THE 4^TH ALL CHINA NASH HASH

Hashing is worldwide without boundary. Wherever there is hashing, especially in event such as celebration run, hashers are allowed to participate on invitation. This applied to The 4^th All China Nash Hash which was held in Sanya, Hainan from 22^nd to 24^th April, 2005. A total of 1280 hashers from 7 countries, namely China, Bangladash, Brunei, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Laos and Malaysia took part.

As usual, this grand hashing event saw the participation of 5 ardent hashing chapters from Malacca, namely Malacca Hash House Harrier (MH3), HAA Malacca Sunday Hash, Full Moon Hash, Malacca Hash House Hazards and Kota Malacca H3. A total of 9 hashers from MH3 joined the tour orgalnised by HAA Malacca Sunday Hash. They included Bui Dai Aik, Hawaii Goh, Low Eng Choo, Tay Kim Swi, Holly Leong, Helen Lee, Batu Api, myself and partner. We travelled by China Airline from KLIA which took 4 hours to arrive at Haikou, Hainan in the early hours of 20^th April, 2005.

Hainan is a tropical island. It has all the vegetations such as rubber, coconut, oil palm, mango, pepper, areca (pokok pinang) and paddy that Malaysia has except durian tree. Durian fruits are imported from Thailand. It is a beautiful island with fine beach and super toll free 4-lane highway. Haikou and Sanya are its main cities which are 260 km apart. With a population of 8 millions, its main revenues derived from agriculture and tourism.

The 4^th All China Nash Hash was jointly organized by Haikou Hash House Harriers and Sanya Hash House Harriers which were founded in 1997 and on 6^th September, 2003 respectively. Its main venue was at HNA Hotel & Resort which is situated at a scenic beach 20 minutes drive away from Sanya city.

On its registration day on 22^nd April, 2005 we arrived at the main venue at 4.30 pm. It was crowded with crazy hashers from all the said countries. Familiar faces were met, greetings were exchanged and old grandfather stories were told. Freebies comprising an old Mao Tze Tong canvas sling bag, 2 flowery T-shirts, a key chain and a framed sea shell souvenir were given. At 6.30 pm we began to adjourn to the open air seaside across the road where we helped ourselves to the delicious BBQ food with free-flowing cold beer. In attendance were a Phillipino and a local Chinese band with Phillipino and local Chinese singers singing their hearts out with lovely songs. Hashers danced crazily to the tune of music. It was a hearty and marvellous night. We had begun retreating at 10.30 pm when the music and drinking sessions were still on.

On the following day at 12.30 pm, we gathered at the main venue where a big crowd was already there rushing for seats in buses for the various run sites. There were a total of 5 runs of various distances ranging from 4.5 km to 12 km. Most of us chose Run No. 3 which was 6 km in distance held at Lui Bi Dong which is about 10 km away in the outskirt of Sanya city. A total of 7 busloads of 280 hashers joined the  run. The run site was by the side of a small lake beside a congested laterite road. As it had not been raining for quite sometime, the weather was hot. To avoid dehydration, sufficient bottles of mineral water were given. A briefing on the run was given by the hare.

The flag-off started at 2.10 pm. The paper led into the shrub and farm along a laterite road. It passed through a few farm houses before arriving at the foot of a hill after 25 minutes jog. It then ascended a bushy rubber plantation hill. It was quite a tough climb. The scenery at its top was fantastic. We could see the beautiful city of Sanya. From there it descended through a narrow bushy slope, up and down a second tougher rocky hill where quite a number of tired hashers stopped along the way to take a break. That was not the end. The paper continued to meander up and down the third and fourth hills before arriving at a water point 500 meters from the flag-off point where the cold beer were waiting. It was quite a tough and exhaustive 6 km run which took 1 hour and 40 minutes to complete. In spite of that, all the ardent hashers looked happy and satisfy of their achievement. As usual, representatives of the various hash chapters and sinners were put on ice and on-downed.

On-On was held at an open space at Sia Long Wan a few km away. A number of makeshift bathrooms and a stage were constructed. A variety of delicious self-serviced Chinese hawker food such as roasted pork, roasted duck, dumpling, roasted pork-rib, fried noodle and wantan were provided with free-flowing beer. A band was in attendance with both Chinese and English songs. Hashers danced wildly to the tune of music. Chinese cultural dances were performed and hash acts were staged. It was a moonlit night and the atmosphere was exhilarating. As we were feeling quite tired after a full day outing, we left the venue at 10.30 pm with full tummy, clear mind and smiling face when the activities were still on.

According to the programme, there was a run on the following day. However, we did not join it as we had to leave for home through Haikou the following night.

Taking into consideration the youthful existence of the organizers, credit should be given to them for their efforts in organizing such a good and enjoyable event. A big thank you and keep it up. On-On!

Scribe: Drug Buster                         Date: 28^th April, 2005.