Ride nos:- 161 and 162Location:- Petchaburi/Wat Sing ThongDate:- 28/29 September 2002Hare:- Ken AtkinsonScribe:- Wolfgang MinderjahnBung Preeda, a spot for many kinds of activity sports, is situated well off highway no. 4 (to the south) a few clicks before Petchaburi towards the Tenassarin Mountain range and the Burmese border. The well maintained resort unfortunately has (at present) only 8 bungalows, but at quite reasonable rates. Several lakes, leftover from rock blasting or mining, with plenty of nice cozy spots for having a beer with the friends or…! So our hares dared not to ask the bike hashers to set up tents for a complete (F1 -) weekend out there, though it would have been great as it would have added somehow to the very experience and atmosphere of that area./o:pBut don't worry, we had another nice experience: "MIDNIGHT SALES for bike hashers”! Believe it or not, for a mere 120 bucks you could have  landed a hit by purchasing the premier (!) edition of "asia-pacific HARRIER” from the Contributing Editor, Neil Biggadike .Not only 2 months ahead of the printed publication time (nov/dec) it was forced upon us as a "must" for hashers of all kind. O.k., the writer (a newcomer to the fold) at least learned already much more about HHH by reading, "What is hashing", p.9 or see some familiar faces at p.15 in “Destination Thailand”.Another SALES was quite successful: announced by hare Ken we should be ready for many punctures- and we believed him!  He must have made a fortune by selling nearly all of his tubes (on commission from Pro-Bike)./o:pThe slightly delayed (waiting for more to come) start by a small but enthusiastic group of app. 20 or so was flawless. Nobody crossed each other’s ideal line or crashed out at the first bent. Instead after a short while the field started to fizzle out due to quite a steep ascent. Surprisingly for the (not so young) writer many of our female "co bikers" passed by and were able to negotiate the hill on top of their bikes./o:pTherefore the downhill slope saw many more not to try their luck and the possibility to have a hard landing in thorny bushes or test their wheels' strengths against plenty of stones and rocks./o:pOne of many more checks managed to get the field together again just ending up in a loop at a scenic spot at one of the numerous lakes and ponds. Despite a slightly overcast sky it was quite hot so far so that some of us took the welcome hold for a dip into the coolness of the waters, in full gear of course. Meanwhile the “King of the Punctures”-Bill fixed it the first time./o:pThe hares had not spared with dead ends, checks and loops so that some two and a half hours into the hash and 23 kms on the clock even the ass. GM dared to ask for a mobile to find out about the water stop.  Another check and the appearance of the hares in their pickup finally convinced us we just hadn’t missed the stop yet, but another 4 clicks to go./o:pAnticipating Sunday’s event the writer had an early encounter with some dirty ditchwater when he tried to cross at exactly the marked crossing, surely intended by the hares. Luckily there was no camera around but some laughter from the friends. Anyhow plenty of rice field criss-crossings had surely resulted in similar tests of soil and mud by others as well./o:pFinally we were back in the comforting grounds of the Bung Preeda Resort and started to exchange our experiences among ourselves and with the hares. The circle was postponed to Sunday as many had to be back in BKK for other (?) business./o:pVenue-Sunday, 29 Sep, 2002: Wat Singh Thong, Bang Bua Thong, Nonthaburi/o:pSunday showed quite promising weathers conditions and the more or less “in-town ride” got together another bunch of 21 (paid!) bike hashers.  Even cashhash was present!/o:pOn time we started the guided ride with again top fit Ken at the helm through lovely orchards and villages. Since we were quite close to the Chao Phraya (at times a few meters or so only) we could feel the lingering flood dangers with many fields and low-lying areas inundated in gray/brown waters. This was quite a difference to the usual FrontPages of the last days and weeks over a cup of coffee inside our safe flats or apartments./o:pWe then crossed the river over the (well known?) hash bridge back to Bangkok side and had to negotiate some unbelievable narrow paths through the backyards of the river people.But not only seeing – no – Ken had decided to get the right feeling in full force and strengths. Many times we experienced the water in our shoes or even up to our bellies drawing sometimes no believing looks from the villagers or even their dogs (now quite harmless and quiet) surely thinking the same: “these crazy farangs…”.  The same feeling I experienced when biking through the narrow foot walks of a market ending up on a ferry, which took us back to the final loop./o:pA big Watergate posed some obstacles – especially for some females – so cash hash and the writer could demonstrate some welcomed assistance- You never know…/o:pI would like to end the stories with a group picture showing us smiling at another beautiful Wat (if the photographer got it right) but not ending the write-up without mentioning Neil’s “AFTER SALES SALES” at the circle managed by our ever so decisive ass GM./o:pWolfgang Minderjahn