 PLEASE SUPPORT OUR MAJOR SPONSOR, SAN MIGUEL! Contact Mr Cuong for all San Miguel products in Vung Tau: email: [email protected] phone, text/sms: 093 8833 183 Home, office, party etc deliveries a specialty! 26 JULY 2015 BIG MOUNTAIN - Hem 444 French gun battery, mountain village, 633 steps! It was fortunately overcast on Sunday, which made it relatively cool as we tramped away from Tran Phu Hem 444 towards the popular French gun battery. We enjoyed a rest stop for exploring and photos (no, there’s nothing at the “underground torpedo” site – that’s now marked for future exploration…). Then it was “On On” again, alternately crossing from one side of the mountain to the other, swapping views of Vung Tau Bay with the shipyards and the city. We passed through two small mountainside villages and then the trail became a little more hilly, before finally disappearing into the bush for a short uphill climb to a small shrine – before descending the 633 steps to “upper ground” level, then down to the front gate and around the corner to a motel at 102 Tran Phu, owned and managed by a lovely VN family. Medicoast Hotel provided sushi snacks today – very nice indeed! But they were suddenly augmented by enough bags of chips to last a month! Why? Oopso’s cheeky grin betrayed the culprit for so many sushi pieces now lying on the ground! Ringmaster Basil called the Circle and nominated Ak Bars' niece Julia to rate the trail, which she awarded full marks: 10/10! Down Down for Hares Uncle and Basil! Four Hash Virgins were introduced and welcomed: Julia, Bhuma, Peter Hong and Mr Giau. No visitors or returnees, so Mapdraw and Camel Bone were “punished” by the Circle for alleged sins long since forgotten. Then Basil (sushi) and UXO (chips) were applauded as today’s “Foodies”, before Uncle explained that we can’t guarantee the minimum number required for the proposed “700th t-shirt sale lunch” event, mainly because so many Russians are on holiday at this time. UXO volunteered to follow up and report. More details to follow when known. STOP PRESS (Friday): Uncle and Faulty Brakes have set Sunday's trail (run #692) on Big Mountain's south and SSE faces - with a medium-difficulty ascent followed by two long and two short options for the descent to Circle at SB4. The heavy rain on Thursday morning turned parts of the longer descent options into a magic nature trail, complete with cascading waterfall - let's see what happens on Sunday! We’ll meet on Sunday, as usual, at Sao Bien 4 restaurant, 2 pm for 2.30 pm start - in any weather! On On!  Report: Uncle, Basil Hares: Uncle, Basil Hash Flash: Uncle VTH3 #691 PHOTO GALLERY > > >  "HASH TEAM + NEW SPONSOR BANNER" PHOTOS COMING SOON
- WATCH THIS SPACE!
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 PLEASE SUPPORT OUR MAJOR SPONSOR, SAN MIGUEL! Contact Mr Cuong for all San Miguel products in Vung Tau: email: [email protected] phone, text/sms: 093 8833 183 Home, office, party etc deliveries a specialty! 19 JULY 2015 SEAVIEW > LE QUY DON > EAST SEA - "We can jump puddles!" Maybe the now-established rainy season early afternoon shower kept some folk away on Sunday, but the hardy 19 who realised it would soon stop were not disappointed – and we experienced a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon in the “northern suburbs and beach”, having jumped (or waded through) a few puddles along the way – see photo gallery below. We debussed at Seaview Apartments and walked as a group to the far lefthand corner of the estate and through some narrow lanes, before doubling-back to the right and eventually turning left on Hem 225 through a mix of housing styles and terrain – everything from concrete to mud, stones and cow tracks as we followed the nearby canal and its six bridges to the north. “On On” we went for 3.5 km through the allegedly mafia-controlled area* towards Le Quy Don school, where we turned right and crossed Highway 51 (very carefully!). *Front page article in Thanh Nien newspaper last week. Then it was down a small, bumpy but very soggy dirt track through the local countryside, before turning onto a newly-constructed road and seeing our bus parked down near the beach! Lots of ice-coldies followed, plus “pikelets” courtesy of volunteer foodie Fot tret. Some stayed to chat by the eskies, while others headed for the beach – very useful not just for the incredibly peaceful ambience, but also to remove the mud from today’s hike (very few of us managed to jump over every puddle – it was sometimes a matter of putting your “best foot forward” and wading through)! Ringmaster Basil eventually called the Circle and Taffy scored the trail an extremely high 11/10, including bonus points for variety! A delighted Uncle explained that “trails don’t have to hurt to be enjoyable” and swiftly down-downed his reward! Hash Virgin Hieu was introduced by his mentor Basil (“Hieu” too!); Henry, Taffy and Faulty Brakes were charged for (in name order) creating a sinkhole in a particularly slushy part of the trail, wearing new shoes, and trying to save the Hash camera instead of Hash Flash as he was vanishing down aforementioned sinkhole! Enthusiastic young Hasher Fot tret was ceremoniously thanked for voluntarily producing the day’s snacks (we could all learn a few things from Fot tret about selfless participation!); then Henry was adjudged the winner of today’s “eyes wide open” challenge by counting 117 trail markers, which was 1 more than the 116 actual, but certainly close enough to win an embroidered VTH3 hat when they’re delivered about a month from now! Discussion followed about the various pros and cons of a “foodie system”, and it was agreed that basic fare such as chips, baguettes etc are fine, to be provided every week by Mismanagement (hopefully with the aid of volunteer/s), and not resulting in any increase to run fees. Any other food is always welcome but on a purely voluntary “generosity” basis. Fot tret will be in Russia next week(!), but volunteered as “apprentice Hare” to set the trail for run 692 (2 August), so Uncle and Basil will set a trail on Big Mountain for next Sunday – focused on low-medium difficulty plus maximum interest value. Details to be confirmed later this week, but they're contemplating Hem 444 to the old French artillery battery then across Big Mountain to descend at or near the big pagoda onto Tran Phu and hopefully a new Circle location in the vicinity. We'll meet next Sunday as usual at Sao Bien 4 restaurant: 2 pm for 2.30 pm start - in any weather! On On!  Report: Uncle, Basil Hare: Uncle Hash Flash: Uncle. Circle photos: Fot tret, Henry VTH3 #690 PHOTO GALLERY > > >    PLEASE SUPPORT OUR MAJOR SPONSOR, SAN MIGUEL! Contact Mr Cuong for all San Miguel products in Vung Tau: email: [email protected] phone, text/sms: 093 8833 183 Home, office, party etc deliveries a specialty! 12 JULY 2015 SMALL MOUNTAIN - VTH3 "Re-Hash" 4th anniversary Despite an early afternoon rain shower, no fewer than 36 intrepid Hashers made it to registration for our “circular tour” of Lighthouse Hill, courtesy Hares SamSon and Basil. Basil decided to “save everyone’s legs”(!) by calling a taxi fleet to take us to the start point at Mr Ket, where we disembarked for the chalk talk, which reminded everyone to watch out for spiky bamboo on the way up. And then it was “On On” along a narrow sealed lane which gave way to a dirt road leading to the Army camp. And it was immediately before the camp gates that we detoured to the left: straight up the side of the mountain! We were very quickly reminded of the spiky bamboo warning, with everyone (even Uncle!) having to crouch on hands and knees in places to avoid being snagged! We eventually made it to the Lighthouse for photos, time to enjoy the scenery and also welcome little Oopso, who stole the show with an “arms raised” victory salute after a fairly torrid climb through the undergrowth! And then it was on down the hillside via the sealed road, except for a couple of unauthorised shortcuts! We finally made it to the pre-designated Circle venue in Front Beach Park only to find it deserted, vacant, empty – not a soul to be seen anywhere! Several phone calls and much searching later, it was realised that everyone was looking for the “big tree” that Basil had mentioned in the chalk talk: Lesson #1 – never take a Hasher’s word too literally, he was speaking metaphorically to reassure everyone that we’d have plenty of shade! The eskies subsequently arrived, courtesy Ronald Reagan, Taffy and crew, and Chippy was consigned to fill the vacant snack table – which she did very quickly and efficiently, much to everyone’s delight! Duty Ringmaster Basil called the Circle and nominated UXO and Faulty Brakes to rate the trail – which they gave 9/10 (probably deducted a point for lack of a big tree, who knows?). No fewer than FIVE Hash Virgins were then introduced, accompanied by their “sponsors”, Trung, Henry, Mai Thuyen, Le Thanh and Nguyen Xinh: Welcome, one and all! Returnee and Co-Founder of the VTH3 Re-Hash*, Faulty Brakes, was then called (back) into the Circle and remarked how the membership had changed in the past four years, with so many young Vietnamese having replaced declining numbers of foreign offshore oil workers due to the changing economy. *(Re-Hash run #1 – VTH3 run #482 – took place on 9 July 2011) Many sinners were charged for misdemeanours real and imagined (including aforementioned shortcuts!), then “Foodies for the Day” Chippy and Ronald Reagan were thanked in the usual manner. The Circle closed with Uncle reminding everyone to register for Saigon Hash’s 25th birthday extravaganza before the end of this month to qualify for a full goody bag – and then asking for a show of hands to explore holding a 700th run t-shirt sale dinner at Sao Bien 3 on Saturday evening, 15 August, followed by the (re-numbered) 700th run on Sunday 16th. Motion accepted unanimously, and details will be announced hopefully later this week. In the meantime, we’ll meet next Sunday, as usual, at Sao Bien 4 restaurant: 2 pm for 2.30 pm start for the “Northern Suburbs and Beach” run – don’t forget to bring swimwear and insect repellent! On On!  Report: Uncle, Basil Hares: Basil, SamSon Hash Flash: Uncle. Circle photos: Fot tret VTH3 #689 PHOTO GALLERY > > >  HASH TEAM "BANNER" PHOTOS WILL RESUME VERY SOON - HERE'S A "SNEAK PREVIEW" OF THE NEW BANNER > > >   PLEASE SUPPORT OUR MAJOR SPONSOR, SAN MIGUEL! Contact Mr Cuong for all San Miguel products in Vung Tau: email: [email protected] phone, text/sms: 093 8833 183 Home, office, party etc deliveries a specialty! 05 JULY 2015 NUI Dinh – "Abseiling and swimming - all in a day's Hashing!" The bus was packed full, and off we went - "On On" to Nui Dinh and our favourite swimming pool cafe. Co-Hare Basil gave a chalk talk, emphasising the need to be careful of spiky bamboo shoots and to help each other around the various "tricky" bits, including what turned out to be a highlight of the trail - abseiling back down to the road courtesy of the Hash rope, carried by Mr Smiley. Camel Bone and Butterfly managed to impale themselves on bamboo shoots, but the pack otherwise emerged fairly unscathed from what had been quite a long trek through the undergrowth - uphill all the way! It was a rather cool day, which was ideal for walking in the jungle - but deterred everyone except the younger set from taking a dip in the pool when we finally made it back to the cafe for snacks and ice-cold San Migs, softies and water. Duty Ringmaster Basil called the Circle and nominated Taffy to rate the trail - which was awarded an "exemplary" 10/10, so Basil did the honours on behalf of himself and absent co-hare KFC (working again!). Virgins Phillip, Nhat and Tuyen were introduced, then sinners Brenda, Hard Drive, Chippy and Camel Bone were charged for everything from getting injured on the Hash to taking the wrong trail and wearing new shoes! Uncle gave a pirouette Down Down demo as the day's "foodie"; then Taffy, Hard Drive and Camel Bone managed to score themselves a Down Down for reasons that were and still are very unclear! No volunteers for next week's trail so Basil said he and SamSon will lay one on Small Mountain. Volunteers are needed every week for laying trails and various other hash-related tasks, so anyone who feels like making a contribution should approach Basil either on a Sunday or by sending an email to [email protected] The bus trip back to Vung Tau included a "preview" of the excellent quality 700th run hash t-shirts, which will be on sale fairly soon, thanks to sponsor Greg at Shirts North. Shirts will be held aside for those who placed orders - and then it'll be "first in, best dressed" for everyone else, although we've ordered 150 so only the super small or super large might be unlucky if they didn't place an order. In the meantime, we'll meet next Sunday as usual at Sao Bien 4 restaurant: 2 pm for 2.30 pm start - in any weather! On On!  Report: Uncle, Basil Hares: Basil, KFC Hash Flash: Uncle. Circle photos: Fot tret VTH3 #688 PHOTO GALLERY FIRST, A "SNAPSHOT" FROM MR SMILEY > > > NOW SOME MORE FROM HASH FLASH AND FOT TRET > > >  |
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