The Shanghai Taiping Hash House invited us to their  anniversary Hash at Taihu Lake Xishan island. As a special honor, Suzhou was asked to elect a Mystery Hare from the Suzhou H3 to assist in setting the Live Hare run. Of course we were happy to oblige Being right in our own backyard, the location proved an attractive one and over 35 Suzhou Hashers spread out in one hash bus, one mini van and two cars took to the hills for the Hash. The Suzhou group met up with the Shanghai Hash buses without incident, though the timing was so precise that there was no time for the planned  bathroom stop at the meeting point, a fact that saddened many Suzhou Hashers, having enjoyed cold beer and cokes on the Hash Bus on the way.  And without further ado, the joint Shanghai-Suzhou Hash train of vehicles moved onto Xishan island.

After meandering along winding village roads, the train stopped. Granted, it did seem a funny place to stop, right in the middle of a village, but the jolly Suzhou Hashers took no notice, assuming that the Taiping bus we were following had things well under control. After about ten minutes, though, there was some dissent in the ranks, and several Hashers decided to get off the bus to see if they could find toilets nearby while we were waiting. MasterKater also got off to see what the holdup was, and found that the Hash buses in the front of the trail had turned off onto a side road which led to an ancient bridge over a rather wide canal. However, none of the buses could go any further. It seemed that the Taiping Hares, when planning the trail, had forgotten to calculate in the size of the Hash buses which were clearly too large for the bridge. By this point, there were almost 100 Hashers milling around trying to find out what was going on, so the Taiping GM JohnnyWad gave the word that we were to gather for chalk talk and details about the Run.  MK spread the word and most Suzhou Hashers returned to the Suzhou Hash bus to pick up their gear for the Run.  Well, that is they tried to return to the bus but unfortunately the Taiping organizers had sent the Hash buses on to point B so as to not block the road. So many a Hasher had to start off the Run without their gear and without any water, as the Suzhou Hash Bus was gone and the Taiping had also forgotten to get their water supplies off their own Hash Bus!  Being good-natured folk, there wasn’t much grumbling, just a bit, and all tried to find a place with a view of the action at the Chalk Talk. All, that is except Agatha. As elected Mystery Hare he was running around with his chalk and flour supply, trying desperately to find the Taiping Hares. However, the Taiping Hares NoBalls and Helios, joined by Taiping founder BoringEnglishC..nt had seen an opportunity in the midst off all the confusion to make a quick getaway, leaving poor Agatha and his flour behind at the start. As it was a Live Hare Hash, the Hares of course wanted to get a sizeable head start before the pack set off, and one also wonders if this was a diversionary tactic to keep the attention away from their bus/bridge fiasco?

The Run began, and it was a beautiful trail through the Yangmei orchards, tea plantations and historic villages of Xishan. Suzhou Hashers were all extremely thirsty, due to the 30+ degree weather and lack of water, but luckily, the Yangmei were at the peak of ripeness and there for the picking the whole trail.  Also Suzhou Hasher HY had been very clever and had wisely brought  his own water bottles with him off of the Hash bus and he very generously shared with his parched fellow Hashers.
The trail took us up many a hill, and then up some more hills, and then down and up again, but there were fantastic views of the countryside and of Taihu Lake, and as always, the Taipingers were excellent company on the Run. After about 8 km, many a Suzhou Hasher was heard to ask when the beer stop was going to be, or had they somehow managed to miss it?  Only to be informed by their fellow Hashers that there was no beer stop in the Taiping Hash. Every Hash is different, but I would venture to say that many a Suzhou Hasher really missed the Suzhou beer stop tradition that hot day! We moved into the historic Ming Dynasty village and water-there was water not just surrounding us on all sides of the island, but also for sale in the village. So throwing caution and fears of being punished for ‘shopping on the Hash’ to the winds, we stocked up and continued the Run. The Run finished at the waterside on a concrete peer which provided partial shade and plenty of room for Taipinger WoolyBush to pass out Taiping Hash souvenir t-shirts and cold drinks to everyone as they came past. The Circle was held on the pier as well, and the Hares, including Agatha were feted and Suzhou Hash was also given the opportunity to bring in some charges of our own, in addition to the Taiping one. After the circle, we all headed off back up the pier to the restaurant when we heard a splash and it seemed that some of the Suzhou Hashers with Agatha in the lead, couldn’t resist the temptation to jump into Taihu for a swim. The rest of us looked at the murky water, looked at each other, said ‘nah’ and went off to the Taiping-prepared feast of home-style country cooking accompanied by lots of cold beer. The bus ride back to Suzhou was lively, bordering on the rowdy, if you can imagine that, and after dropping the Suzhou coolers off, about 20 Hashers gathered at the Blue Marlin for further festivities and to wish well to some of the Suzhou Finnish Hashers who were heading home for their  summer holidays the following week. Suzhou Hasher  Inspector Clouseau was also spotted at the Blue Marlin at about midnight after what looked to be a pretty wild night out on the town and apologized to the group for not having been to the Taiping Hash and more notably, for not having attended a Suzhou Hash since being awarded the P. of the Month trophy. And that award was given to him several months back. He said that he was taking good care of it and had even changed the batteries, prompting us to wonder if Suzhou Hash was ever going to get the P of the Month back at all!  Tune in next time to find out….. On-on!