Venue: Setiawangsa, Ampang
Hare: Chua Yew Leong
Scribe: Eloise Ong
I was reminded of former Indonesian President B.J. Habibie's now famous "little red dot" quote of a country he was describing when somebody mentioned that today's run site was just "a pimple in the middle of KL" as seen on Google Earth and so, it could not possibly offer good hashing. But Don Cheang said it's not a little red dot, it's "a bloody Octopus", enough for a "short and long run"!
Anyhoo, was that hasher (and Habibie) wrong; that little red pimply dot was simply ripe and bursting with plenty of hashing opportunities, as displayed in today's run. After a 1 min silence in respect to Guinness Khoo's recent passing, the run started off down the dirt road where hash cars were crammed alongside due to limited parking areas available. We ran briefly along a residential road and into a patch of lalang, emerging onto a drain path that formed part of a row of steep terraces hugging the hill.
At the end of the drainage path, we clambered down and entered the swampy side of the hill. Soon, the front runners were calling a check which was broken easily with an on-call that went straight up the hill. This spread the pack apart as we climbed past secondary forest trees and even banana trees. I was glad that there were no thorny-like trees in the way. As we got to the top, it was naturally downhill again and I could hear a distant rumble although the sun was still shining and it was humid.
It was a well-defined trail as we go down the slope and into the tropical forest and I ran along the trail with Laurence ahead of me. It was at this time I noticed there were triangle as well as the usual square-shaped hash papers littering the trail and I wondered if there was any meaning to that. Bob the JM didn't mention anything about a short and long run at the start so I wasn't sure if Don Cheang had really set a short and long run. Anyway, my thoughts were broken with an incessant buzzing emitted by Laurence aka Mosquito; he was biting me with the same question over and over again, "do you know you are the scribe for today's run?" buzz buzz buzz. With only one-and-a-half lungs, it's always a task trying to run and maintain a nice breathing rhythm and sometimes having to say the occasional "hi", or "On-on". I squeaked a "Yes!" back at him and he finally flew off, straight down the trail and a sharp right turn which I missed because I was sucked dry by then, but thankfully I was kindly buzzed by Mosquito to get back on paper.
We climbed up a bit and a check was called. Somehow a group of us got out onto the trail for the short run, completely missing the split, and had to backtrack for about 300 meters to rejoin the long run which went down and around the hill for a while into an area where the trees were well spaced out and then there was some confusion about finding paper up the slope as well as down the slope. Perhaps the front runners didn't join the check properly.
Soon, it was up the hill and down and along a well-worn trail, by this time a slight drizzle had started and when I hit a tarmac road, the heavens opened. The run went along the road for about a kilometer and then veered left into the jungle onto a trail. I managed some nice running and at some point I emerged on top of the hill where a few hashers stopped to admire the view and afterwards, the trail merged with the short run and went down to the bottom of the hill where apparently there must have been a check.
Nobody could find paper but for sure the front runners were gone. Shouts of "Checking" filled the air and finally someone found paper back up the hill and along a now muddy trail which led to the top of the dirt road/run site where the run started.
The short run was about 5-6km and the long run 8.5km. With a few "lost" hashers still out there, the circle was called and a few charges were made. Notably, a tribute to the late Guinness Khoo was made with Don Cheang standing in for his spirit. Uncle Looi, Rambo and an ex-GM (Gerry?) now residing in Denmark were called up to say a few words about Guinness.
There were a few other charges but it was starting to drizzle heavily so the circle was adjourned to the on-on. The on-on had around 5 tables and the food was delicious.
More charges were made; one for Hugh Murray whom everyone voted unanimously was foolish enough to go look for his lost wife who apparently left the trail and walked all the way to Carrefour to shop. Other lost hashers were reported not lost at all as they went home without informing the people they came with. Cyril and family were called up as they were leaving Malaysia for Miami. Goody-two-shoes Sen was charged for breaking 3 traffic offences, driving with an expired road tax and driver's license and DUI, and getting away with a RM1K bribe.
To end the night, the JM called for a vote and the run was judged an on-down which means a satisfactory run.