The Hash House Harriers in Thailand
Editorial credit: William A. Morgan / Shutterstock.com
The Hash House Harriers (HHH or H3) is a social club of people, who regularly organize a non-competitive running/jogging/walking event in or around the place of residence.
An event organized by a club is known as a Hash of Run, or a Hash Run. A common verb for this activity, which usually takes place on a Monday, is hashing, with participants calling themselves hashers. Male members are referred to as Harriers, female members are known as Hariettes. The Hash is humorously known as a drinking club for people with an ongoing problem, with beer being the drink of choice.
The objectives of those events are:
- Promote the physical health of members
- Make the hangover of the weekend disappear
- Satisfaction to quench a good thirst with beer
- Convince older members that they are not too old to continue participating
History
The first Hash House Harriers club was founded in Malaysia in 1930 among British military personnel. The meeting place was an annex of the Selangor Club, where several members of the club stayed and dined. That outbuilding was nicknamed the Hash House, after the “hodgepodge of dishes that was supposed to be food”. So hash has nothing to do with narcotics, but is an old British word for "bad food".
Hash House Harriers in Thailand
Gradually, the idea of Hash House Harriers spread all over the world and at the moment there are said to be more than 5000 HHH clubs worldwide. In the eighties of the last century, Thailand also got its Hash House Harriers, which are accessible to every sporty beer lover in Bangkok, Pattaya and Phuket. All three have their own website and facebook page for their local activities and other details.
The Hash
On how and why to join a Hash House Harrier club, a reader wrote a story, which appears in a recent NVT Pattaya newsletter, part of which I quote below:
A little over a year ago I wanted to expand my social activities and decided to join the 'Pattaya Hash House Harriers'. In an open car, a group – in colorful shirts with sometimes somewhat dubious inscriptions – was taken to 'the jungle'. There was a trail set out by a few hares (hares), which we were allowed to walk or run. Sometimes we lost our way and people shouted “on on”… When the first rider enters, the car opens and we get a simple meal. So far: everything normal…
But then two blocks of ice are laid down and the Circle begins. Anyone who has done something unusual may sit on the ice (whether or not on your bare buttocks), you will be mocked and you must have a sip of beer, while you are sung to somewhat obscenely.
The circle closes with a shared song and another can of beer before the boisterous ride back. A few times a month I throw all brakes loose. No matter how good your condition is, if you can't stand some black humour: don't come!
Sunday January 1st there was the 'Hangoverloop' and instead of forest paths, plantations or bushes, our group was now taken along …. the many beer bars in Pattaya. We ended in high spirits in the Cocktail bar of June, an avid member of the club. A new experience, because normally I'm not a bar hanger or Hash lover.
Will the Hash be what evil tongues claim: "A walk for sports enthusiasts with a drinking problem"!?
Source: Wikipedia/N/A Pattaya
About this blogger
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Bert Gringhuis (1945), born and raised in Almelo in the beautiful Twente. Later lived for many years in Amsterdam and Alkmaar, working in export for various companies. I first came to Thailand in 1980 and immediately fell in love with the country. Been back many times since then and moved to Thailand after my (early) retirement as a widower. I have been living there for 22 years now with my somewhat younger Thai lady Poopae.
My first experiences in Thailand as a kind of newsletter sent to family, friends and acquaintances, which later appeared under the name Gringo on Thailandblog. Many, many articles followed those first stories and that has grown into an almost daily hobby.
In the Netherlands still an avid footballer and football referee, but the years are starting to tell and in Thailand still avid, but the pool billiards is really of inferior quality, ha ha!
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The group I described 'in my piece' is ”Pattaya Jungle Hash” and there is a run every first and third Sunday of the month. You don't have to sign up, but make sure to be at the Buffolo Bar on 3d road for at least three hours, because the vans leave from there to the marked trail. Count on 500 baht for transport, food and drinks. Women pay less!
The walk is a maximum of five kilometers and the runners about eight. It's family. In the circle below you can sit on stools or your own chair. About 35 people participate. The 'the diehards' then continue drinking in a bar upon their return.
A much larger group – “Pattaya Hash Harriers” – runs every Monday and also departs from Buffolo Bar.
The people over seventy can sit in the long Circle after the run. Food is sometimes provided, but is certainly available in the bar, which people flock to after the meeting. “on-on”
The Hash House Harriers was founded in 1938 in Kuala Lumpur. The first GM was Albert Gispert (“G”), an English Chartered Accountant. The first members were his friends Cecil H. Lee, Frederick "Horse" Thomson, Eric Galvin, HM Doig, and Ronald "Torch" Bennet. Gispert was killed in 1941 while defending Singapore against Japanese attack. After WWII it spread worldwide so that nowadays local chapters can be found in almost every country. One is the Whitehouse HHH that Bill Clinton was a member of.
The largest HHH in Thailand is the Phuket HHH, with an average of 120 runners every Saturday.
In 2019, after reading a story in the book 'Thaise Perikelen' written by Theo van der Schaaf about the Hash House Harriers in Hua Hin, I went to the Buffalo Bar on 3rd Road in Pattaya on Monday afternoon, in a waiting baht bus and did my first run with the Pattaya Hash House Harriers. In the meantime I have done more than 150 Hash runs, ranging from easy walks of about 4 km to very strenuous runs of more than 15 km through difficult terrain with e.g. water, mud, steep hills, tapioca fields, rubber plantations, palm trees, through bushes, etc . The runs are mainly somewhere in a rural 'jungle' environment about 15 – 20 km outside of Pattaya. Since going to the Hash House Harriers, my stay in Pattaya has become a lot more enjoyable. It's a good way to get to know the rural area outside of Pattaya and get to know all kinds of people from all over the world. Because some of these people have been staying here for many years, it is also a good way to learn more about Pattaya / Thailand.
The Hash is intended as a combination of walking/running, drinking beer (but without alcohol is also possible!) and having fun. The lol is in the category 'underpants lol' so it may not be suitable for everyone.
If you want to know more about this 'Drinking club with a walking problem' in Pattaya, check out the website: https://www.pattayah3.com/ For the 'Run Reports' of previous Hash runs with photos and a description of the run, see: https://www.pattayah3.com/PH3/RunReports.html