Chapter 121

I put my alarm for 9:10, to take advantage of the hostel’s free breakfast. I was shacking up in an eight-bed dorm but it was pretty nice, I had a curtain to draw for complete privacy and to block out the ambient light. In fact I didn’t see my roommates much throughout the long weekend, and only for a short time did one of them snore.

I sat in the bar and got my complimentary breakfast, a steaming bowl of mixian. Mixian consist of chewy rice noodles in a savoury, slightly spicy broth and is one of the most overrated dishes in all of China, it’s not bad by any means but nothing that special either compared to all the other signature noodles. Every time I’ve been to Yunnan province I got told I must absolutely eat mixian, even though it’s available pretty much everywhere, not just the southwest. I also question its place as breakfast food, but hey, it’s included, and I’m here, and I’m hungry, and I need my calories for the day to come. The lady saw me peek in the fridge and asked if I want a beer, I chose one I’d never had before and it turned out to be a strong Belgian dark ale, with an ABV of 10%, higher than the time of the day at that point (around 9:30). Starting the day well!

I rode a rent-a-bike to the beer garden, I knew it would be closed so I stopped at a shop to get a jumbo bottle of water and two bottles of cold Dali beer. There were a bunch of hashers sitting around, some hungover clutching a coffee, some already on the beer, people were much more social than yesterday and I embraced some old friends I’d net on trails in Shanghai or Suzhou. The organizers were there and gave me my bag of goodies, with a t-shirt, short, socks, beer mug, aluminium water bottle, patches, and other cool stuff.

At 10:30 we had a quick chalk talk, in which the hares explained how today’s “ball buster” trail is marked. They used chalk when on asphalt or concrete, ribbons on tree branches in the woods, and we have to find our way. Then we hopped on the buses, drove about an hour out of the city, and got on the trail. Right off the bat there was a pretty steep incline to go over a ridge, and throughout the day there would be a lot of ups and down. Some were running, most were walking at different paces. I did a few running trails before but I prefer walking now, it’s more social.

About three hours in, we got to the beer stop, where I drank two nice bottles of cold lager. The group who was doing the half-ballbuster (because they are not in that good of a physical shape or because they were too hungover) started there just a few minutes before, the beer bitch told me if I walk fast enough I will catch up, which I eventually did once we got to a particularly tall mountain. Again, hugs and high fives and handshakes with old pals and new ones. The way down was steep and narrow, and after a time we got to the reservoir where the second beer stop was. We could go for a swim, which was more than welcome, and then sat around drinking and enjoying this beautiful afternoon.

The buses brought us back to the hash bar, where we had the circle. Hashes end with this debriefing, where the hares get punished for laying a shitty trail, hashers get punished for committing infractions (coming late, shortcutting, wasting beer, peeing on the trail), vulgar songs are sung, and lots of beer is consumed. Given that there were over 100 participants it was a bit of a shitshow, especially since the guy directing it was old and had a very thin voice. I saw that the buffet was ready and left early to avoid the huge line-up, and it was a great decision, as it started raining immediately after. I piled up food on my plate and gobbled it down (with a tall glass of beer of course) in the bar, that the whole group of hashers soon crowded. Some were a bit mad, the food was ruined due to the heavy rain, for sure it was a bit of a gamble to have a buffet dinner set outside like that.

A few more beers later, it was still only about 7:30 PM. The program called for an after-party at a nightclub, the bus was coming at 10. Some guys planned on staying there drinking, some wanted to go shower and change, I pondered my options and decided it had been enough for the day. I’d had about 15 beers and walked about 20 km on mountain trails, the appeal of a cold shower and sitting in bed reading a book was higher than the FOMO related to not going to a glitzy club with a DJ playing some ng-tss-ng-tss-ng-tss from his laptop.