The HHH chapter in Chiang Mai is very active. While HHH is a global operation some chapters only do a couple meetups a month, and many other chapters very rarely meet and sometimes end up shutting down entirely as a result. The Chiang Mai Hash meets 3 times a week and this Saturday's Hash was particularly brutal.
This week's Hash was also a birthday hash of one of our members who is named "Knockout." She is a wonderful person and also very loud! As the "hare" she and one other person laid the trail earlier in the week and the rest of us, we don't actually know which way to go as determining the path is a group effort and I think this makes it a lot more fun than simply having a bunch of people running on a forest path.
Why was this one so difficult? This is the hottest and most humid time of year for Thailand. It is the hot season (although I would attest to the fact that it is always hot here.) The trail also had a lot of up and downs and the area we were in was much more mountainous than other locations we frequently use. The combination of grueling hills, sometimes dangerous pathways down from said hill, the heat, and the fact that this trail was a few km longer than most of our hashes, made this a very sweaty day for all involved.
of course once you get back to "camp" you will almost certainly be made to sit on the ice while the others berate you and it is amazing how quickly your body temperature changes when you have your butt on a block of ice.
While it was tough, we had a pretty good turnout and a good time was had by all. The fact that we all did something good for our health for an hour and a half is always an added bonus. Of course all the calories that we burned during the run were immediately replaced by full-flavored lager immediately following the run... just like they do in the Olympics.
As always, i strongly encourage you to seek out a local Hash House Harriers as they are a global organization and also a wonderful way to make new friends in really any city you might be living in and / or traveling too. I have become great friends with this lot and I am quite certain that I will meet even more people around the world when I do have a chance for a vacation.
