Setting a trail in England for the Hash

Some long-term members of the Chiang Mai HHH come and visit us for as many months as Thailand will allow them to consecutively. This changes frequently and can be quite frustrating for regular returnees. This time they couldn't be fussed with the papers that they would need to supply for 6-month visa so they just settled on a standard 3-month visa and then headed back to the UK. Their trips here are normally intended to skip the winter back home and for the most part they pulled this off.

However, it is still a lot cooler there than it really ever is in Thailand, so that is something that was a bit different.

I don't know exactly what the temperature was but I would imagine based on the outfit that it is still damn cold!

There are some other aspects of setting a trail in western countries that are a bit more complicated than it is here in Thailand. One of the main things being that trespassing is something that is a bit more dangerous than it is here, and therefore it is avoided. Don't want to get arrested just for simply walking on some private land.

My UK friends often talk about how the sky is gloomy for months on end in that part of the world and from the photos that I have seen it looks like that could be the case. This rainbow was kind of nice though, wasn't it? On the upside though, at least your gloomy skies are not because of horrible pollution that is often ranked as some of the worst in the world like we have here in Chiang Mai!

They wont be running anyone through the water on their runs either since that could likely lead to hypothermia. I do like how clear that stream looks though. We don't often get anything like there here in Chiang Mai or really anywhere else in the country that I have seen because of lax regulations and a general sense of pollution. I try not to think about it too much. At least it is warm here!

One thing that my friend who is setting this trail has told me is that it can be difficult to mark a trail properly as well because in most places in the world the trail is marked by flour being placed on the ground but he has said he is frequently questioned by people as to what he is up to. I guess people in the UK get a little suspicious when someone is wandering around putting a white powder all over the place.

In the UK unless they have permission they can't simply go and run across some farmland, this could get them into a lot of trouble. Here in Thailand we run across farms all the time but are just careful to not damage anything and certainly never take any of the crops. We also clean up rubbish along the way so in the few instances that we have been chewed out by land owners we can show them the bags of garbage that we were cleaning up and this will normally turn down the anger meter a bit.

In the UK, the runs are certainly different than they are here and normally they don't do the sitting on the ice bit that we do as a ritual here. For one thing it is already very cold there and they don't have access to giant blocks of ice either. Also, drinking in public isn't allowed in a lot of places so they have to do their after-run drink-fest at a pub instead of just in a circle outdoors somewhere.

I don't think I would like all of these rules and regulations invading my Hash experience but the people still come out for it regardless. Also, when considering the costs our runs normally cost 150-200 Baht including transportation and beers and this is about 5 Pounds. I don't think that is possible for them since the pubs are bound to be quite pricey! Good thing everyone makes a much higher wage up that way!

Back in Chiang Mai we are still doing at least 3 runs per week and everyone is welcome to join in. come one come all!

On On!