Ashulia Hash

I’ve discovered that Hash is the gateway drug to exercise.  Now that I’ve tried it, I can’t stop myself.  Nothing like a walk in the country for exercise, fun and good photo ops.

It rained all day Friday, so the turnout was light.  Our destination this time was Ashulia – much closer to Dhaka and much more developed.  This did give us a chance to walk through more villages and meet more people.  We started at a restaurant and ended in a field for the circle.  Soon there were local people running in from all sides.  Our little circle of hashers was soon surrounded by hundreds of curious locals.  They found our singing and antics quite entertaining and the cell phone cameras were clicking like crazy.  

 

 

 

 

Pumping water takes group effort.

 

This is so typical of Bangladesh – the men and boys all came in close to investigate, while the women kept a discreet distance.

Gazipur Hash

I participated in my first Hash (no, not the marijuana-based product) on Friday.  I had not joined in with this group last year because it sounded like a bunch of alcoholics who used running as an excuse for drinking.  Although I’m not opposed to drinking, I have never been a runner and didn’t see any reason why someone would run just to get a drink; unless, of course, it was last call.  It turns out, however, that the Dhaka Hash is a group of really fun people who walk/run in the countryside and then socialize afterwards.

This hash was held in Gazipur, an industrial area about 90 minutes outside of Dhaka.  We started at one of the garment factories.  The hares leave a trail of shredded paper to mark the trail – which in this case followed through forests, rice paddies and villages.  It was a glorious day to be outside, and I couldn’t believe there was such a beautiful area so close to town.  It was messy though.  After the first person slipped and fell into a rice paddy, I decided that it was much better to intentionally wade through the mud rather than risk swimming in it.  I didn’t think of potential leeches until much later.

 

Since this was my first time, I didn’t realize that the hares leave false trails to get you lost.  We had one local man and two boys following our group.  At one point they became very insistent that we ignore the trail and follow them.  Anywhere else, I would have thought they were leading us to an ambush to rob us.  Not in Bangladesh though; it turns out they were actually keeping us from accidently going through the army shooting range.  It was a holiday and there was no gunfire, but it was very nice of them to keep us away from any potential danger.

 

One of our "guides" in front of the firing range sign.

After the race is over, everyone forms a circle to welcome the newcomers and chastise anyone who cheated or took a shortcut.  This involves songs and guzzling of beer.  Much like a college drinking game, I think the object is to lose so that you have to drink free beer.  After that, the hosts provided a great lunch of Bangladeshi food.

Some of the villagers:

 

On the way back I noticed that they were resurfacing the highway.  They were melting shredded plastic bags and gravel in barrels to make the asphalt, and then applying it by hand.  Everything here is so labor intensive, but interesting.