Just to clarify, this post and all the other ones that I make have nothing to do with narcotics. It is about the Hash House Harriers which is a global group of "drinkers with a running problem" that meet up in their various regions to make friends, get some exercise, socialize, and of course drink beer.
One of the major aspects that I and everyone else here in Chiang Mai enjoys about the Hash is that since we live in one of Thailand's most densely populated cities, getting into nature can only be accomplished if you seek it out. There is very little in the way of parks or nature reserves in the city, so we organize buses to take us out to where the quiet nature is. Sometimes this is national parks, sometimes it is private land that we are trespassing on. Either way, it is normally appreciated by everyone who probably lives a concrete-jungle life.
One of the awesome things about Chiang Mai is that even though we have over a million people living here in the city, if you travel just 20km or so in any direction you will be greeted by a great deal of natural resources. Most of this land is cultivated but every now and then we run across rather untouched rainforest, some of the little that still exists in this country. It is nice to get out of town for a few hours and be able to enjoy nature because just like anyone that lives in a big city, it becomes easy to forget that this even exists.
When we get out here, the noises and annoyances of daily life in a busy city all fade away and the peace of being somewhere that most people aren't sets in. Most of our members are retired so there really isn't anything stopping us from going to these places on our own, but for most members life gets in the way and if it wasn't for the Hash House Harriers, we probably wouldn't even know that these places were even here.
It's a lot of fun to take a big group of like-minded people out to the middle of nowhere and have a small party of sorts without the noise and distractions of city life. Don't get me wrong, I don't think I could live out here full time, but it is nice to have it in such close proximity to where I live and that this group is going to go out to a location like this 3 times a week.
It could become a part of your life if you want it to. There are thousands of HHH groups all around the world. All you have to do is look them up, find up when their next event is, and then attend. I promise that you wont regret it!
I would think this is the one draw card you guys have as getting away from the city and experiencing nature is a must. You guys don't have to travel far as the city is surrounded by what I see is instant nature and what makes it kind of unique in many ways.
We are very fortunate that the city we are in is like this. Our sister group in Bangkok doesn't have this luxury... they have to drive a really long way in order to get to any meaningful level of nature.