The Hash House Harriers are an international group of people who are "drinkers with a running problem." Normally our weekly treks take us to the jungle for a group adventure that is never the same twice. These are normally 6-10km long and are not always clearly marked and the team must work as a group to figure out the way. It's a lot of fun and I talk about it a lot. However, during the Songkran holiday (Thai New Year) the Chiang Mai Hash does the trek a bit differently.
We only do it a couple of times a year but this hash was basically a pub crawl. Since the local members are all living here, we know quite a few bar owners that are happy to accommodate us in this journey. We start at a predetermined location and then move all over the city participating in the water war all the while.
This results in having quite a few more beverages than we likely normally would and also considerably less cardio :) Whatever! It's only a couple times a year that we do this... we deserve a break too ya know?
One tradition we did not skip was to stop at all these places and use our time to call out other members and make fun of them (in a friendly way, we all like one another) and this of course ends with all of us doing a "down down" which is just the chugging of a quarter can of beer or so. It really is great fun and no one drives afterwards so we are safe anyway.
Once again, I encourage all of you (even if you don't drink) to seek out your local Hash House Harriers chapter (like I said, they are a very popular international group) and get involved. I have never in my life encountered a better group of people that get together regularly for a bit of exercise and a lot of fun.