Monday, August 10, 2009

The Zombie Invasion Hash

aka vaccination-on-trail hash.

Courtnie came up this weekend for Ray's on out and crashed at my place. We attempted to hit up four hashes in one weekend and would have made it if it weren't for the pancakes.

But, let's start at the beginning.



After two days of doing nothing but working (because even when I wasn't at work, I was speed reading Fellowship of the Ring and Treasure Island - thank Maude that ended yesterday), I was happy when Friday rolled around and it was the Full Moon Hash. I would have been happier had I been able to drink, but since I can't drink for three days after each vaccination and they seem to schedule the fuckers between 3-7 days apart, that's just not been possible. However, we went to the On After. No running because I didn't get off work in time - but I figure if I got the hash t-shirt, it freaking counts. Plus, I let a bunch of sweaty, smelly people hug me. And I had to fend off the lickers. Or perhaps Wacey was trying to eat my brains. You never know.



I went home before most of the crew, as I intended to actually go to YKH3 - since they run at 10 AM on a Saturday, I can't say I've been often. We managed to be late, which is rather impressive considering how near to the start point I live, but these things happen. The trail wasn't half bad - and wasn't even that steep, for all that whenever you are lost, you can generally count on whichever direction heads up being the right way - but, oh my Maude, the sweat. It was so damn hot. There were some hashers from Okinawa visiting and an On Out for Ober Beaver, so lots of fun. However the odd bit happened when the trail hit Itaewon - since it went by the International Clinic, I decided to wander in and get Rabies.



The shot, not the disease, obviously. It meant I was the SRB (Slowest Running Bastard or Be-otch), but as the girl who once got a monkey stuck in my hair, making sure I'm all vaccinated against rabies seems a bright move. I made it to the Down Down though and then after that was over, a bunch of us bused down to Songtan to run with OBH3.





And it was an awesome trail. Coming out of the Lion's Den, if there was an alleyway, we dodged down it. We climbed fences. We walked past all sorts of odd things, like the building above. We went through plenty of rice fields (and I thought I could skip the shot for Japanese encephalitis - perhaps I could reconsider, because I do spend more time in rice fields than I could ever have predicted...) In fact, at one point we followed trail around in a square - backwards! Oops. Must have been walking and chatting.





And then we hit... The Zombie Invasion Village. It was freaky. Eerie. Really, really odd. I can't quite describe the experience of a quiet, hot day, three girls, and then... that. Whatever that was. It looked at first like maybe there were just a couple of destroyed buildings as a result of a fire, but no. It went on for quite awhile and for the life of us, we couldn't come up with a good idea as to why so many things had just been left behind. In some of the houses there were still glasses in the cupboards, as if the residents all just up and walked off on day.







There were just the weirdest things we were passing by. Old stuffed animals, furniture, dead cats, wigs galore. Holes everywhere, only some covered and those not even well. It was possibly one of the coolest places I've been in Korea, actually. And so, so odd.





On this hash I learned what Constantine wire was - at the beginning, the walkers were told there was this point we could turn back, if the trail was taking too long. However, when we hit that point, we were 2 hours into the hash, in the middle of nowhere in a location that didn't look like it saw a lot of taxi traffic. We kept going and I'm glad we did - as running trails go, I can understand it would be a hard run, being so long. However, as a walking trail it was fantastic - interesting scenery and flat! That doesn't happen often at a hash.






We went an awful lot of places we possibly shouldn't have been. Traversed through a lot of farming areas, past some fairly big dogs (and I have two more shots to go before they can bite me at will), and by an air field. There was also a lot of beauty to look at.






We even exercised, in case two hashes in a day wasn't enough already. But I have to say, when the trail lead us to the subway station, I was quite pleased. It was time to get On On to the Down Down and some delicious flavoured alcohol.






That night we went back up to Evilwon. As it was Ray's On Out, there were plans afoot to go out. We danced in Soho (I had a blast, though I was basically sweaty from the time I got up to the time I went to sleep, with only perhaps about an hour post-shower when I didn't feel totally disgusting) and then went over to Bricx for a quick drink (and an intended hookah, but it didn't happen.)




Turns out, it was a Zombie themed weekend. Perhaps we can blame them for keeping us out until 5 and ruining the four-hashes-one-weekend plan, because all we did Sunday was go get pancackes at Butterfingers, nap, and have dinner at Geckos.

On On to the next weekend of hashing. If only there wasn't this damn work week to get through first.

4 comments:

Chris in South Korea said...

Amanda,
Nice post - and photos of the darker / 'secret' side of Seoul. Quick question - how do the uninitated find about the next hash? Presuming they have a website link them up here :)

Amanda said...

If you look on my sidebar, there are links for Southside and Yongsan Kimchi. SS runs every Sunday at 11 am south of the Han River - the subway stations are posted on the hareline or sometimes on Facebook. YK runs Saturday at 10 am in Yongsan-gu, same about posting where exactly. OBH3 runs out of the Lion's Den in Songtan, a bar very close to the main gates of the American Airbase.

Seoul Hash, which is men's only, I have no info for.

sarah said...

sometimes i read your posts really quickly and its like reading a sci fi novel. of amazingness

Jes said...

On on to Nash Hash!! Woo Hoo!!