many old relics of the Vietnam/American War on both sides. Right turn at the pagoda entrance at the end of the straight, then left and around the reservoir which is being dredged to add more water this rainy season for local residents. “On On” past the rubber plantations and more war relics, then we finally reached our congregation point at “SAS Hill” for some photo opportunities whilst waiting for everyone to arrive so we could enter Diggers Rest en masse. We left the hill alongside a long brick wall and turned left on the main road – then right turn, after photographing many ducks, into a stony side road to Diggers Rest and our bus! The local kids had already started to arrive, and we had a lot of food and gifts to sort through, so we elected to leave the Circle for the bus ride home. After lots of socialising with the kids (whose English language skills are a credit to Mr Jason and his able assistant “Number 4”), the food was finally distributed and then we took a group photo and asked the kids to judge their first international competition – "Best RED DRESS of the day". Aussie Dianne was a popular winner, with Viking (from Denmark, of course!) also managing to get into the winner’s circle despite catwalk pirouettes from Uncle, which unfortunately didn’t sway the judges! Some Hashers also took the opportunity to look around the Diggers Rest museum inside Mr Jason’s house (which is also home to the classroom where local kids whose parents can’t afford to send them to school do most of their learning…). A highlight of the afternoon was the choir of local kids singing the ever-popular children’s song, “Five little ducks” – in impeccable English, of course – as a “Thank you” to their happy benefactors from VTH3! All too soon, it was time to leave. So with lots of big “Thank you's” all-round, especially to the foodies including Anti and niece Vy who had spent the morning preparing snacks for everyone, we boarded the bus for the journey home. Mr Jason told us later that the kids were so happy, they stayed chatting and laughing about the experience for more than an hour after we'd left! And Number 4 sorted through the books, clothes and toys for distribution to poor households this week. It didn’t take long on the bus for an international song festival to get underway with entries from Vietnam, Russia, Japan, Australia, UK, etc – and then Ringmaster SamSon ran a truncated "mobile Circle" from the aisle! The trail was given 10/10 by Ronaldo, then Hash virgins Misses Vien, Vy, Tam, Tina, Han and Mr Viktor introduced themselves and were welcomed, as were returnees UFO (Russia), Mr Smiley (Vietnam) and Robert (USA). No sinners on such an auspicious occasion, where “giving” was the overriding theme of the day; and it was obvious from the contented chatter on the bus that “giving” had left a lot of people feeling very good, indeed! Note: Someone was obviously feeling so good they left a KEY on the bus – if it’s yours, contact Basil by email to [email protected] or via the Contact VTH3 page on this website. And so the show continues… We’ll meet next Sunday at Hon Ru Ri as usual, 2 pm for 2.30 pm start. On On! VTH3 #736 PHOTO GALLERY  GPS TRACES AND TRAIL "STATS" FROM RADIO WAVE: |
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