2002 saw the event move to Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand and for many the highlight (besides the busses being given a police escort, complete with blue flashing lights and sirens, to and from the run sites so that traffic lights were never an issue!) was the local girls’ high-school brass band, which performed as a warm-up act at the On On On, and which, much to the girl’s surprise (and your scribe suspects much to the surprise of the Hash Mismanagement), proved to be a huge hit with the visiting Hashers. The big band swing music of Glenn Miller and the like plus the John Philip Sousa marching songs had the Hashers standing on the tables and stomping and cheering, The Hashers kept calling for encores and the band was not allowed to leave the venue until their teachers pleaded that they could no longer deflect the frantic calls of their parents who were worried about them being out long, long after their agreed curfew hour. They were finally allowed to leave to a standing ovation. The “main” band, after several earlier abortive attempts, was then allowed on stage only to discover that the warm-up act had stolen their thunder. The girls dispensing the tequila shots to their willing customers in the reclining dentist’s chair had no such problems however and one female customer was later named by this scribe, after famously getting her shot topless, as Oral Titillation.
Chiang Mai is not a big city but it boasts four separate Hash chapters and they jointly hosted MIH V The hosts were Chiang Mai Hash (CMH3), Chiang Mai Saturday Hash (CMSH3), Chiang Mai Bunny Hash (CMH4) and Chiang Mai Underground Male Hash (CUMH3) . Observant readers will notice that the Chiang Mai Bunny Hash is not referred to CMBH3 since its alternative title replaces Bunny with Horny …
Dyke Converter had the unenviable task of being the Chairman of MIH V and he was rewarded by having to mismanage around 450 Hashers, by far the biggest attendance at any of the Mekong Indochina Hashes before or since, as a result of the relatively easy and cheap travel options for the many Hash chapters that exist throughout Thailand. The weekend started off with the traditional TDH3 run which took the runners on a long run through forest and finished at a large dam overlooking a lake. The runs on Saturday and Sunday were notable for their trails up and down steep forested hillsides where belaying and abseiling techniques would have been useful.
Much to their surprise, because they had not volunteered their services and because they were not actually represented when a secret vote was taken, Myanmar were elected to host the next event BoBo, the Yangon H3 GM, learned his fate when was invited into a dark smoke filled room for a GM’s meeting. Having been deliberately delayed to sort out various “logistical” problems relating to his fellow Yangon Hashers, his arrived signaled the time when the bullshitting suddenly stopped and a vote was taken, Result – a unanimous decision that Myanmar would be a perfect place to hold MIH VI. Despite BoBo’s objections about the lack of any internet facilities, lack of any banks or ATMs, the problems with visas, etc,. etc., the Hash community said that no problem was insurmountable and Yangon H3 were forced to capitulate.