Hash in Suzhou...and no i do not mean weed

Yesterday was maybe the most incredible day I've spent in China so far.

One of the returning teachers in our office told Shannon and me about this thing called Hash. The Hash House Harriers is an organization that is known as "a drinking group with a running problem." They have clubs all over the world, in most major cities (and in many minor cities as well). Here is their website: http://www.gthhh.com/

So anyway, we were told about a Hash event in Suzhou, a small city about an hour and a half outside of Shanghai. I am (obviously) not a big runner, but the event sounded cool and when we were told that you don't have to run, Shannon and Dania and I decided to go. We went to a designated pick-up spot (there were 8 of us total from our school going), and got on the plush bus that would take us to Suzhou. There were two buses and maybe about 70 people total (maybe...i'm terrible at estimating numbers). We paid 150 rmb each, which was more than worth the experience that was to come. The bus stopped at a rest stop, during which we used the glamorous facilities (read: more squat toilets...no toilet paper, but there was a flusher! amazing!) and perused the interesting choices for snacks. I ended up buying some weird pizza flavored pretzel sticks. Dania bought something that she thought was apple juice and turned out to be apple-flavored jelly. It totally reminded me of the choir Europe trips on the buses cause we always stopped at so many rest stops and bought interesting snack foods to share with each other.

Anyway, we got to Suzhou around 2:15 pm and I had no idea what to expect. All I knew was that we were going to be following some trail, and at the end of it we'd arrive at a Buddhist temple/monestary and get unlimited drinks and food. As it turns out, they have 2 people (called "the hares") that scope out the trail the week before, and then on the day of the event they run 15 minutes ahead and mark the trail. They mark it with chalk in a way that they intentionally try to get you to go the wrong way. I had no idea, so when most of the group went the wrong way, asking "Are you?" (the question people shout out to ask if the people ahead 'are you on the trail?') and hearing an "oh shit" (obviously, the answer when the group is NOT on the right trail) from high up on a hill in front of us, I was sort of confused. This happened a bunch of times during the trek, and it was actually pretty fun figuring out which was the right way to go. Unless, of course, you made the mistake of hiking hundreds of feet up a steep hill. That was not so fun.

I honestly don't know how anyone could have run the course. It felt like most of it was up down these really steep hills. I'm pretty out of shape, but I felt like we kept a decent pace.



















At the top of the second hill I felt awful. The best way to describe it is that I felt like I was drunk...totally dizzy, not quite aware of what was going on around me. We just kept moving. I don't know what kind of crops we were making our way through, but they were terraced up the hill like this almost the whole way. You really had to pay attention to your footing cause it was really easy to trip or slide. I'm surprised that none of the runners sprained their ankles. I did, however, manage to get some of the most ridiculous mosquito bites of my entire life. By ridiculous, I mean that I just counted and I currently have close to 40, maybe more. And they're all on my legs. I'm not joking. The extra-strength anti-itch cream I brought is not working, and I wouldn't even know how to go buy benadryl in pill form so I guess i'm just going to suffer through it and continue tearing up my legs. Shannon took a picture of my legs, which I will hopefully post as soon as she uploads her pics onto her computer. So we continued on our hike for probably close to 2 hours, admiring the scenery, enjoying the lack of car horns and jackhammers and finally arrived at our destination. It was incredible. Not only did this finally feel like "real China," but we got to go inside, explore, and eat and drink as much as we wanted. We didn't actually see any monks or anything, but the whole place was up on top of these hills. We sat through a very interesting Hash ritual of toasts and drinking (which I won't explain in detail here) before it was finally time for dinner. Apparently the food was even further up the hill, another 100 steps up (which we hoped was a cruel joke. it wasn't). So we climbed up again, each bringing 2 or 3 bottles of beer with us. Here is a shot of our table, which shows the interesting soup that no one touched (and I certainly wasn't about to...ew mushrooms), our empty beer bottles and rice bowls, and a dish that is slightly covered was apparentl horse meat. And I had eaten it. Wow. It really is better to just not know what you're eating.

Anyway, most everyone continued drinking for a while, but Shannon and Dania and I went and explored a little even thought it was dark outside and not well lit. We went into this prayer room with incredible carvings...but since there was very little light, it was hard to see what we were looking at. Maybe it was wrong to take pictures in it, but here is what it looked like. Pretty incredible. We sat on the steps to the prayer room for a while and talked to a couple of the other runners about China and traveling and stuff, and it was all very peaceful. I couldn't believe how quiet it was, or the fact that you could actually see some of the stars in the sky. I think they might have been the first stars I'd seen since I got to China.

Anyway, I will leave you with one final image that will tell you even more about our day in Suzhou. Remember how i said that the primary school building doesn't have western toilets? And how the squatter 'toilet' at the rest area was plush because it had a flusher? Well, be thankful for your lovely porcelain toilets with seats, where you can relax and feel comfortable. You'll cherish even the filthiest truck stop toilet after you take a look at this:
Look closely. No privacy (obviously...there isn't a word in Chinese for 'privacy') and no flusher. Too bad this picture isn't scratch and sniff...then you'd really get the full idea.