VTH3# 979

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APRIL 4 2021
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LONG HAI

Hares: Bull Ant, Chippy, Secs, Teddy
Hash Flashers: Chom Chom, Various Hashers
Ringmaster: Chom Chom
Report: Secs

This week’s Hash started, as always, at Tommy’s with an eager bunch of volunteers gathering the day’s provisions only to be surprised to see five, yes five, brand new eskies!! Generously donated by our new favourite beer, Saigon Chill, these sizeable ice boxes are a welcome addition and will play a vital role in ensuring that soft drinks, food and, of course, Saigon Chill will be maintained at icy cool temperatures while we’re on the trail. Not only that - they have wheels! Now we can single handedly move the eskies around without risk of hernias. Thank you Mr. Phi and Saigon Chill.

With money men Bull Ant and Zidane completing registration and said eskies loaded, it's time to board our trusty Hashmobile and head off to this week’s destination - Long Hai mountains. With our capable bus captain, Mr An, at the wheel it does not take long before we find ourselves disembarking at one of our favourite down-down spots, the picturesque Ngọc Xương resort. 

We gather around Hare Secs for our marching orders. He explains that this will be an approximately 5km hike that will take us up quite a few steps to a temple where we can expect some awesome views, from there we going to go down the other side of the mountain through the bush, following red ribbons until we come to a path that will lead us the rest of the way down the mountain, bringing us out on to a road. Follow that road for a few hundred meters until the red ribbons indicate a right turn which will take us through the rural outskirts of Long Hai until we come back to Ngọc Xương. We are warned that it will be a hot trail on the way up - make sure you have water with you!

So on-on we go. And Secs wasn’t kidding - it was blistering hot. This doesn’t deter our hardy Hashers and step by step we make our way up the steep rocky steps stopping wherever we can find shade to hydrate and cool down. About two thirds of the way up we encounter some locals from the aforementioned temple who are carrying bags of sand on their heads up to the temple. We look on in awe as these guys and gals methodically haul their burdens up the steps in the sweltering heat of the afternoon. Still it makes us feel less worried about our own heat exhaustion and push ourselves up the remaining steps to the temple.

Arriving at the top we are delighted to find a quaint temple under shady trees and best of all a cooling balmy breeze. We perch upon rocks and steps and slump into hammocks and gather the strength to climb out to the rocky platform that gives us today’s spectacular view. Triumphant we stand on the rock and marvel at the view that looks across to Minh Dam mountain, the cool breeze drying our sweaty garments as we take many selfies of our achievement. 

Mostly recovered, we begin our descent that takes us down some steps at the side of the temple until we find ourselves in the jungle. Flanked by trees and dry bamboo we duck and dive under fallen trees and push our way through the bamboo. Eventually we emerge at a concrete path that leads us down the rest of the mountain. With little shade to protect us from the still beating sun, we march on enjoying the panoramic vista with Vung Tau in the distance across the sea.

We arrive at the road at the end of the path and it's only a few hundred meters until we reach the final leg of the trail. Red ribbons lead us to the right and we are strolling through a maze of rustic narrow paths. After several right and left turns we arrive back at Ngọc Xương where we are grateful to see a row of gleaming blue and gold eskies waiting for us.

Upon opening the eskies a treasure trove of delights greets us, frosty Saigon Chill and a varied selection of soft drinks. We slake our thirst and are soon laid back on the grassy slope chillin’ with our Chill. Our faithful fruit carvers divvy up mango and watermelon and we feast on banh mi. Down at the lake a couple of our Hash House Horrors are fishing - even managing to catch a couple of tiddlers. With the sun relenting there is just enough time to take the team photo before packing up and boarding the Hashmobile and heading back to Vung Tau.

The conviviality continues on the journey home as the Chill keeps flowing all the way back to the Home of the Hash - Tommy’s bar. Again our volunteers rally around to unload the eskies and in a heartbeat everything is back in the store room. 

But it doesn’t end there… 

The camaraderie continues with our hardiest of Hashers hanging out at Tommy’s and, of course, enjoying our favourite beer Saigon Chill, washed down with Randy’s legendary wood fired pizza. With Perfect Jive Duo on stage we keep on rockin’ into the night.

Another perfect day out. Thanks to the many Hasher who contribute every week to make every Sunday an enjoyable day out for all.

See you next Sunday. On-on!

RUN 979 GALLERY

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