  PLEASE SUPPORT OUR MAJOR SPONSOR, SAN MIGUEL! Contact Mr Duy for all San Miguel products in Vung Tau: email: duy.maianh@sanmiguel.com.vn phone, text/sms: 0908808468 Home, office, party etc deliveries a specialty! 28 December 2014 BIG MOUNTAIN - Christmas "FREEBIE" special! Yes, folks - Sunday's run #661 was FREE! It was Santa's gift to those hardy Hashers who continued to support VTH3 over the holidays. There was also a change of trail because, although Basil had valiantly taken a day off work in the middle of busy Christmas week to mark a trail, further investigation into a rather "noisy" telegraph pole indicated a power leak so, rather than risk anyone's safety, we decided to give the area a "big swerve". Instead, we opted for a partly unmarked "adventure trail" up the side of the mountain from Ganh Hao restaurant. With Terminator leading the way and much whistle-blowing and shouts of "On On" to keep everyone on trail, we finally made it to the coffee shop outside the Army camp and a choice of two routes down the other side of the mountain: take the "easy" trail down the sealed road past the monkey pagoda, or the longer and more difficult (but arguably more interesting) "adventure" trail up the broken road towards the theme park and then over the edge between two hairpin bends and "into the abyss" to go around the mountainside. We followed the occasionally rocky bush track (cue more whistle-blowing and shouts of "On On" to keep everyone heading in the same direction) until we finally reached the familiar "crossroads" in a flat, grassy, open area overlooking Vi Ba. A left turn here would lead to the potentially dangerous telegraph pole, so we made a right and went almost vertically down a narrow, rock-strewn track until emerging onto Vi Ba near the residential steps leading back into town. Down the steps, around a few corners then straight ahead to the twin goldfish in the park and there they were - the lovely red eskies (courtesy of SamSon, who hadn't been able to join us for the run but still managed to get the eskies to the Circle). Time for a few refreshing San Migs, water and/or softies - not to mention several "Christmas vodkas"(!) - to wash down the lovely snacks courtesy once again of Mother Teresa and Mountain Goat, and then the Circle was called - our last for 2014. With apprentice Grand Master Oggy assisting Uncle in controlling a boisterous Circle (see earlier mention of "Christmas vodka"!), the trail was rated 8/10 by Live Wire; Hash Virgins Svetlana, Alex, Anna and Mr Son introduced themselves; returnees Uncle, Anti and Rowdy Water were welcomed back; and no less than seven sinners were charged for misdemeanours ranging from inappropriate footwear (including NO footwear!) and "inconsequential chatter" in the Circle. It was here that Ms Oanh displayed her Hashing experience by "stiff arming" not one but two beers into low stratospheric orbit! Finally, the "Russian quartet" were called into the Circle to be thanked for providing very welcome "sustenance": Mother Teresa and Mountain Goat for the snacks, and Terminator and Tiny Tim for the vodka! Recognising the festive season, all Down Downs were accompanied by some rather raucous Christmas songs which don't (yet) appear on our "Circle Songs" page! A call for Hares next week resulted in VTH3 stalwarts Terminator and Mountain Goat volunteering to set a trail in the Ba Ria area. With such experienced Hashers, we can be sure of an interesting and challenging trail on Sunday! We'll meet, as usual, in the Offshore Bar 1 beer garden at 2 pm for 2.30 pm start. In the meantime, we thank former VTH3 members from "the early days", the Thompson family (Paul, Oanh, Joanna, Benjamin) for their friendship during the festive season, and wish them Bon Voyage for their return to Thailand. On On!  Reporting: Basil, Uncle Hare: Basil. Chalk talks: Uncle Hash Flash: Uncle. Group photos: Basil. Circle photos: Anti, SamSon. More photos: Flying Finn VTH3 #661 PHOTO GALLERY HASH FLASH PHOTOS FIRST, THEN SOME OF FLYING FINN'S > > >   AND NOW SOME OF FLYING FINN'S PHOTOS > > > SORRY, NO MORE FROM FLYING FINN THIS WEEK BECAUSE INTERNET ACCESS SO SLOW.
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 PLEASE SUPPORT OUR MAJOR SPONSOR, SAN MIGUEL! Contact Mr Duy for all San Miguel products in Vung Tau: email: duy.maianh@sanmiguel.com.vn phone, text/sms: 0908808468 Home, office, party etc deliveries a specialty!  21 December 2014 SMALL MOUNTAIN - Jesus Hill Christmas run A happy, festive band of mostly "red" Hashers strode through the Front Beach area of Vung Tau City and along Phan Chu Trinh to Hotel Duc Anh, about 200 metres short of Back Beach (yes, it's a fair hike, but the weather was kind today and Camel Bone was enjoying himself giving candies to the kids!). We waited for co-Hare SamSon to arrive by Mai Linh sleigh with bags of rice and cookies, which were duly "slung aloft" and carried towards the villagers who live on the back of Jesus Hill. It was about here that "Santa" Basil arrived in full red and white regalia, much to the surprise of Hashers, villagers, children and dogs alike. "Santa Claus is coming, to town!" they sang in unison (well we're sure they would have if they knew the words!). In conjunction with one of the village elders, SamSon and Basil had compiled a list of the most needy - and those names were read out and invited to come and collect their rice. They were tentative at first, but soon realised it was all above board and just a bunch of generous Hashers doing their best to make someone happy for Christmas. Once the ice was broken, the smiles started to appear - and became even bigger when the kids started collecting their cookies! After no more than a few minutes, the whole area resembled a festive market! Alas, all too soon it was time to continue the Christmas run, and "On On" we went towards the scheduled drinks and photo stop. Plenty of photos were taken on the corner overlooking Back Beach, but unfortunately no drinks because the proprietor of what must be the smallest lemonade stall in Vung Tau had mysteriously vanished - which was a shame because she would surely have done more business in half an hour on Sunday than in all the previous month! And so we continued our merry way - up to the Jesus statue via a bit of off-road stuff to make life interesting, and then eventually Down Down the tourist steps and out onto Halong road and into the large park cum car park at the top of the slope down towards Back Beach. Regular Hasher Mr Khoa was given the dubious honour of rating the trail and awarded it 7.8(!) out of 10 - with most of the "merit" points awarded for the Christmas charity theme rather than the trail itself! No matter, "points is points" as the bard once said (I think!), and Down Down went the ice-cold San Migs. Then it was time to introduce the Hash Virgins: Mr Hieu from Ben Nghe, Ms Thanh, and Ken from USA - welcome one and all! Returnees next: Ms Oanh and family, Geoff and Anh Kent, Ms Hao, "Chippy" and the little fellah and, last but certainly not least, that scion of Vung Tau Hash's "new establishment" - none other than Ice Water, freshly returned from her travels and, along with Titanic and D&G, more than happy to add even more VND to the charity pot - many thanks guys! The first sinner was Santa Basil, for being far too preoccupied with "North Pole" stuff at the expense of his co-Hare status - leaving some weary Hashers a little confused about which way to turn next! Camel Bone wanted GPS to sing a Christmas song but she was a bit shy so "...and he'll never go to heaven in a long, long way" became "...and he'll never go to the North Pole for a long, long time". Vung Tau Hashers showing their impromptu creativity once again! And finally it was time to give a sincere "honourable mention" and thanks to Mountain Goat and Ice Water for continuing to provide the delicious snacks - we luv 'em! STOP PRESS: Basil has taken time off work during the busy holiday period to set a trail on Big Mountain for this Sunday. It'll be our last run for 2014, of course, so let's make it a good turnout that's worthy of his efforts! We'll meet as usual in Offshore Bar 1 beer garden, 2 pm for 2.30 pm start. On On!  Reporting: Basil, Uncle Hares: SamSon, Basil Hash Flash: Viking, SamSon, Ms Van Anh, Ice Water. Storyline photos: Flying Finn VTH3 #660 PHOTO GALLERY We'll let Flying Finn tell the story first > > >   ...AND NOW VIKING, SAMSON, MS VAN ANH AND ICE WATER CAN FILL IN ANY GAPS > > >   PLEASE SUPPORT OUR MAJOR SPONSOR, SAN MIGUEL! Contact Mr Duy for all San Miguel products in Vung Tau: email: duy.maianh@sanmiguel.com.vn phone, text/sms: 0908808468 Home, office, party etc deliveries a specialty! 14 December 2014 BIG MOUNTAIN - Up, over and down! It was a queue for the taxi fleet outside Offshore Bar 1 this week, heading for the start of a long'ish trail over Big Mountain to replace the planned Long Hai Beach because of the threat of bad weather from Typhoon Hagupit that fortunately bypassed us to the south - but the Hares weren't to know that before the event, so they made a decision in favour of "safety first". It was nice to see Mapdraw's smiling face once again, and Kojak marked his return after a work absence by using his "taxi card" to good effect! We offloaded near the Lam Duong restaurant for a group photo and Chalk Talk by Basil, then it was "On On" up the stairs and weaving through motorbikes and trucks past the artillery station, eventually heading off-road and into the bush - with a shirtless Terminator leading the way, as usual! It was a pleasant trail but quite long, complete with noisy geese, and then we emerged at the familiar (to some) shrine at the top. Time for a few photos and then finally all the way down the famous(!) 600 steps, through the temple and across the road to find our eskies at the 83 Tran Phu coffee shop, and then downstairs for the beachside deck chairs. It should be mentioned at this stage that not everyone had followed the same trail (do they ever?) - Ciprian had decided to "look after" Hash Virgin Mr Tiep by leading him on a detour to take photos at the artillery station, which of course meant other Hashers followed them, too! A bit later, we were alerted to Mountain Goat taking a short cut by lots of barking dogs having a loud "chat" with her faithful K9 Hashputin! The walkie talkies proved their worth once more, with Basil able to remotely steer Flying Finn and followers around one of The Gardener's old markers that seems to be defying its "biodegradable" status! But that still didn't stop Blackhawk and a couple of cohorts from following the old trail instead of waiting for directions - and nor did it stop Viking from doing his Tarzan impersonation (luckily, the vine snapped before he could swing too far)! Unfortunately, it was about now that designated Hash Flash Camel Bone realised he'd been given a "dud" camera - the battery died, and so we can't entertain you with what would have been hilarious photos of Viking's valiant attempts at "vine swinging"! Many of us were fortunate enough to witness temple workers storing medicinal herbs, which they grow for charity, just before we reached Tran Phu and our destination. Yummy snacks by Mountain Goat and ice-cold drinks by San Miguel were waiting for everyone at the pre-designated end point of 83 Tran Phu, courtesy of "co-Hare doubling as delivery man", SamSon. After a suitable interval for rest and refreshment, SamSon showed additional versatility by donning the regalia and reminding everyone that we had collectively agreed to donate 28M VND to John "Falcon" Mills' widow Trinh and son James which, added to personal donations from Hung Low, Hot Dog, Uncle&Anti, Clint Eastwood, Faulty Brakes and Captain Hornblower, will help them start a new life in Australia after Falcon's tragic death - which was our main charitable event for the year. However, it's nearly Christmas now so he distributed lucky envelopes and, with support from Camel Bone, invited everyone to donate what they can to purchase rice for the poor families living on the back of Jesus Hill, off Phan Chu Trinh. With 20 Hashers in the Circle, an extremely generous 1.7M VND was collected - to be augmented by a donation from Faulty Brakes, who expects to return in January. Then it was back to the Circle and Titanic awarded 7/10 for the trail, having deducted some points for the confusion between old and new markers - co-Hare SamSon happily Down Down'ed on behalf of himself and Basil, who had to race off and attend an emergency. Hash Virgin Mr Tiep was introduced; Tiger was charged by Camel Bone (no, we can't remember why either!); Ciprian and Mr Tiep paid the penalty for their segue at the artillery station; the Circle laughed their appreciation of SamSon's "singing" voice(!); and we thanked Mountain Goat for once again providing the delicious snacks that are always so welcome at the end of a rather hot and dusty trail! Next week will be our 2014 Christmas run - and more details will be circulated by email and also shown here (scroll down for STOP PRESS), when confirmed later this week. We'll meet on Sunday, as usual, 2 pm for 2.30 pm start. Except this time it would be nice if everyone could try and wear something red and/or "Christmassy" - because we'll be doing our best to share some Christmas spirit with the community! On On!  Reporting: Basil, SamSon, Uncle Hares: SamSon, Basil Hash Flash: Camel Bone. Additional photos: Flying Finn, Kojak VTH3 #659 PHOTO GALLERY Camel Bone's photos first > > > AND THAT ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ IS WHEN THE HASH CAMERA BATTERY DIED!!!  ...and now Flying Finn's photos > > >  But wait - there's more! Here's Kojak's contribution > > >    PLEASE SUPPORT OUR MAJOR SPONSOR, SAN MIGUEL! Contact Mr Duy for all San Miguel products in Vung Tau: email: duy.maianh@sanmiguel.com.vn phone, text/sms: 0908808468 Home, office, party etc deliveries a specialty! 07 December 2014 LONG HAI MOUNTAINS - A lovely view from the top! The Offshore Bar 1 was temporarily closed for renovations (it's open again now!), but registration for #658 proceeded as usual in the capable hands of Basil, and a happy band of Hashers embarked for the trip to Long Hai Mountains on a day that promised rain but fortunately didn't. We dropped the eskies at the pre-selected Circle location in a very nice resort (even though the bus couldn't get in!), then walked to the start point at Bo Bo's Cafe for a trail that has been run only once before - and that was quite some time ago. We started with a Chalk Talk by Basil, then it was "On On" along a dirt track to the accompaniment of barking dogs, shouted invitations for drinks from locals, and children on bicycles who were eager to practise their English - always with infectious laughter - until we came to the 400 steps up the hillside, so "On Up" we went! We gathered our breath at the top before turning left towards the tall grass, and then "On Down" into the forest which was so dense we couldn't see the sun! The trail was fairly flat at this stage, but it's always important to look for the markers and at least two Hashers were kept on the "straight and narrow" by a fortunately timed "On On" shout from experienced Hasher Blackhawk. We eventually reached the climb to the mountain-top shrine, which was set in the grounds of a gaily decorated pagoda (see photo gallery below). Now it was time to relax for a while and take some photos of the 360 degree views including Ba Ria city, Minh Dam, etc before heading down the mountain and eventually arriving at the charming, picturesque resort grounds and our eskies! Delicious Russian snacks courtesy Mother Teresa, and ice-cold drinks courtesy our generous sponsor San Miguel were the order of the day - augmented by chips, nuts(!), soft drinks, water and Vietnamese plums hand-picked by Oggie and some of the ladies, with permission from the resort owner, of course! After a suitable time had elapsed for refreshments after such a long trail, Radio Wave donned the Ring Master garb and called for a trail assessment. Mother Teresa gave it the exemplary mark of 10/10 - well done Hares KFC and Basil, that's a perfect score! Hash Virgins Ms Ngoc, Ms Tra and Mr Phong were introduced; then "Sinners" Ciprian, Ms Vy, Viking, Ms Van Anh and others were called into the Circle to pay "Down Down penance" for sins real and imagined! The ladies were also collectively recognised for their contributions and thanked by all! STOP PRESS: Hares SamSon and Basil have set a trail for this Sunday at Bai Dau, Big Mountain. The original plan for a trail on Long Hai Beach was shelved because of the risk that the low pressure system from Typhoon Hagupit could make landfall near Long Hai - better safe than sorry! Everyone will be given lucky envelopes at the Circle, which will be collected later so donations can be used to purchase bags of rice for the poor and distributed the following Sunday (21 December) - more details on Sunday and next week! We'll meet this Sunday, as usual, in Offshore Bar 1 beer garden at 2 pm for 2.30 pm start. On On!  Reporting: Basil, Uncle Hares: KFC, Basil Hash Flash: Viking. Additional photos: Flying Finn VTH3 #658 PHOTO GALLERY > > >  THE FOLLOWING ADDITIONAL PHOTOS ARE COURTESY FLYING FINN, PEKKA: |
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