Hashing and why we avoid the roads whenever possible

We are quite lucky - or perhaps smart - here in Chiang Mai because despite the city's rather large population this is one of the only cities in all of Thailand where they seem to have started out with an idea of thinking about the future rather than simply selling all of the land to whatever developer wanted to buy it.

Because of this, Chiang Mai has spread outwards rather than upwards, and certain massive tracts of land are specifically reserved for either agriculture or national parks and no one is allowed to build anything on them. This keeps Chiang Mai green with plenty of nature in the areas that are just a few kilometers out of the busy city center. Many other Hash chapters around the world, including most of the other ones in Thailand, do not have this option and mostly end up doing urban runs, which I think everyone agrees are far less wonderful than the type we get here in Chiang Mai.

For the most part, involving a street in our runs is heavily frowned upon and is avoided at all costs.

Every now and then we have no choice though and must get a street involved for at least part of the run. The reasons for this can be many but for the most part it is because certain areas will have fences, even just a "stay out" barbed wire fence that we could easily bypass if we wanted to... but the point remains that we are constantly trespassing on almost all of our runs and the reason why this is tolerated is because we are polite and we always leave the area cleaner than when we found it.

On many of our runs the start and end point have to be on a road or directly next to one simply because of the fact that we do arrive by car and we have to park somewhere. When we take off on these roads the idea is that it will only be until there is a launching point that will take us into the jungle.

Once in the jungle and off the road, it is normally very easy for us to at least find some level of an actual trail that was more often than not created and I guess maintained by the agricultural workers out here that tend to the wide array of crops that exist in the Chiang Mai countryside. I would imagine that it is quite surprising to these people when they all of a sudden see a dozen or so silly-dressed foreigners running in their direction and I guess the outfits are kind of a good thing because nobody is going to be afraid of a bunch of rather old white people running towards them that are dressed like clowns.

_{not exactly terrifying}

There have only been a handful of incidents where the locals got upset with us being on the land and this is why it is handy that we have a few Thai speakers with us wherever we go. It isn't that we don't allow Thais into our group...everyone is welcome! But because of the time of day that we go anyone that has a regular job wouldn't be able to participate.

In one particularly funny incident a Thai landowner chased us and got upset that we were on his land but once someone explained what we are doing and what are organization is all about he followed us back to the circle where we drink beer and make fun of one another and laugh a lot, his anger turned so smiles and a few weeks later, he actually started coming to the events with us. Years later he learned to speak English well enough to participate in the "circle" and eventually became a regular participant in speaking at these events. A few years after that he was nominated as the General Manager and served as the "boss" of the Chiang Mai Hash House Harriers for a full term. He still goes running with us at least 2 times a week.

What started out as anger resulted in changing the man's life for the better and I truly believe that this is very possible with anyone that gives the Hash House Harriers a chance. For me it completely changed how I live and how my friends are for the better. Now I have a worldwide social group that will welcome me just about anywhere that I go. Talk about a great benefit.

You can come and join us in Chiang Mai in our thrice weekly runs and check the official schedule at our website here... Also, since there are 5000 chapters worldwide there is a better than average chance that there is a Hash chapter / kennel near where you happen to live in the world. Why not?

_{yes, we know it is spelled wrong... that is part of the fun}