Venue : Janda BaiK
Hare : The Aussies
Co-Hare : More Aussies
Scribe : Christina Tan (For and behalf of Choo Nai Kwong)
It had been unbelievably hot for the past few days in a row. Fortunately, as I turned into Janda Baik and passed through the front of Electrisola, I could feel a breathe of cool fresh air as I wound down the window. And what more to ask for, there was no sun at all !This, to us Malaysians, was a much welcomed day for an outing, what a perfect day for hashing !
We had such a good fun last year for the Australian Day Run. Especially we were to come back to the same run site at this lovely Kebun Rimba which belongs to Datuk Syed, a good friend of Gary Murrell. I had been looking forward to the run today, and had no problem at all when Choo Nai Kwong asked me to switch with him and scribe for today’s run. As my car drove into the compound of this nature’s sanctuary, I felt once again the tremor of excitement, so pleasing of setting foot in this wonderland again. I secretly wished that this place could become our hash Mecca for the yearly pilgrimage !
The paper started from the Equestrian. ON ON was called and the pack started to run through a lovely pine tree trail. Papers led us to the right, where the sign was pointing towards the waterfall. I could feel the much cooler and fresher air and we were now following the trail up to where the waterfall was. At this moment, it was all the way an uphill task. There was a check somewhere and was broken quite effortlessly as it was a simple forward checks. But the goings got tougher from there. It’s a steep uphill and fortunately not so slippery tracks.
By then, I was panting, losing in the momentum. The climb was clearly parallel to the river and one could hear the water gushing down. I think the pack now climbed to a height of several hundreds feet ? Or at least, it felt like it. In the middle of this rain forrest, the view of the surrounding trees was purely magnificent. Luckily not too many visitors had frequented this place, as we could hardly see any rubbish! Good ! Better to keep it that way !
I think it was a 2nd or 3rd check and again a forward check, thus, was broken quite effortlessly. At this point, we were completely exhausted as well as soaked through sweat. It was a beautiful sight with mini waterfall on the right. But, no time to stop, as the paper was now veered towards left and it was downhill all the way. For those of us who stayed overnight in the resort last year, you may recall that we had explored this trail before. So now, with this in mind, there was not much surprises, just all the way down the slope following the existing trail. But then, that shouldn’t take away the exicitement. The surrounding beauty and the easy kampung life, has such therapeutic effect to calm the nerves.
Upon hitting the T-junction after the fish pond, it was clear that home was on the left. But, the hare is now trying to add some spice by putting up a check and bring the pack towards right. Thanks for this as we had the chance to run thru papaya orchard and then into the corn plantation. Shortly after that, we reached the entrance of the Kebun Rimba.
Some complained the run was too short…. Well, it’s a celebration run. So, that’s okay I guess ?!! Plus we were given the bright yellow T-shirt. Good for the ladies, we ‘ve got the spaghetti strap T ! There was or wasn’t a circle at the beer wagon ?…. Didn’t matter, because we were now heading towards the “Peak”. I found the place as fascinating as I remembered from last year- a cleverly carved plateau surrounded by rolling hills. There was the infinity pool and the wooden hut bars. Everyone looked happy and seemed to enjoy themselves. Leaning against the wooden balcony, one could enjoy the bird’s eyes view of the whole surrounding. How many hundred or thousand acres of land ? Hhm… amazing !
With the million dollars view, the most pristine setting, cool, fresh air, cold beers, good Australian red wine and good company, what more can one asked for ? Oh ya ! Food ! As the night fell, I did feel hungry and joined the queue for food. It turned out to be…a surprise ! Just too bad and what a pity. The food was scarce and did not meet the hasher's high gourmet standard afterall. I later on learned that there were about 60 over guests ! That may explain the unexpected. Well, on the bright side, this round had helped the chapter to earn some good revenue from the guest fees !
When you had the high expectation set from last year, you also expected the same for this year- a legitimate assumption! What the heck, we did enjoy ourselves after all…and looking forward to next year’s Australian Day Run ! Aussie Aussie! Oin Oin !
Posted by onsec at February 4, 2005 06:41 PM