A weekend mini-vacation and haring hash # 2061 in Dameisha

 From May 31-June 2nd Faye and I spent the weekend on a mountain near Dameisha Beach.  We took a taxi there late on Friday night because I was planning to co-hare a hash on Saturday and did not want to wake up early for the 1-2 hour trip there.  

The hash trail was awesome and was enjoyed by all which is good considering how much work we did to make it so. My friend Alex (who is also my colleague) and I scouted trail on May 11.  I scouted a second time on May 25th.  On May 11th the weather was sunny, hot, and beautiful. 

On May 25th the weather was not as good.  Faye and I had gone out there to check the walking route between our hotel and the start of the trail and also to check out one small portion of the trail that I was planning to lay as a YBF (you've been fucked) which is essentially a tricky false trail that people follow only to realize they have to turn back and find the correct trail. After we had scouted we snuck on the the Intercontinental Hotel's private beach. 

On Friday May 31st we checked into our hotel, the Han Valley Homestay Hotel, and got a good night of rest. 

The next morning I got up early to walk to the start point and lay the first YBF while Faye slept in. I had a bagged lunch prepared by the hotel. I took some photos of the hotel before I started walking down. 

Just as I began laying the trail it started to rain.  Needless to say all the marks I laid got washed away.

I met Alex at the A point and we chatted a bit before starting off to mark the trail.  We had about 14 km of trail to mark (including 10.23km of standard trail and a bunch of false trails and YBFs).  Alex was carrying the majority of the beer in the beer bag on his back and I had 8 cans in my bag.  It rained heavily on and off for the entire time.  The rain wasn't so bad as it kept the air cool but it made the trail slick in some places.  When we got near the beer stop we tried to take the route we had originally planned and both of us took a pretty bad fall.  At first I did not realize Alex had fallen.  I had gotten ahead of him and could not hear him over the powerful noise of the rushing water.  I was about 20ft ahead of him when I took my first fall, whacked my head on a tree branch, and landed butt first in the water.  I gathered up my marking kit of flour, paper, and chalk which had at this point turned into multicolored papier-mache and turned around to find he was no longer behind me.  I called out to him and got no answer, and even if he had answered I would not have been able to hear him over the water.  As I walked back to the bridge from which we came I saw him standing upon it. He shouted over the roar of the water that he was going to go around because it was too slippery and he fell.  I only heard the first part.  I ended up falling in the exact same spot as he had.  Neither of us were seriously injured but the fall was quite high.  At least for me I lowered myself onto my butt and slid for part of it before realizing to late that I could not stop and I was going to have to go off the 5ft drop into a dirty puddle surrounded by thorns.  Alex got the worse fall because he was carrying the beer bag and fell without expecting to.  I at least saw what was coming. 

We brushed ourselves off and continued marking the path.  This time we took a safer route up the side of the ravine on some stairs.  When we got to the waterfall it was incredible how much it had changed.  

Alex hid the beer bag behind the waterfall and we both went for brief swim before continuing. As we were finishing up we decided to rinse off in the sea before going for lunch.  Alex sat on a rock and a giant wave, which was big enough to splash me while I was standing, knocked him off the rock and into a hole.  He was not severely injured but he was shaken.  Between the weather, and the falling, laying this trail had thoroughly kicked out asses. 

We finished laying the trail just in time to eat lunch before the hashers arrived.  After a brief chalk talk everyone set off to follow the trail we had laid.  Fortunately the rain was all but done.  It turned out to be a wonderful hash.  Our marks remained in place because we laid them on trees and rocks in the driest places we could find.  Nobody got lost and even the late comers eventually caught up with the rest of the group. One hasher even hilariously got bothered by the police who had found our marks, taken pictures of all of them, and decided to hunt down and harass the first person in hash gear that they could find.  

After the hash we did circle then ate dinner at a local restaurant.  There were something like 34 people on the hash in total, which was more than we expected for the weather.  

Once dinner was over we said by to the hashers and Faye and I went back to our hotel.  

I had run/walked something like 28 kilometers in one day.  I was exhausted and sore.  So once back at the hotel I drew myself a bath in the outdoor tub and had a glass of wine. 

The next morning we fancied a trip to the beach.  There was finally a break in the rain so the weather was great for this.  We ate breakfast, packed up, and checked out. 

At first we tried to sneak onto the private beach at the Intercontinental Resort like we did on the 25th but we were stopped and asked for our room number so we decided to Bei Zai Jiao Beach which was a short cab ride away instead of going to Dameisha pubic beach.  Bei Zai Jiao beach is a less popular beach but as such it was less crowded and it was, save for some litter problems, absolutely stunning.  It was Faye's idea to go here and I must commend her for this because it was great.   

Once we had sufficiently relaxed we went home via taxi.  

This week at work has been eventful.  Students took two exams for honors bio.  One was a multiple choice comprehensive made by the network curriculum advisor.  The second was a free response final exam.  

The students in the music video club made a music video using my mitosis rap which dropped this week.  

Then they made a meme of me which was pretty funny.  

This weekend will be the dragon boat festival holiday and Faye and I are going to Pattaya.

To close off this post I will share the poster I made for the Dameisha Hash.  I shared this in my last post but it is so good I have to share it again.