PTH2 Run 06Sept09

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Run-Site End Of Tanaki

I guess the only way to get myself fit for the 12th Borneo Nash Hash trial run next Sunday is to do another intensive hashing this week starting with PTH2. Three days of hashing with K2H2 Bunnies on Wednesday, K2H4 on Friday & MH2 on Saturday was enough drilling to be fit that Sunday run with PTH2.
When we reached the run-site towards the end of Tanaki, there were cars after cars lining up both sides of the road and Wanderer just managed to squeeze in her ‘Kembara’ behind a big pick-up. While still waiting for the flag-off time, AhFook came in on convoy with Rumpf-push. Wanderer & I were quite worried when he showed up with puncture right hand whose blood though dried up was still crimson red. Ahfook with his chauvinistic defiant refused to put something to cover it, nevertheless we managed to persuade him to put band-aid where he then wrapped towel around it. Mr. Wanderer was hoping that Rumpf-push would look after Wanderer (or was it vice-versa?) since he was doing the long run.
By 3.45pm Wanderer & Rumpf-push made their way towards the hanging bridge then followed the other ESB’s to cross a ravine towards the hill. We went in around 4.10pm and managed to catch up with few energetic young men making their way towards the foot of the hill. There we also managed to catch up with Wanderer and Rumpf-push as they struggled to clear the first hurdle on that small hill. When we reached the top, there were these two ladies who short-cut from the dirt-road taking their time to follow the pack from behind.
Then the trail took an abrupt dive into the ravine which was about the same height we climbed earlier plus another 20mtrs down as we ended up running along the coastal line of the river. The rippling sound of the river was so inviting under the early evening sun, but then Mr. Wanderer was on my heels as if signaling me not to slow down.
The next part was an assault to the biggest hill and I was able to overtake a few ESB’s even with a slope ranging between 40 & 60deg. However instead of taking us straight up, the papers brought us crawling along the skirt of the hill then dived again into an abyss. From there the paper took us up only to be diverted to our right where we ended up on the hill that marked the short & the long run. At that junction, I lost Mr. Wanderer and waited for him to emerge from the side of the hill. Those slower ones I overtook earlier were beginning to march in one by one, but still no sight of Mr. Wanderer, which made me wonder, what had happened to him. One logical explanation was that Wander might be hollering at him or wandered somewhere the short cut trail. Anyway while soaked with my own sweat now, I waited for him on a promontory edge of the hill so that I could easily spot him. Finally he sprung from the other side of the hill with AhFook in hot pursuit behind him and announced between breathing that he was doing the short run.
By that time most of the FRB’s had already gone down to the ravine and so I doubled my time hoping I’d be able to catch up with any living soul. When I started to run up again, I could still hear hashers singing “On-On” on the other side of the hill, which meant that if I didn’t go down, I would still cross the same continuing trail from that ridge. As I verged farther more to the right, the sound was getting fainter until it was drowned by the cascading water at the ravine below. Following the papers down, I must have crossed four tributaries with equally raging water cascading down.
For the next few hills I was running alone but it was still very bright until I reached the last ledge of the fourth hill where I saw one soul struggling even to lift up his foot. It was on that hill I caught up with Angkut who was already exhausted and took time to rest once in a while. With the last few meters up, I was able to reach the zenith of the hill and the temptation of running down was so great that I overtook three more FRB’s.
There was no more uphill trail so it was easy to catch up with few FRB’s even before I reached the cross-point again. In just few minutes I was back at the foot of the hill and caught up with the Wanderers & Rumpf-push taking their time as to finish the run. Passing the same river as it snaked its way around the hillock and culminated on the bigger stream which now swelled into beautiful waterfall, the papers took us up again to cut the trail nearer to the base.
I was quite satisfied with my time and was ready for this Sunday Ball-Breaker trial run. On-On!!!

MFH3 RUN 112 05 SEPT 09

MFH3 Run112 on 5th September 2009
Hares: Darine & Abang Hin at Kg. Inobong Off Tambunan Road, Sabah
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Arriving at the run-site with “The Wanderers”, our car was the 2nd one to park in a dark & dung-infested lot. The Hares Darine & Abang Hin were just readying the place from lightings to table setting. Soon Oscar ‘Osakai” Chai came in loaded with all sort of paraphernalia in his ever-ready 4WD and later enliven the whole Community Centre with his modified lightings. More and more ‘Moonies’ arrived all equipped with torchlight/headlight just to make sure safe rampage into the night safari.

By 7.30pm, GM Uncle Lee flagged-off the run and made our way to the left of kampong road crossing a long hanging bridge. When we reached the other side of the river, a lone dog welcomed us with his excited howling adding to the quaintness of Full Moon run. It was hot & humid despite jungle surroundings and the moon was still blocked by evening clouds, so all torch lights were flickering like fireflies fluttering from tree to tree.

Leading the pack was Lo Bak, CiA Joe & Mr. Wanderer while most of us were patiently trailing from behind waiting for occasional song of “On-On!” or whatever moaning sound they could come up. The first part of the trail was just a slow walk along the side of the hill passing a private orchard. Then we continued to go up further under the canopy of rubber trees. On top of the ridge, the trail was combination of steep ledges and open fields but well-marked with Abang Hin’s signature shredded papers.

Still going up, the paper brought to a recently cleared trail as if a virgin trail was been, had it not for the rubber trees that showed a recent cut for milking the sap. Definitely it wasn’t our hare Abang Hin who had cleared the vegetation along the trail. The trail was still going up and later Uncle Lee caught up with us then led us to a steeper track. Thinking it was still on a vertical trail, GM Uncle Lee led the pack up some more together with Ho Bak & CIA Joe only to find out there was no paper and everyone came to a standstill while some went to different directions to search for the papers. It was at that junction when CIA accidentally tripped one of the rocks and slammed onto Ho Bak’s legs, which later turned purplish-blue. Of course that earned CIA Joe a boo plus a Down-Down at least he could have just shoiut on top of his lungs “Rock!”.

Since I was behind together with Wanderer & Margaret, I back tract a few steps and found the trail verging towards the left but still on a vertical slope. However I could hear, GM singing “On-On!” somewhere up the trees, or up the hill. Finally when I cleared the last hurdle, I can see a cleared path up the trail.

Onto a recently bulldozed off-track road on top of the hill, GM Uncle Lee, “Mr. Wanderer & I waited for most of the “Moonies” to emerge from the jungle with few of them still letting out those moaning, whining sound of fatigue, exhilaration or relief. Though we were out in the open, we still left our torchlight on as the moon seemed to be blurred this time due to the recent forest fire in the Kalimantan region of South-Eastern Borneo.

It seemed that junction grouped us again then I continued to run up hill following the dirt road that led down to the foot of the hill. After a few ups and down the papers led us to the left up to highest point of the hill, where a lone Sabah flag was left flying.

From there it was another 15mins running down the side of the hill with wide terrain as if designed for running especially when you have the track on your own. Stopping once in a while on wooden bars which was meant to keep straying buffaloes at bay, the run was just another minutes away from the base.

For FRB’s it was only 45mins run and the last person to come out made it in just under an hour. On-On
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NEXT RUN113 ON 3RD October 09 – MEET AT TANJONG ARU BEACH FOR M.I.A. DOUGLAS SQUARE & GERMAN SAUSAGE.

K2H4 RUN1247 04Sept09

K2H4 Run1745 04Sept0 End Of Kionsom, Inanam
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It’s easy to spot the run-sites of every hash chapter in Kota Kinabalu as there are always big signboards planted along the road, especially on Wednesdays, Fridays & Sundays when there are few hash chapters running at the same time. On few occasions the trails crisscrossed but every hasher knew which trail belongs to whom with the type of papers being laid. Driving along Kionsom road, we spotted Api-Api Hash House (A2H2) signage planted conspicuously on both sides of the road just next to newly completed housing estate.

After registering with On-Cash Lilian Chin, I waited for few minutes for Fansoo to fix his hashing gear then we joined the pack as they were already running towards the hill across the road. Once we cleared the kampong houses, the trail immediately turned almost vertical toward the biggest hill in the area. Actually once you reach the top of that hill it was easy to get yourself lost as there are few exit points to divert your way; and one trail could end you on top of Kionsom waterfall.

Anyway, with that slope, it caused a massive ‘traffic’ jam as hashers after hashers either didn’t bother to move due to fatigue or just hang on to the trees along the way. However, Fansoo & I continued the assault at a rather faster pace where we overtook a lot of ESB’s. Altho’ still going up, the trail verged toward the left which would lead us to another tough trail.

By that time, even those senior hashers who usually start 15mins earlier were also grasping for breath and just a ledge above a few of the ladies also slowed down. Soon it was only Fansoo & I leading the pack up the hill. Without anymore slower ones blocking our way, it took us just another 15mins to clear the ‘killer’ hill and we were on the way running down.

The early evening rain kept the weather cooler especially inside the rubber plantation where most of the trails are done. I think it was Ricky Lee who was the consultant that evening, since I saw him earlier just relaxing with beer on one hand and a cigar dangling on the other. Anyway, I took advantage of the slope down and kept running. Fansoo decided to take it nice & easy as he reckoned our running time was way ahead of schedule.

Following the paper down it wasn’t really a smooth trail as there were tree roots anchoring the steps and you could easily trip and tumble down especially those roots protruding among mossy rocks or those covered by dried leaves. So taking no chance, I tried to run alongside the trail on the path where the there were still grass or bushes standing. In just about 25mins or so, I was already on the covered walk-way of the kampong then continued running down the road from the last ledge of the hill.

From that vantage view, I could see our cars and few Short Cutting Bastards (SCB’s) already having their drinks. Farther to my right, few kampong children were playing ‘sepak takraw’ and since it was Ramadhan month, there were stalls selling just anything for ‘buka-puasa’. For fast runners, it took us only 45mins to finish that type of trail. Another wonderful day is gone running in the jungle. On-On

K22H2 BUNNIES RUN2048 02Sept09

Run2048 02 September 2009
Hare : Swinging Hips Co-Hare: Julieh Scribe:
Run-site: Kionsom Rd, Inanam On-On: Gaya Seafood Rest =========================================================
The weather wasn’t on Jane’s side as it was raining cats & dogs even when we reached the run-site which was at the junction to the old Kionsom Road. Normally there would be a lot of old Bunnies following the co-hare in setting the run, but this time the only Bunny who finished the run was Ah May. She herself trailed us from behind as she was also dragging along a bull named David Chee-something and her grandson. Not only did the weather discouraged a lot of Bunnies to run that evening, that week was also the start of Chinese ghost month and with gloomy weather like that even intrepid bunnies like Dreamy Eyes, Wanderer, $Bunny, sT. BerNarD & Lauhing shied away from bashing inside the wet & slippery jungle.

For German Sausage’s analogy, it the best moment to go in when wet & slippery so that can come out fast! Mr. Wanderer also decided to give the run a pass saying at that moment he felt “too old to play” in the rain. We could only count the number of diehards (rain or shine) to be at the run-site and amazingly Irene “Sergeant” George was also present thru’ the Samaritan’s spirit of The Wanderers.

Reckoning that it would be a very short run to set, co-Hare Julieh & I went in around 4pm under dark sky with rain water cascading on every fissures, cracks & canals washing away rubbish & debris along the path including buffalo dung. Following the paper to the bushes, we crossed a small stream to start the climb up. For the next 10mins it was the same slope up until we reached a flattened ridge, where we could run a little just to beat the time. Circling an abandoned pineapple orchard, we went inside the rubber tree plantation that you can still see fresh cutting around the trunk to milk the sap.

As it started to get steeper, more rubber trees could be seen being cleared then we had to cross another stream then up to a more slippery slopes. Another stream to cross we were already near the vicinity of the hi-way. After clearing the last hill, we came upon another stream that led out to the main Kionsom hi-way.

In my 2nd round when I ran with German Sausage, the streams I passed earlier morphed into a swelling river with the last one turning into a magnificent waterfall. With German Sausage now running with me, I really pushed myself to the limit even going up-hill. On few bends, we took advantage of the flattened ridge where we ran double-time to make up for the time we lost going up. Had it not rained that heavy, I would have brought my camera to take great shots of the water running down from slopes to slopes (Tracy, you missed this nature’s wonder).

In one area, as if the rain was very heavy up-hill , ‘coz water was just pouring down from every direction, everywhere you look up, there was always water coming down at you. That was another reason why German Sausage & I ran very fast to avoid untoward incident inside the jungle. Worst scenario was when you’d be caught in massive landslide in between the hills or while negotiating a ravine. Even the last ravine we passed, the rocks which were usually planted firmly, were getting looser due to heavy rain.

I had a good cleansing in the last ‘river’ while German Sausage continued running toward the base. For him, it was only 25mins run despite the slippery terrain and precarious slopes. Julieh being the bobtail on behalf of Anti-Vietman Rose managed to finish the run again in 45mins. The last one to come out was Fansoo also clocking almost like us with all sort of ghost running with him. He ran fast not because of the imminent danger from flash-flood or landslide but from the ghost who followed him all the way from the start despite having been offered with sweets. So Fansoo, you learned your lesson; always run in group. At the last count only 6Batang & 1see-ham plus 1ah-chai finished the run.

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Next Wednesday 09Sept09
RUN 2048 HARE: ANTI-VIETNAM ROSE CO-HARE: JULIEH
RUNSITE/ON-ON: GAYA SEAFOOD RESTAURANT
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RUN THE WEEK AFTER 16Sept09
RUN 2049 HARE: LAMSU CO-HARE: JULIEH
RUNSITE/ON-ON: END OF TANAKI, PENAMPANG
RUN STARTS AT: 3 PM

KOTA KINABALU HASH HOUSE BUNNIES

Run2047 26 August 2009
Hare : Jane Bacon Co-Hare: S-TripP3R
Runsite/On-On: Gaya Seafood Restaurant Scribe: BuLLShiT 4 Emily
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Thought this run was just another mundane Wednesday evening--hashing in a boring runsite with almost every angle of the jungle had been ‘de-virginized’ by all know hash chapters in Kota Kinabalu. However the pouring rain took the run in disarray with so many trails having been re-laid. The advantage of setting the run is that you can assess the approximate distance even without having toys like Tracy or Mr. Wanderer is using, that in the event you have to go in to rescue some stranded or loss hashers, you know exactly where the divergent trail starts.

Just before “Orang Kuat” blew the horn, heavy downpour already caused massive flooding at the parking area as water from the main hi-way started to rush into the car park. Crossing to the opposite side under heavy downpour, we followed the kampong road which was already underwater caused by over-flowing canal that ran along its side. Then the trail diverted to an open field crossing a bamboo bridge towards the house on top the hillock with equally excited dogs barking at us.

Soon we were running along the barb-wired parameter fence of the workshop down the valley. Every step was a calculated move as the spiky wire might snitch our arms or legs, worst is if you fall onto the fence itself. In fact in one of the runs, Wanderer accidentally kicked the barb-wire which was used to anchor the fence and heavy rain also washed away the Bunnies holey papers that we decked along the perilous part of the fence.

I thought I could go back and take photos at the beautiful scenery along the flood canal but then it was impossible under heavy rain. Slippery and dangerous as it was with water starting to build up as it rushed down, one can only marvel how a once still creek could turn turbulent and alive in just few hours after the rain.

From there we started our assault up the hill and our ordinary kampong ‘Adidas’ shoes were really functional with its rubbery studs digging firmly into the soft earth, thus giving us good thrust up the hill. Following the skirt of the hill, we came down again into the ravine then continued up to a more challenging slopes. That was the junction where the mess took an ugly turn. Apparently the ESB’s who followed from behind the co-Hare earlier while setting the run, picked up the papers and re-laid their own run to follow the trail of K2H4 which would then led them farther up. Those irresponsible bastards didn’t even bother retraced their trail eventho’ they didn’t have any more paper to re-lay. They just continued to follow the K2H4 trail out. With this, S-TriPp3r made an official complaint to K2H2 Ex-Co that in the event of Bunnies getting loss in the jungle as the result of trail being messed up, he wouldn’t go into the jungle to rescue them if he were the co-Hare on that day, unless they the resolve this matter!

The actual trail was a straight forward track up the hill then out to the open field where the two-pronged trail could be used as exit to the base. Anyway following the papers to the open field it continued to bring us down the hill again amidst wayward sharp reeds and bushy ‘shiggies’. I waited for the bobtail ‘Julieh’ to pass that hill where the mess was, until I felt chilly cold waiting inside the jungle under heavy rain then decided to continue running down. By the time I passed the canal to the main road, it was already up to my waist. When I reached the based, our bobtail had already taken his shower while the others were happily seated for the On-On. ‘Julieh’ who also joined me earlier to set the run was himself lost along with bobtail ‘Botak Tay’ & datuk AhDuh.

Next Wednesday 02Sept09
RUN 2048 HARE: AH YEN CHIN CO-HARE: JULIEH
RUNSITE: ALONG KIONSOM ROAD, INANAM
ON-ON: GAYA SEAFOOD RESTAURANT

PTH2 RUN ON 23Aug09

On two occasions that I hashed with Penampang Tua Pa’au Hash House, the venue shifted from their usual territory in Penampang and intruded into Inanam vast hashing space. Humidity was quite dense as evidenced by our sweating bodies even before we could start the run. While still lingering around to wait for “Dirty Gerty” to arrive, somebody just yelled “On-On!”
The climb started just immediately across the registration kiosk with slope between 45 to 60 degrees. There were slower ones blocking us that caused heavy “traffic jam” but somehow those intrepid hashers just cleared a few trees, swung from left to right, grabbed protruding roots then hauled themselves up. For the slower ones it was long & arduous trek up the hill with barely enough twigs, trees, vines or roots to hold onto.
Cherry-Anne was behind me when we reached the first ridge then diverted to the right only to be taken up to the next part of the ridge. After negotiating a few rocky flood-path, we were already at the crossroad of short & long run. Cherry-Anne hesitated for a while, ‘coz she knew when we started, the hare wasn’t out yet for almost 4hrs inside the jungle. With proper prodding, she finally decided to join us and by that time Tracy was way ahead of us.
Surprisingly the next bend was a run down into streams that, feeds water into another tributaries of the main Kionsom River. Passing an isolated house down the valley, the paper continued to snake into another kampong houses with equally energetic children playing around. Soon we were at the start of another real climb which was becoming torturous even for season hashers like us. Decided to slow down to just keep Anne going at her own paces but somehow rather when we reached another farmer’s hut, we bumped into another ESB who was then resting by the tree.
The next climb was the killer one as we literally started from the bottom of the hill then scaled up to about 2km high. The first 100 yards was just an easy climb but as we gained heights, it got steeper and steeper that sometimes, Anne would just take advantage of few drooping tress to lean on and rest. The vegetation was not really dense as we were still inside the rubber trees plantation and the weather started to get cooler. From the distance, we could see Tracy now--inching her way up along cleared footpaths.
From that junction on, there were four of us struggling to reach the top along the seemingly unending steps to nowhere. Despite our pathetic condition, we could still sing “On-On” in between breath hoping we could hear someone in front of us or the bobtail behind us. Yet all we could hear were the heavy breathings which were most of the time muted by our heavily dragged footsteps. Then another energetic guy came along and overtook us and in few minutes he was gone. Finally Anne & that other guy also doubled their time and were gone.
With few more steps, Tracy finally reached the top of the ridge then it was a great relief when could finally run down the hill. There were no more souls in front of us so I decided to go faster which forced Tracy also to follow from behind, gabbing trees & hopping from steps to steps while simultaneously avoiding protruding roots and wayward thorny vines. As we went farther down, we could hear people murmuring or shouting ‘On-On’ at us then lose them again. I guess we’ve been running down the hill for the next 20mins when we bumped into Anne & her escort in the company of Oscar ‘Osakai’ Chai.
It seemed that the papers leading to exit point were all mixed up. Anyway with the presence of ‘Osakai’ I knew we were safe to get back to the base. We actually came out about 500mtrs down the road to the drink wagon, which according to Tracy was about 1.45mins running time. Well I could have clock better had I not opted to pace with Anne earlier. On-ON

K2H2 BUNNIES RUN2046

Run2046 19 August 2009
Hare : Emily Yapp Co-Hare: Teddy Bear
Runsite: Taman Golden Hill On-On: Vui Fook Restaurant
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This site becomes a familiar venue to set the run due to its proximity to the city proper, ample parking space & still a lot of virgin trails yet to be discovered. I joined "Teddy Bear" with Hare Emily Yapp to set the run earlier, so I didn’t really witness where they set the registration table for $Bunny to chase us for money. Anyway when we came out of the bushes (like hidden dragon & crouching tiger for more than half an hour), the ESB’s were already long gone.

I managed to catch up with "Julieh", who stand for me as bobtail since, I back-tracked to re-lay some more paper on the way down. While I was clearing some bushes to make sure the trail was neat along the canal, Tracy was already behind me.
The trail actually started from the open field with a recently bulldozed section of the hill on the right. Towards the far left, there was another open field as well which I presumed to be another housing estate in the making. I was told Ivy’s run was also set there hence the confidence in Teddy Bear’s grin when he walked in leisurely at 3.35pm.
Passing the shitty trail (literally full of shit, tho’ we couldn’t see any of it littering around, we could smell it even just before we started our assault on the hill), we passed an abandoned or torn-down shack on the edge of the hill. From there we followed a foot-trail up the hill along the parameter fence of the huge water tank. Familiar to all of us the trail could have stopped on the road leading to the housing estate, but then the hare took us some more into the jungle with more climbing both up & down.
Weather was on Emily’s side so the terrain was fairly good, alto’ a good grip to any protruding roots or broken branches was needed to lower ourselves down. We passed another abandoned bungalow with half of its foundation at the back eroded then went up another ledge only to climb another hillock. However once we cleared that last hurdle, it was an easy run up the hill towards the radar station.
Once again we were passing the parameter fence of the station with equally exited dog singing at us. One more hill to clear, the paper took us to the highest point of Kepayan Ridge overlooking the Penampang area on our right & the airport towards the horizon on the left. The rock face was quite slippery, but there were cracks & fissures here and there to break our steps, thus making it easier for us to run down.
To make sure that the track was safe to run, our hare made us follow a u-turn trail along the base of one of the canals that linked to the exit. Once inside the jungle, it was just a matter of minutes before we reached the open field again.
With that type terrain, Tracy could easily clock under 30mins, while the bobtail "Julieh" together with "AhDuh" & his guest Jimmy came out almost an hour later after Boss Bunny "Pretty Woman", $Bunny, Kartini & Nini reached the drink wagon.
ON-ON!!!