Monday, December 14, 2009

Monday Hash Runs.....Every Mondays

Monday evenings are my sacred days. yes.. for whether it rains or shine, a group of like minded people will meet up at a pre arranged place for our "hash run" at 1800 hrs. We are members of the Kerteh Hash House Harriers, a group of wild men and ladies who are in this running club with a drinking problem. The run sites are normally in the jungles and plantations within half an hour's drive from Chukai. Hashing origionally started in Kuala Lumpur many years ago and has spread to all corners of the world. Each week a different "hare" sets the run. When I began hashing in the late 1970s while I was based in Kuching we had a "Life hare" system where the hare sets a paper trail only 2 hours before the run. If the other hashers catch up with him the dinners will be on him. So we have devised a system of false trails, checks (where the trail ends and hashers will have to search for the trail continuation) and back trails to "slow" down the fast runners and allow the rest to catch up. Nowadays, it is much easier..the trail is normally set two days before hand.
Normally by 1730 hrs the crowd starts to build up. An average of 60 members turn up for the run. The "On sec" normally calls the chatting crowd to order for announcements 5 min before the run. The next week's runsite is also announced.
Sometimes I bring guest to the run ..like in this week's run I brought my daughter Alicia and nephew Jian Siang along



The trail is normally laid with square or shredded white paper. Sometimes, flour could be used. Normally the first km starts on good grounds to facilate the runners to warm up. Then it is uphills, down hills, through jungles and estates. Sometimes if the hare is a bad guy the trail could be set on a wild boar route and that includes crawling through a wild boar tunnel!












If it is the rainy season always be prepared to get wet. There was once in Kuching many years ago when the run site was in a flood prone estate and there was a heavy down pour. I remembered swimming out as it was too far to turn around.










Downhills can be tricky. We have had many humty dumpties.....


















Hill climbs are always on the run menu.

















To keep the runners know where you are you are expected to shout "ON ON" as you run.















Normally the the first runner comes in by 1900 hrs and the last runner 20 mins later. The hare is responsible for helping the strayed runners back.
We have a system of signing OUT before the run and SIGNING IN when we return so we know who is missing.

After the run it is going to the ON DOWN where a good dinner and beers are organised. Sinners who had taken short cuts, stolens fruits along the way are punished here. The punishment is drinking beer while standing on a chair!

So you see, this is good life again and it only cost us RM4.00 per run. We get pewters for completing 50 runs. I had done about 350 runs with this group. It is always an enjoyable event even though I do not drink nor do I attend the ON DOWNS ( ai yah will get fat lah).

Monday, December 7, 2009

My perfect host in Melbourne (Nov 2009)

About 2 weeks before our departure to Melbourne, Cheong told us that one of his long lost classmate from Malacca by the name of Max Tan would like to host us while we are in Melbourne. I was a bit skeptical at first because we are strangers but Cheong asssured us that it is ok. Max Tan like myself had been a scout in his school days and had done a lot of back packing in Europe in his younger days. So I started to correspond with Max Tan by emails to get to know him better. I used google earth to locate his house which is located in Bundoora and is on the Bundoora Park itself. Perfect location! After several emails we were talking like old friends and we seem to be on the same wavelength.










Armed with my Garmin Nuvi GPS we managed to locate his house at 16 Prospect Hill, Bundoora. Max and his wife Jeannie had even prepared some good food for us. It was really wonderful.













Max and Jeannie has a son Jonalton. He is 13 years old (the kid under the bed) and he seems to get along with all our kids.


Max managed to locate a few of Cheong's school and class mates residing in Melbourne to his house and we had a pot luck BBQ. Most of them have not met each other since they left school 30 odd years ago. They are all very successful and some of them have became Australian citizens












Max, the host was also the chief cook for the occasion. I believe he enjoys cooking for a crowd! But of course there are the ladies helping out too .

















The kids too had a gala time with all the good food.


















This is the crowd that was hosted by Max. We are very thankful to him and his wife for hosting us during our stay in Melbourne. Max, you have been a perfect host. More on our trips around Melbourne in my later blogs.

Flying to Melbourne, Australia by Air Asia (Nov 2009)

"Hey Wong, Would you like to go down to Melbourne for a holiday at the end of the year. Air Asia is having some fantastic offers".....Sunny Cheong my brother in law called me one fine day somewhere in June. Yes please but first I will have to get my leave approved. By the time my leave had been approved a few days later, the fare was not so cheap anymore. I had to pay RM 7900.00 for a family of 4 for all inclusive return fares. So, on 22 Nov 2009 three families (all our wives are sisters) flew to Melbourne for a vacation.
This is the first time I travel by Air Asia and of course the first trip to the Low Cost carrier terminal in KLIA. I would say I am quite impressed with the LCCT. The food here is much cheaper as compared to the main terminal. There seem to be a lot of bargain hunters around this "low cost" terminal. I tried to ask the taximan who brought us to the air port for a "low cost" taxifare but I was unsuccessful!




I was rather suprised that there was no delay for this flight as I have heard about their frequent delays. To be on the safe side I had actually purchased a travel insurance so that I can get some money back if there are delays. but of course when you have bought insurance everything will run smoothly so that no claims can be made!











The flight from KLIA to Tullamarine airport took about 7 hrs 30 mins on the Airbus 330. One thing for sure is that the seats on the Airbus 330 is most uncomfortable. It cannot be reclined and for the flight outbound I was "trapped" in the middle. However Air Asia has made plans to improve the seating on the 330s by next year.