17th Interhash 2010 Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia

THE 17TH INTERHASH 2010 IN KUCHING, SARAWAK, MALAYSIA

Hashing is a well-known wonderful pastime with neither political nor racial barrier. Since its inception in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 1938, it has spread like wild fire worldwide with the present existence of some 2,000 chapters. For the purpose of socializing, fostering friendship and sharing fun, the first Interhash was organized and held in Hong Kong in 1978. Since then, it was held once in 2 years in various countries on vote the last of which was in Perth, Australia in March, 2008.

Come last week, as voted in the last 16th Interhash, it was its 17th Interterhash which was held in Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia from 2nd to 4th July, 2010 organized by Hornbill Hash House. As expected, it had attracted a huge participation of some 5,000 ardent hashers from some 60 countries worldwide.

Kuching or Cat City is a cosmopolitan city in the State of Sarawak in East Malaysia with friendly people, fine weather, great run-sites, good food and drinks. It is the home of Kuching Hash House Harriers which is the third oldest hashing chapter in the world born in 1963 after the Mother Hash in1938 and Singapore Hash in 1962. Coincidentally, it is the place where I first started my hashing in 1972 after being introduced by Clive Curnow, an expatriate engineer with the Public Works Department, Sarawak, during my tour of duty there as a police officer with the Royal Malaysian Police from Kuala Lumpur. Since then, there is no looking back for me. I have so far attended a total of 10 Interhashes and hashed in most of the 6 continents in the world except Africa and South America which I am looking forward. Presently, I am a full-time hasher running with the Malacca Hash House Harriers (MH3) which is the oldest of the 9 hashing chapters in the State of Malacca born in 1975.

As arranged by Bombastic, my partner Wonder Woman and I had left Malacca by a chartered bus for the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in the early hours of 1st July, 2010 together with 12 other MH3 members namely, Chickadee, Killer Tony, Sexy Chan, SYT, Hawaii Goh, Baby Elephant, Crystal, LEC, Utom Singh, Wewe, Kuan Yin Ma and Bombastic. Whilst there, we met a few other hashers who were also heading to Kuching. The flight took us some 1½ hours to arrive at the Kuching International Airport at 5.45 a.m. where we were being received by its organizing committee member and transported downtown to our Supreme Hotel which is some 12 km away. After checking in, we adjourned to the nearby registration centre at Civic Centre which was crowded with anxious hashers where we confirmed our registrations. Each of us was given a beautiful goodies bag full of 2 colourful T-shirts, a towel, a wrist tag, a beer mug, a magazine, a world hash directory and a nomination card of coming 18th Interhash 2012. After that, it was a free day for us, as we did not register and take part in the Red Dress Run which started at 4.00 p.m. at the Central Padang opposite the Merdeka Palace Hotel.

The main event of GM’s Meeting started at 10.00 a.m. on 2nd July, 2010 at the nearby Sarawak Club Kuching which I attended with Garfield of Malacca Hash and some other 100 hashers. Among the matters presented and discussed were briefing by the organizing committee of Hornbill Hash House which is the host of Interhash 2010 and presentations by bidders of other hashing events. It ended at 11.30 a.m.

The Opening Dinner started at 7.30 p.m. on the same day. It was held at the main venue in an open park behind the Civic Centre where a number of stalls were opened to serve delicious local food and free-flowing Anchor beer, to sell hashing souvenirs and to promote hashing events. Among them were Borobudur Hash of Indonesia and Kenya Hash of Africa which were promoting their Interhash 2012 bids, Hainan Hash of China which was promoting its Interhash 2014 bid (www.hainaninterhash2014.com) and Malacca Hash which was promoting the registration of its 1st World Heritage Run in 2011 (www.worldheritagehash.weebly.com). It was there that I met a number of familiar hashers. Among them were Brigadier General (Retired) Dato’ Soon Lian Cheng of Kuala Lumpur Hash, Murugan of Malaysian Hash Council, Gorilla of Ipoh Hash, Antique Lim, Kachang Panjang, Pecker, Pinky Tights, Rasputin, Laughing Buddha and James Bond of Malacca Hash, Patrick of Muar Hash, Poedi Widya Karsa Halim of Malang Hash, Doraemon and Pilemon of Padang Hash, Indonesia and Stephen Kueh of Kuching Hash who is a devoted veteran hasher who started hashing in 1966 whom I have known since 1972 when I first joined the Kuching Hash. Greetings were exchanged and cock-and-bull stories were told. It was followed by the official opening ceremony of the event by the Deputy Minister of Tourism, Malaysia at 8.30 p.m. with fire works, cultural dance and shows and announcement that Stephen Kueh is one of the 4 existing hashers worldwide who had attended all the 17 Interhashes. Congratulations and keep it up! I do not know what time the party ended as I left the venue early at 9.30 p.m.

The main running event of the day started on at 10.00 a.m. on 3rd July, 2010 at Kpg. Sitaang with its Ball Breaker Run of 22 km. It was followed by 5 Long Runs at Kpg. Kuap, Kpg. Menjau, Kpg. Simboh, Kpg. Pesa and Kpg. Apar; 6 Medium Runs at Kpg. Kuap, Kpg. Menjau, Kpg. Simboh, Kpg. Pesa, Kpg. Apar and Kpg. Bawang; 6 Short Runs at Kpg. Kuap, Kpg. Menjau, Kpg. Pesa, Kpg. Apar and Kpg. Bawang; l Cave Run at Kpg. Semerdang; and 1 Old Farts’ Run at Venue Vicinity. The runs started from 2.00 p.m. to 3.00 p.m. However, as oldies, my partner and I only took part in the Short Run at Kpg. Apar together with 2 busloads of some 80 hashers who included Hawaii Goh and SYT. The run-site was by the side of a road in the district of Bau which is some 30 km north of Kuching city. It was an A to B Run. The run started at 2.50 p.m. after a short and sweet briefing by its hare on the colour of paper to follow, as the trail consisted of a medium and a short runs which were marked by blue and white papers respectively.

It was a fine, cloudy and cool Saturday afternoon. The blue and white papers led south side-by-side on a bushy path into a shady secondary jungle full of wild bamboo, palm and fruit trees. They meandered on the undulating and hilly terrains for some 25 minutes before hitting a signboard at a T-junction which separated the medium run on the left with blue paper and the short run on the right with white paper. Most of the runners took the short run by following the white paper on the right which continued to meander left, right and centre across a few drains and a stretch of swamp through the undulating and hilly terrains of the secondary jungle for another some 30 minutes before exiting at a tarred road. It then turned right northward on the tarred road through a village and turned left eastward at another T-junction for another some 15 minutes before arriving at the ending B run-site at 4.00 p.m. where a big pack of front runners of medium and short runs were enjoying their drinks, watermelon and light food while some were cleaning their muddy legs and shoes in the toilet. Whilst there, we met James Bond, Gorilla, Doraemon and Pilemon.

It was quite a challenging A to B run through the bushy, undulating, hilly and swampy terrains of some 4.7 km which took my partner and I 1 hour and 10 minutes to complete. The last runners were back some 20 minutes later. It was followed by a hash circle which saw a number of sinners being on-downed. It ended at 5.25 p.m. after which we left for the main venue at the downtown Civic Centre which was crowded with a huge number of hungry hashers who were filling their stomachs with variety of delicious local food and drinks in buffet style in open air. In attendance on a stage were live music and shows. As we were feeling tired and needed a rest, my partner and I left the venue for our hotel early at 9.00 p.m. by bus provided when it was still lively.

The running programme on the last day of the event on 4th July, 2010 which consisted of long, medium and short runs at the same run-sites began at 1.00 p.m. However, my partner and I did not attend it as we opted to follow our co Malaccan hashers to go for a sight-seeing tour and shopping of local products at the town of Selikin which is situated at the border of Sarawak, Malaysia and Kalimantan, Indonesia some 1 ½ hours drive away from the Kuching city. We only attended its closing ceremony in the evening at the main venue where we had our dinner of local food and drinks and attended the hash acts on stage one of which was performed by the Malacca Hash led by Cocker and James Bond. It was at around 9.00 p.m. that an official announcement was made that Borobudur Hash, Indonesia had succeeded in its bid to host the coming 18th Interhash from 25th to 27th May, 2012 with the early bird registration fee of US 120 dollars or RM 400 up to 31st August, 2010. Congratulations! As you know, Borobudur is a historic city with ancient Buddhist monument, Hindu temple and live volcano situated in Central Java, Indonesia and fine weather, friendly people, great run-sites, good food and drinks which I have hashed before and which I am cock sure you are going to enjoy it fully. So do not hesitate to register for it, fellow hashers! For more information and registration, please login www.ihjava2012.com. See you there! Like the previous night, we did not stay back until the event ended at around mid-night.

Judging from the above, it is undeniable that it was quite a well-organized Interhash with good runs, good food, good drinks and good fun which made us left Kuching with smiling face and fond memories. Credits should be given to its devoted organizing committee for the job well done. Thanks!

On! On!

Scribe: Pak Sek Kok a.k.a. Drug Buster,
Malacca Hash House Harriers.

Date: 10th July, 2010.