Scribe For Christmas & New Year's Run No:1619 at Gapam
Scribe by Drug Buster
on 03-01-2006
Date: 05-01-2006
Rehashed Run No: 1619; Occasion/Organizing Chairman: Christmas & New Year Connections/Dennis Parker; Date: 3rd January, 2006; Venue: Gapam
Christmas and New Year are important festivals worldwide. They are normally celebrated separately once a year, 12 months apart. However, for the purpose of killing 2 birds with 1 stone by the organizer of MH3 Christmas Connections Run this year, they were uniquely celebrated together once for 2 years, 6 days apart for years 2005 and 2006. It will certainly go down well as one of the most memorable MH3 occasions.
The announcement of this festival run was made by its organizing chairman Dennis Parker at the last run in Krubong on 27-12-2005. It must have attracted a good number of ardent hashers. As such and as expected, when my partner and I arrived at the run-site in an oil palm plantation beside a cement plant at 5.10 pm, there were quite a number of cars there. Among their owners were Vijai, Sam, Pramjit and Dr. Iqbal. Except Dr. Iqbal who was hanging around directing traffic, not a single soul was seen there. The rest must have either gone in early as hares or early birds.
It was while parking my car that I saw the hares Dennis Parker, Vijai and Sam emerging from a gravel path. They were wet and dirty covered with sweat and mud from head to toe. Dennis, who was smiling and carrying 3 big honeydew fruits in a transparent plastic bag purchased from the farmer, told me that it was a tough run through the ‘jungle’ and advised me to follow the paper in order to avoid getting lost. He used an advanced electronic gadget known as GPS (Global Positioning System) to lay the paper. It was then that we were joined by Bombastic who came in his antique Vokswagon car.
The sky was cloudy and the ground was wet after a late afternoon drizzle. Without much delay and led by Bombastic, my partner and I started the run as early birds. The paper led on a muddy path into an oil palm plantation. While walking, we exchanged grandfather stories. A short distance away, it led into a bushy rubber plantation before hitting a deep ditch which took us some efforts to get across.
The first check appeared about 20 minutes later mid way to the top of a hill. It was a simple check found by Bombastic a short distance away on the right. It continued to trudge through the undulating bushy and slippery terrain before hitting a false trail on a laterite road at a honeydew fruit farm after crossing another ditch 25 minutes later. It was there that we met early birds Pramjit, Edarjit and FBI Mike walking in circle looking for the connecting paper. The search was made worst by traces of some old papers laid recently by other hashing chapter. It was finally found by me 20 minutes later on a laterite road on the left a short distance away. From then on, it was another tiring trudge downhill and uphill through thick bushes before arriving at a rubber plantation on the top of a hill. It made all of us panting.
It was a comfortable walk on the clear track in the rubber plantation for 10 minutes before arriving at a banana plantation. It then turned to the right and left a short distance away before going uphill again in another honeydew fruit farm by the side of Tiara Golf Course where a few guys were seen playing golf. It suddenly reminded me of my pilgrimage to the holy golf course of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrew in Scotland where golf originated together with 3 other musketeers namely, Websitekang, Wong Sing Sung and Garfield in July, 2004 after attending the 14th Interhash in Cardiff. I was told that the word ‘GOLF’ stands for ‘Game Of Lazy Fellow’ or ‘Game Of Lousy F..ker’ who spent too much time on the game. As a result, the game was at one time some 10 centuries ago banned by the then King of Scotland. We hope it will not happen to hashing which is a healthy pastime worldwide for umpteen years irrespective of the colour, creed, nationality, profession and status of its members.
Coming back to our run, it was there that to our great relief we saw the tower of the cement plant near our run-site a short distance away. We thought the paper would lead us straight back to the run-site. However, to our dismay it hit a false trail at a T-junction down the hill 400 meters away. It was there that we were caught up by front runner Tan Yean Lye who took 39 minutes to arrive. We turned to the right and into a vegetable farm thinking that we could find the connecting paper and hit the home trail. But we were wrong as the bush at its end was thick and impenetrable. We then made a U-turn and took the laterite road on the left which led to the main Gapam/Bemban road and back to the run-site 500 meters away. It was then that we were informed by hare Vijai that we were on the wrong trail, as the last connecting paper was on the left of the T-junction. The time then was 7.00 pm. The last runners were out 15 minutes later. Among them were Hawaii Goh, Nancy, Helen, Holy, Tony Tay and Sexy Chan. They said that they were on paper through a difficult trail with a few ditches. For our efforts, each of us was given a beautiful green T-shirt.
The crowd at the run-site was rather big. It was made up of most of the ardent hashers like Oil Rig Lim, GM Garfield, Gerard, Mrs. Dennis, Au Kiat, Chee, Websitekang, Kiasu Lee, Pecker and Anita. We drank cold beer, shook hand and exchanged Christmas and New Year greetings. It was followed by hash circle conducted by GM Garfield which saw a few sinners being put on ice and on-downed.
On-On was held at the nearby exclusive Tiara Resort Restaurant. It was well attended with 50 odd hashers. Delicious buffet food was served with free-flowing cold beer and iced lemon tea. In attendance was a live band with guitarist Dr. Dave and singers Pecker and Anthony who sang their hearts out. Avid dancers such as FBI Mike, Bui, Helen, Mrs. Dennis, Anita and Marion took the floor. In addition, a few exciting games were played. As usual, industrious Websitekang was seen busily clicking away photos with his digital camera for posting in the website. It was then that we were told that FBI Mike and partner, who have been hashing with us in Melaka for the last 3 ½ years, were leaving us for good for Oklahoma, USA on the coming 9th January, 2006. Naturally we are feeling sad to lose them and would like to wish them all the best and hope to see them again in the nearest future.
It was at around 10.00 pm that we saw the sudden appearance of Ex GM Danabalan who had just returned from his 2-week trip to Down Under Auckland, New Zealand. Other than looking tired after a 10-hour flight and 2-hour journey from KLIA, he appeared happy and smiling for obvious reason that he is going to enjoy his bachelor life again for the next couple of weeks!
All good events will come to an end sooner or later whether we like it or not. It was at 10.30 pm that the gathering started to disperse after enjoying one of the most enjoyable and memorable runs, dinners and evenings. A big ‘THANK YOU’ to all the Christmas Connections! On! On!
Scribe: Drug Buster
Date: 5th January, 2006