We were warned in advance about difficult farm owners, rough terrain, thorns and ants. And so it proved as a, somewhat disappointing, number of hashers made their way to Nhon Trach for a hash in new territory. The A point was sensibly marked with a big shreddy letter A lest any hashers be unsure of the starting place.
The beginning of the run was on surfaced lanes but we were soon off road and into the paddies. In true hash fashion, there were a lot more paddies on this run than on the previous ‘official’ St Paddy’s Day run. As warned, the trail was rather rough with huge cracks in the dried mud with several large enough for a foot to get lodged and lots of branches over the trail making for some very slidey parts. Most of them, for reasons unknown, sloping to the left and there were a few times I stumbled and came worryingly close to ending up in the water.
Then came the meeting with possibly the 2 unfriendliest people ever met on a hash. Much gesticulating, finger pointing and hand waving ensued, the upshot being that we had to retrace our steps and find an alternative route missing out their place. This was done fairly easily and we were once more off and running. Much smiling and friendly greetings from the locals followed which is much more in line with what we have come to expect.
Then, probably, my scariest ever experience on the hash. I am always wary of livestock and, particularly, the effect of the hash on them. So, when I spotted a bull right next to the trail, I gave the customary hands on head, fingers pointing up like horns to warn everyone in advance there was livestock nearby. The thinking behind this is that if hashers are warned in advance they might make less noise and so keep stress levels for the animals, farmers, and hashers to a minimum. The next thing I know, this bull is chasing after Creamy 2 Lips and then it turned on me. It was in a furious rage and looking for someone to take out its fury on – and I was closest. It had me firmly in its sights, the bovine equivalent of weapons lock, head down and ready to charge. The farmer had its tether rope in hand but it was now behind and was cutting off my only line of retreat. I was convinced the only possible outcome would be, what is known on the Saigon Hash as, “Doing a Fuckoffee”. Somehow I got away and then the hash were off and running away from the angriest of beasts.
The beer stop followed on very closely and what a beer stop it was. Possibly the coolest ever, well, except for the beer but you can’t have everything. Lovely huts out in the countryside with excellent views and interesting toilet door decorations.
Back on trail and thankfully no more dramas other than the usual, ‘Are you on?’ Stuff. A round 8km on my watch and everyone got back to the bus unscathed. At least physically.
In the circle Pole Polisher claimed it was the best walk of his trip so far. High praise indeed and it was certainly one of the most picturesque. CT and CaL were iced for interfering with animals and other infringements were appropriately dealt with by Cocktail Fail who kinda combined the GM and RA roles and lived up (or down) to his name twice over. The usual stuff followed and then back to Saigon where the new driver managed to get us back to the Caravelle.
As always, thanks for the hares for their efforts in setting the trail and to everyone else for contributing.
On-on,
Cock-a-Leaky