VTH3 Run Reports

VTH3 #680

11/5/2015

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10 May 2015
NUI DINH - Mountain Goat's birthday: part 2 & Russian 'Victory Day'!

Hashers all met at the Sao Bien 4, with the Russian Hashers “geared up” to celebrate the 70th anniversary of "Victory Day" (aka V-E Day), when Nazi Germany surrendered to the Allies (including the former Soviet Union) in WWII.
We set off for Nui Dinh but stopped at the Long Hai roundabout to pick-up our main star: Mountain Goat. We also had a surprise when smoke suddenly started billowing from the top of the bus – fortunately it was just gas from the aircon, so calm was restored!
The bus was too big to travel inside the village at the bottom of Nui Dinh, so The Gardener led everyone off the bus for a chalk talk.
Then it was “On On” through the village to a chorus of barking dogs and the rural scene of villagers busy in their fields.
We turned left at the end of the village and then right through a large shed and into the forest, passing a teenage farmer enjoying some time in the shade with his Vietnamese music.
Venturing deep into the forest, the sky had blessed us with plenty of cloud cover from the scorching sun – but sadly, no breeze.
The trail was a 45 degree uphill climb. It didn’t look difficult but it drained a lot of stamina. Hashers were glad they were reminded to bring plenty of water.
Deeper and deeper we went into the forest, but when we finally reached an open dirt road it was familiar to some and they instinctively followed an old trail instead of the red eco-tape!
After some corrections, we reached the river bed which was completely dry and filled with stones and sand. Many Hashers hopped from stone to stone to avoid the sand, similar to the game, “the floor is lava”!
At the end of the river bed it was a right turn back into the forest – and that’s when we heard “On-Off”, which sounded like “On On” so we replied and carried on, until we found Ms Nga who had backtracked to look for her friend but took a fall which left her with bruising, a sore chin and a bleeding palm – “all in a day’s work on the Hash”! (just joking: we take injuries very seriously, but Ms Nga’s fortunately didn’t require special treatment – ed).
We eventually made it safely back to the open dirt road and ice cold beer and vodka – it was 17:22, an unusually long trail!
The Russian Hashers were already celebrating the 70th anniversary of the former Soviet Union’s role in helping to end WWII with t-shirts showing someone in "cool" shades whose name rhymes with Hashputin, and “military” paraphernalia including a fur hat and flag. Typically, some Hashers wanted to buy the t-shirts!
After some vodka, balloon-blowing and beer, we finally took a group photo before it got too dark and duty Ring Master Basil called the Circle.
Basil noted the 70th anniversary, Mothers Day, Mountain Goat’s birthday Mk II, and announced that we’ll celebrate our 700th run later this year (it's early days yet, but everyone will be invited to place an order if we find someone to produce commemorative t-shirts at a reasonable price...). Hares The Gardener, Ms Banana, Monsieur ‘Arry and Ronald Reagan were invited into the Circle for Mountain Goat’s evaluation of her “birthday gift”. She held both open palms high to indicate a perfect score: 10/10 – and SamOnHash translated: “It was an excellent trail!”
We welcomed US visitor Simon “Huggy Bear”, who has run with several Hashes in Asia but this was his first in Vung Tau. Also Alexander, a mechanic, and Gema, both from Vietsovpetro. Then Ms Hong, who was introduced by her slightly injured friend, Ms Nga!
Then it was time for Anatoly to receive his Hashtag for more than 6 runs. Titanic and Live Wire suggested белый тигр ("Ak Bars" – which means “white tiger” in English) – because his hometown in Russia is as white as snow (maybe because it IS snow!); there was no argument from the Circle, so “Ak Bars” it is from now on! Sinners included Ronald Reagan and Dolly for losing the trail (RR was one of the Hares!), Tiny Tim for talking too much(!), and Ms Banana for new yellow shoes!
Super Teen then bestowed a special ribbon onto the Chain of Honour, to commemorate the involvement of Russians in helping to end the long and cruel WWII.
And finally, our grateful thanks as always to the foodies: Mountain Goat, Mother Teresa, Liuda, D&G, Titanic and Stubble for continuing to share their delicious snacks with everyone!
With no volunteers to set next week’s trail, the Circle was closed and everyone reminded to keep an eye on the NEXT RUN box and also STOP PRESS in this run report for trail updates.
We’ll meet on Sunday, as usual, at 2 pm for 2.30 pm start, Sao Bien 4 restaurant – about 30 metres before the main cable car complex at 1A Tran Phu.
On On!

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