There are now thousands of Hash House Harriers chapters all around the world on all of the continents including Antarctica. Some of these have only been around a few years, some rarely meet due to lack of local interest, and some of them are wildly popular and meet many times a week just like ours. However, there is one Hash chapter that is the mother of them all, and that is the Kuala Lumpur H3.
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There are certain places around the world that have a "mother Hash" which simply means that some other Hash member departed from some part of the world, missed the hell out of Hashing, and started their own somewhere else. For example, one of our members moved to Vietnam and since he originated here, Chiang Mai H3 is considered their "mother Hash" should they manage to succeed as a chapter. This is true all around the world.
There is one that started them all though, and that is Kuala Lumpur Hash House Harriers, who were the originators of the entire idea of Hashing.
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It all began back in 1938 when a man named A. S.Gispert determined that officers stationed in Kuala Lumpur in the country that was known as Malaya would work off the weekend's excesses by meeting after work for some exercise and a reasonable amount of alcoholic beverages. Instead of just going for a run, he incorporated an adult version of a children's game called "paper chase" where a mob of kids are following one leader who leaves a trail of paper breadcrumbs to try to catch up with them.
"Hashing" as a concept existed before then, but it was not organized and didn't have a name. The only reason why it became known as the Hash House Harriers is because governments love making up rules and the Registrar of Societies required that any gathering was required to have a name. It was called the Hash House Harriers because the "mess hall" that these soldiers and officers met in was renowned for having terrible food or "hash." Therefore, the name of what has become a global enterprise was purely an accident and probably had something to do with making sure that each word started with "H." No one alive knows for sure.
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The K.L. Hash House Harriers are a very active group and they have multiple chapters throughout the city and meet weekly. I have had the good fortune of running with them a couple of times a few years back and to be honest (no offense guys) I was kind of surprised at how few members they had that were attending the events or at least the ones that I went to. There are other, more attended Kennels around the world, including ours in Chiang Mai. However, there is something very special about attending an event with the same club that has been around since the very start.
The Hash didn't expand beyond Malaya until the early 60's when a chapter was established in Singapore (there were other attempts outside of Malaya but they were unsuccessful in maintaining membership) and this chapter is still "running" to this day. I am yet to have a run with that group but I will find you, and I will run with you.
Once again I want to encourage everyone out there that could use a bit of exercise and enjoys socializing (or even if you don't, introverts are welcome as well) to seek out your local HHH chapter. There are over 5,000 of them globally, so there is a better than average chance that there is one that is not too far from you. It might be in your own city and you just don't realize it.
If you are in Northern Thailand, please come and join us in Chiang Mai. I promise that you will not regret the decision. Full details are available on our official website HERE
That's pretty wild how this whole phenomenon started. There is a chapter that is trying to get started over here in DaNang... maybe I'll get involved and help out. It looks a like a lot of fun although I don't really think we have a lot of nature in the immediate vicinity other than the beach. I don't think it would work very well there.
Thanks @gabe.radke for being engaged in the ASEAN Hive Community. !ENGAGE 35
ENGAGEtokens.Oh how I miss Hashing. I took it for granted when I had access to it and now really regret not taking advantage of it more than I did.
Thanks @gooddream for being engaged in the ASEAN Hive Community. !ENGAGE 15
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I had the term "has" before, but never really knew what it was until you began sharing these posts in our community. Now I know it isn't only the brown smokeable stuff from Morocco. Thank you for sharing your Southeast Asian content with us. By the way, don't forget the #neoxian tag on your ASEAN Hive posts because the @asean.hive account has a massive delegation of staked NEOXAG. You