One of the things I’ve been introduced to down here is the group called the "Hash House Harriers." It’s been described best as a drinking club with a running problem. For the past three or four weeks, we’ve gone out on Tuesday nights to some location near UB to hike and jog in the hills and forests surrounding the city. This weekend was our first out of town hash where a bunch of us went out to Terelj national park. During the communist days this was the local summer retreat for the higher up party officials. Now it’s more known as one of the most beautiful spots to travel to that is still close to UB.
Anyway, we had about 20 of us go out to one of the ger camps, and spend the next two days doing a combination of hiking, drinking, running, drinking, rock climbing, drinking, horse riding, and drinking. Did I mention the drinking? We did three different hashes over the weekend, including a final one on horseback. I lost count the first evening of how many mountains we climbed during the hikes!
The scenery out there was amazing. There were tons of wildflowers, and wild rhubarb growing all over the place. Brigitte, the owner of one of the local cafes in town spent a lot of time picking this, and all the next week served the best rhubarb deserts and pastries.
It was on this weekend that I got my first hash name "Trustdriver". There is a great story to go along with it, but in order to protect the guilty, I’m not going to reveal it on here!
and just reading your stories puts a smile on my face. thanks
by Henry Malmgren
5 comments