" You must not miss this one, the members have already contributed 30 over roasted pigs for this event! " said Bui in one of our On On after the hash run. " What! 30 over pigs, how to finish them for the night! " I answered. " Oh, no,no, the roasted pig is a pledge, it is convertable to cash which will be used for the event." " Oh, I see " I remember the beer pledge of those days whenever there was a hash event to be organised. Anyway, with the current pig's price of close to Rm 500 per picul, that is a lot of money. Orang Utan HHH is already well known for their generosity as far as organisation of a hash party is concerned.

The " D " day came. It was a beautiful Saturday. The day was bright and the weather was good. I reached the run site at 4.30 pm which was at a big incomplete housing estate by the side of Bertam Ulu highway. The Sunday HHH was already there using a 1 ton lorry to carry goodies to distribute to their members. A goody pack contains a t shirt, a Heineken sports bag and three sample packs of curry powder & spices from Batu Api. I was told that 91 members of the Sunday Hash came for this event. The team spirit of the Sunday group is always superb and supportive. It is not surprising that such a big group had participated. There were forty over from the Malacca Hash House Harriers.

Two tents were erected for shelters and by 5.00 pm the GM, James Bond of Orang Utan HHH called the attention of all hashers to note the rules of running in the trail and attending the grand On On at Siang Yen restaurant. There was only one run and not two as what the rumours speculated. However, the slow runners would be detoured at some point by the sweeper depending on situations. Many people missed the point and thought there was only one long run. The GM also warned that there was no rescue team available, and strictly following the rule was a must!

Before the On On was initiated, there was a ritual performed by the Orang Utan Disco team which was unique. Only the ingenuity of Orang Utan HHH could have that. The dance was quite elaborate, and it symbolised the blessing and baptism for this spectacular joint run of the hash house harriers of Melaka 2004. The pack of about 300 hashers soon entered the rubber estate. and the run had commenced. Along the laterite lane we walked and ran, and very soon we reached the foot of the hill on the right hand side. The pack soon stopped, not trusting the reputation of this Orang Utan HHH, they soon looked for the S C B. James Bond kept on saying " Come on, lets come up!" The pack looking up suspiciously, and shaked their head, " No, no, no ". That was it, 30 % of the pack dropped out, - SCB of first level -.

We kept on climbing, and running and then very soon we reached a second high point. The papers went on the right hand side but on the left hand side one could view rows and rows of new houses. But the pack was following Vijai to the left hand side. " Where are the papers? " someone shouted. " Don't worry, just follow me and you will be safe! " said Vijai. Many people thought that was the official detour point for the short run. So, another 30% of the people had gone. - S C B of second level -.

Jame Bond was watching and shaking his head. " No, It is still early and I don't want to turn back so early " I told James Bond. " Ok, but you have to run a bit ", I soon followed James's foot steps. It was a hill run and I was not good at it, but I soon caught up with Viagra man, and Nalen, the ex Guiness Stout man. I reminded Viagra man to write a scribe for the run. " OK no problem " answered the Viagra Man who is good in detailed decription of a run.   {Click to Viagra man's scribe }   I kept on climbing up the hill surpassing the two behind and soon reached a high point where there was a young hasher of Orang Utan HHH directing the traffic. He showed me the detour way ( the short run ) as by then I was too slow to qualify for the long run. Then, that was all the way downhill, and I met the young man, Tan Who ran towards me. " What happen? why running back trail ?" " Oh no, I ran into a wrong trail, I wanted a long one, so I had to run back. This is the correct trail for the short run! " Anyway, I was happy to follow the short trail as that was good enough for me for the day.

I was alone all the way running until I reached a corner of a young oil palm estate, there suddenly a pack of fast runners came from the right hand side, and merged with me. The mystery was solved, the long run meant you had to go through a loop including climbing two more hills and down to meet the short runners. When we were together, some were surprised and misunderstood that I could run the long run that fast.

End of the run was to go through the vast empty land of the housing estate still under development, and everyone after the run ajourned at the tents and enjoyed the free flowing beer, Heineken, the official beer of the Orang Utan HHH, the roasted pork meat, and the fried bean curds. It was a good idea that the roasted pork meat was prepacked in small boxes, not only it was hygenic but also ensured everybody got a share in it, unlike the last time when the runners got nothing to eat and all the SCBs not only finished the food but also packed back home. It was about 7.30pm and the usual hash circles started and the GMs of all chapters were on down on ice. The hash circle was quite mild. It was a time to catch up with the good old buddies; long run, short run, scbs of all levels, who cares? after all it was just hashing, no rules, no comparison, no competition, but just friendship and comradeship!

The grand on on was at Siang Yen restaurant which was 10 minutes drive away from the run site. The rule was that everybody must wear the t shirt given in the goody pack as an identification for the eligible participant. That was a great idea to institute the concept of Barison hash house harriers of Melaka. Irrespective of whether you were from Sunday, Monday, Tuesday ----, everybody was under one roof for the night as hash house harriers of Melaka wearing a same T shirt. It was great! The crowd started to gather at about 8.30 pm, and thirty over tables were fully occupied. The food was delicious, and the beer free flowing. The disco music, the Paper Doll's performance, the singers, and the dancing just made everyone in an ecstatic state.

The Kota Melaka HHH was elected to be the successor to host the next joint hash run, and a number of awards was given by the Supreme Council of Orang Utan HHH to those who had contributed to promote the hashing activity of Melaka, and in view of the success of Nash Hash 2004, naturally Bombastic and Au Kait of Full Moon HHH were awarded with a title of highest honour. i.e. S.P.K.L, and a few others who assisted were also awarded with some titles mostly with the last letter " L ". The interpretation of the titles is available at Supreme Council of Orang Utan HHH. I don't know what time the party ended, but I left at 12.30 pm. The hot singer was still dancing, jumping, half drunk, and absolutely in a very high ecstatic state ----- Someone has to tell me the other part of the story.

Verdict of the hash function: absolutely great! those who miss will regret!

• Photos, by Websitekang

• More photos, by Vijai

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