The Hash House Harriers is an extremely widespread organization but one thing that you will find almost anywhere in the world, especially in Asia, is that the ranks are comprised almost always by a majority of Europeans and North Americans. This of course is very true in Thailand as well. The thing about this that doesn't make a great deal of sense to me is that almost any local who has ever decided to come with us on a run has come back for more later. It's a lot of fun and it is cheap, so why not?
We, sadly, have only one male Thai member in our kennels, and he was the GM of the longest running chapter that we have. The women on the other hand, are members of the CH3 in far greater numbers and they had another all-woman run on the 25th of August.
I suppose to be fair it is worth pointing out that most of these ladies are married to one of the European or American members of the group and that is how they ended up getting involved with our crew. This is not to say that they wouldn't enjoy it otherwise and the Bunny Hashes are proof positive of this notion.
Generally speaking, men are not permitted on the Bunny Hash runs and this was born from the fact that nearly every H3 that exists on the planet has a group that is "men only" and this is merely tradition that dates back nearly 100 years. Of course in places like the USA this policy doesn't exist out of fear of someone filing a discrimination lawsuit but in the rest of the world where people are a bit more laid back the male only Hash normally exists and the Bunny Hash is the response to that.
Of the many members of the Bunny Hash, there is actually only one member that isn't a Thai national and she is from Hong Kong and is a long-term member of the Hash both here and back home in Hong Kong. She does spend most of the year here though.
The Bunny Hashes are the same as the male hashes in most ways but there are a couple of fundamental differences: They tend to have a lot more food and consume a lot less booze. I suppose we could say that this is because women are just more sensible than men are in a general sense. They also tend to speak a lot of Thai at these things and that is fine since 95% of the members are in fact Thai.
I applaud their devotion to the silly costumes. In that area I would say that our resident Bunnies do a better job than the rest of us. It is, afterall, one of our most important traditions.
Personally I have only ever been to a couple Bunny Hashes and this was not one of them, the pictures were simply forwarded to me to catalog the events that take place in all of our chapters. When I did attend it was required that I wear both bunny ears and a skirt though and they were extra mean to me. It's all in good fun.
If you are in the Chiang Mai area we are currently doing 3 scheduled runs per week and it is damn near free if you want to come along to get some exercise, meet some friends, and have a few drinks. Full details are available on our website
