Ride no:- 153Location:-   Wat Sing TongDate:- 28 April 2002Hare:- Lem 'No good boyo' MorganScribe:- Hugh O'ConnnellLem bravely volunteered to lay the April hash, traditionally not a popular job. The misdirections proved surprisingly easy to follow, in spite of the fact that Neil had all the BHHB signs in the back of his car (apparently he hadn’t stolen them - they had been given to him. However, he failed to explain why he would want to keep them, nor what he was going to do with them. He merely stated, “possession is nine-tenths of the law” – over to the conspiracy theorists / train spotters …….)./o:pAnyway, as we drove into the temple grounds we were greeted with the very unholy sight of the GM’s buttocks exposed to the world. We spent some time sitting in the car considering the effect that exposing one’s self in a temple would have on one’s karma. Needless to say, we decided that the GM should consider making some serious merit in order to avoid reincarnation as a dung beetle./o:pAs our waves of nausea were subsiding, the circle was called near enough to 1pm. Lem gave us an informative briefing about the ride: a short course – 35kms, long course – 50kms, 3 rests stops – nothing official but they are expecting us, no u-turns, all-in-all a straightforward ride that should take about 3 hours. Yeah, right – only the naïve would believe anything associated with the hash would be straightforward./o:pThe usual motley crew set off, with a few new additions, in the blistering heat (not quite the level of the March hash, but still hot). The group included a pregnant woman (five weeks to go), an American family with two youngsters, and a Croatian. There were a few weak on-on’s as we climbed the hill out of the Temple and onto the road./o:pIt was not long before our “straightforward” ride became more challenging. We were soon negotiating klong side concrete pavements with treacherous falls either side, and rickety bridges which could only hold one person at-a-time. The brave and the foolhardy kept in their saddles and, needless to say, at least one hasher took a 2 metre plunge towards the murky klong water. However, there were no serious injuries and we were soon back onto more conventional trail./o:pThe effect of the initial small paths was to spread peddlers over a long distance. People fragmented into ones, twos and threes, and it was easy to get off-paper. The whistle proved to be an essential item and showed why it is so important to carry one. There were some mutterings about people not “blowing” often enough, but maybe that was because of the heat??/o:pThe winding course took us through temples, rice fields, various “moo baans,” and past many potential water stops. In fact, the large number of these potential water stops meant that there was no consensus over where to stop. It was more a case of reaching a critical mass of riders at a particular establishment. One such place was run by a woman with a good sense of humour, but unfortunately, very little stock. Fanta and water were the order of the day. When asked if she had a “hong nam” she waved vaguely towards the klong. We cycled off, making a mental note not to klong dive for at least a few kilometres.At what seemed like a very long way, we reached the “short circuit” turnoff. The turning was clearly marked, but a few riders claimed to have taken the short course by mistake. We believe you…….. Not much further on the longer course crossed the shorter course and we met up again near a temple, so all was not lost./o:pFrom then on, it was head down and on-in head for home. The wind was quite strong but the course was not too technical. In fact this part really was “straightforward.”/o:pFinally we reached Wat Sing Thong, a pleasing sight. Groups of riders arrived spasmodically over a period of about an hour and the surprising thing was that the short-course riders arrived back after the others. Clearly, not such a short course after all. Two brave hashers arrived back in a pick-up truck, brave because they should have known that they would get some stick!/o:pThe circle was called and the usual abuse handed out: new members, new cars, new shoes, young participants, Aussie sheep shaggers, using a pick-up truck, running when you should cycle, cycling when you should ride, and the invisible man. Important messages included the AGM of the Wednesday Hash on 1st May, the AGM of BHHB at the end of June, and next month’s ride in Khoa Yai./o:pAll-in-all, Lem, a great ride. Thanks.