The Belgian Hash

Here is a walk through of the Hash on Sunday...

There is a small group of expats in the city that hosted this week's Hash Run...

We refer to this group as the Belgians... well because they are from Belgium.

Here are some of the group getting ready to go on the run.

When the run starts, it reminds me of a marathon... Everyone clustered together... but soon the faster people take the lead and the slower people take the end of the line.

I would say within 30 minutes this cluster of people can barely see each other along the "hares" path.

The hare is the person who marks the path for everyone else to follow...

The Hare can be quite tricky and set up mysteries for you to figure out with certain markings left on the ground...

The Hare can be nice and point out interesting scenery...

This week's Hares were the Belgians and they did a fantastic job.

We had a run with a beautiful setting, and interesting and challenging climbs.

We made it to the top of the rocks and I took a picture of the ones below... see I'm not the slowest Hasher (well not today at least).

Here were some boys at the top of the rocks who wanted me to take their picture.

Scott and John taking a picture break.

It's kind of funny how you can sometimes find little pockets of peace in this hectic city.

After the Hares' marks led us up the rocks, they led us to somewhere I have not been before on a Hash run.

Down some stairs into a little colony

Down the path of the "nalley" we were surrounded by the people living in the colony... they wanted to shake our hands...

and have their picture taken.

After the little villiage, we were led down a more peaceful street. I took this picture of these tent houses with the wedding throne. I don't know... it struck me as strange, and I took a picture.

Hey guys wait for me!

Down some rocks...

Back to the Belgium house roof top for 'circle time'. (Here are some of the Hash Horrors)

John and his friend Benjamin... such a sweet boy!!! (Benjamin that is)

We gathered on the roof while waiting for the last of the line to catch up with the first of the line.

Here is more of the group talking about the run and...

enjoying the rooftop view.

It's difficult to explain circle time... It reminds me of a fraternity, with songs and silliness.

Venkat usually runs the circle, he honks his horn when we get distracted... I think Hashers are traditionally easily distracted.

Here is another view of the circle.

The Belgians were called into the center of the circle and sung to and made fun of and thanked for a great run... and bringing Belgian "beir" for people to sample.

When you are a Hare for the first time you are given your Hash name. It's a nick name that you use when you are at Hyderabad Hash House Harriers.

Scott and Brandon are here talking about hosting an American Hash in April or May... I think they just want a cool name.

This is Tom... Oops, I don't know what his Hash name is so I will just avoid using a name here.

As the sun started to set the Smiths (Both Sides, Doctor Bare Foot, and Scott who has never hared and doesn't have a cool name like John and me) got hungry and did something that is becoming a tradition with us.

We left and went out to dinner... John hitting his nose on the way. (He's holding ice on his nose so he doesn't grow up to look like Uncle Rich... his words... I should let him know that between Scott and my nose genetics haven't given him a chance of a normal nose).

John and Scott on the Belgian steps.

We went to the Walden Club at Whisper Valley to have a quiet family meal... (and we thought it was a place that would allow us to eat there with our Hash atire) only to find out there was a huge birthday party going on for a first grader from John's school and many of our friends were there.

John giving Scott a back rub... Now I know why we had him... Anyway thank you Belgians for a terrific day!

Goa

John had some time off of school so we decided to go to the beach. Cheapest flight/nearest beach translated into Goa...

This was a spur of the moment thing...

At the airport we found out our plane had other expat families with the same idea. Here are some of the kids and a mom on the Kingfisher shuttle taking us to our plane.

Here is John pretending to be a terrorist on the plane... I'm so proud (not). This does bring up an interesting point... When I was a kid I would play cops and robbers or Charlie's Angels with my friends... someone had to play the part of the bad guy. I liked being the bad guy... it was more fun to be chased than do the chasing... I think a lot of the kids in the 50's (in America) would play good guys verses communists... It's not just John. If you ask the kids these days to describe a "bad" guy"... I bet a lot of them would use the word terrorist. (Right?)
Anyway... I explained to him that 'terrorist' is a forbidden word on planes as well as the word 'crash' and 'stewardess'.


Anyway... I digress... Here is a picture of our view out the window of the plane.


After landing, and checking into our hotel... we hit the beach.


This was our first trip to Goa. I was surprised how nice the beaches were.


Our hotel lobby was beautiful... I loved the ceilings and the sides were completely open letting in a salty breeze (and tiny birds that made nests on top of the pillars).



Our room was nice... clean... everything we needed... well furnished...


My favorite part was the screened balcony. It overlooked a palm tree forest. It had a cane table and chairs to enjoy your morning tea.

John and I ate supper every night at the same restaurant. It was a little bamboo/ palm frond shelter next to the beach. They had a different band that played every night... The music was (to borrow a phrase) kind of not fabulous... But they tried very hard by playing songs Americans would like to hear... or what they thought Americans would like to hear. And it brought a smile to my face to hear yet another mutilated version of 'Hotel California' or Michael Jackson's 'Beat It' every night.

The service was terrific and the food was amazing... my favorite was the king fish.

Every morning we would eat breakfast at the hotel breakfast buffet with the other "guests". Goa has tourists visit from all over the world... sitting at our table I could hear many different accents and languages.

I noticed a trend almost immediately... all of the Russian-accented people had the fashion sense that would make a stripper blush. I took this picture at breakfast with my camera phone (yes that is her ass hanging out of her "shorts"). I was too shy (or scared) to take pictures on the beach of the men in their teeny tiny speedos and enormous guts. One guys suit was so small and his stomach was so big... I thought he was naked at first sight. This is a little shocking as Indians usually don't show a lot of flesh... A woman's torso might be displayed when wearing a sari... but never her legs. It felt a little weird seeing so many people show such little respect for the culture of the country they are visiting. Anyway... made it a little more interesting... and I think I am officially an old lady by the way I bring this up.

After breakfast in the morning, John and I would be back at the beach. There were comfy beach chairs set up under palm leaf umbrellas... A guy would come by and ask if you would like something to eat or drink.

I don't think there are many things in life better than fresh squeezed pineapple juice on the beach.

Life is good!

Our hotel was not directly on the beach but set back a little... here is the path that led to the beach.

The mushroom-looking things were lights. At night they would cast an eerie glow on the path.

I found something a little unexpected about Goa. There are an incredible amount of crows. I've always thought of crows as a forest-type animal... not a beach animal. At night the crows would gather in the palm trees that lined the path. One or two "caws"... no problem... Hundreds of "caws" on a dark creepy path... a little chilling.

Our hotel had this giant chess set...

John wanted to play, but I couldn't remember how some of the pieces moved...

so we made up our own game that included John being one of the board characters... I call him the jester.

Our hotel had a labyrinth of pools. They had pools of many different depths, a jacuzzi, slide, and a swim-up bar. The jacuzzi was in the middle and elevated so I spent most of my time being jacuzzied while watching John swim... tough job but someone has to do it!

Oh and get this... they actually had an on-duty, real live, life guard watching the pools!

Going between the beach and the pool caused one small problem... sunburn. Even with sunblock we were a little overexposed.

On the day we woke up and realized we had too much sun the day before we opted to not go to the beach or the pool...

We hung out inside our hotel instead.

John and I ordered room service in our room... we had a local dish called 'vegetables caldin'... Triple yum with a twist!!!!!!

John and I had Mother-Son facials at the hotel spa... he had an all-natural papaya mask that they actually let him taste before they smeared it on his face... I had the "you look like death eating a hotdog" facial... (too toxic for me to taste).

We wandered around the hotel and took lots of pictures...

One day we took a taxi into town to get a few supplies... t-shirts, cheetoes, and diet pepsi... just the 'can't live withouts'.

When we got back to the hotel the sun was beginning to set, so we went to the beach to watch the sun hit the water.

We found a stick on the beach that was perfect for writing in the wet sand... I wasn't very imaginative so I wrote Mom (heart) Dad...

John, being a little more creative wrote, "Darth Vader says hi"...

and then drew a picture of a Star Wars battle...

I wrote I (heart) Goa... still not a lot of imagination...

Any way Goa was a great trip... I loved that we could travel somewhere and be in the same time zone and not have jet lag issues. I can't beleive it has taken us so long to go here. We will definately go back... but next time with Scott.