Yesterday was Hash day. If you are not familiar with the concept, the Hash is a sort of drinking club for expats with a bit or running thrown in. The original Hash House Harriers (Hash House was a local KL eating place) was in fact established in Malaysia back in 1938 by the British, of course. It has since expanded to become a worldwide institution, with thousands of local hashes in every country where you have expats working, i.e. most. John runs with the Petaling Hash, which is one of several in the KL area, and I was expected to join him on this occasion as his guest. I had in fact one this once before with John so knew what to expect.
The run itself was less of a run than a gruelling jungle trek, at not more than walking pace for most of the time. The first half was virtually all uphill though dense tropical jungle. It was interesting to pass though the old rubber plantations, now mostly disused I think, and see the latex collection cups on the trees. Totally exhausting for me at least, being unused to exercise in this sort of humidity. The downhill half was less tiring but required a different skill set to mange descending a steep muddy slope. My vine swinging technique became quite good by the end of the descent.
The après run part of the Hash consists of various drinking routines and ritual humiliation of random participants for infringement of some rule or other. All good fun if you like that sort of thing. The Hash actually serves several purposes: it is a business networking opportunity – many job offers are made as a result of Hash contacts. It is a social club, and it is a dating agency, with about 40% of the participants being local Chinese and Malay women looking for a rich western husband. This all makes for an entertaining evening out.
No pictures of the Hash (I may get my GPS track on line sometime if I can work out how). Instead, here are some pictures of artwork in John’s apartment, which is furnished in an exceedingly minimalist style. The living room looks much more like an art gallery with the walls covered in Daliesque paintings from two local artists that he patronises.
The run itself was less of a run than a gruelling jungle trek, at not more than walking pace for most of the time. The first half was virtually all uphill though dense tropical jungle. It was interesting to pass though the old rubber plantations, now mostly disused I think, and see the latex collection cups on the trees. Totally exhausting for me at least, being unused to exercise in this sort of humidity. The downhill half was less tiring but required a different skill set to mange descending a steep muddy slope. My vine swinging technique became quite good by the end of the descent.
The après run part of the Hash consists of various drinking routines and ritual humiliation of random participants for infringement of some rule or other. All good fun if you like that sort of thing. The Hash actually serves several purposes: it is a business networking opportunity – many job offers are made as a result of Hash contacts. It is a social club, and it is a dating agency, with about 40% of the participants being local Chinese and Malay women looking for a rich western husband. This all makes for an entertaining evening out.
No pictures of the Hash (I may get my GPS track on line sometime if I can work out how). Instead, here are some pictures of artwork in John’s apartment, which is furnished in an exceedingly minimalist style. The living room looks much more like an art gallery with the walls covered in Daliesque paintings from two local artists that he patronises.
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