While it may not be a very big deal to anyone who just joined us one of the main things that the group here enjoys is getting to go on a run in "virgin" territory. Without being crude, this is just land that none of us in the group has ever been on a trek, jog, run on before and therefore nobody really knows what to expect other than the "Hares" who go scouting for days, trying to find a path that is possible and safe for the group to run on.
This can be a pretty difficult task because of the fact that most of the time, we are trespassing when we are on our runs. Therefore, it is very important that we get out there and make sure that the locals aren't going to be aggressive towards a bunch of mostly foreigners that are running through their land. Thais are generally very friendly people but just imagine what you would feel like if you had a farm and all of a sudden a bunch of strangely dressed Asian people (if you aren't Asian) all of a sudden appeared running around on your land!
The other thing we have to look out for is certain dangers that exist in the jungle all over Thailand and other countries. The jungle can be a dangerous place, even if the land is semi-cultivated. In fact, if the land isn't cultivated at all there is a really good chance that you are not going to be able to get through it at all. We've all seen those movies where a team of soldiers or explorers needs to get a machete out in order to get through the jungle and I can confirm that places like this really do still exist.
Because Chiang Mai is a relatively large city with around a million people living in it, these uninhabited proper jungle areas are few and far between. Chances are that all the land is inhabited by someone who is doing some level of farming there and there will be pathways of some sort, even if the land isn't used very much. A tell tale sign of this is if there are makeshift bamboo bridges on the land, like the one pictured above.
When we get to these we have to be very careful to not damage them because generally speaking us older farangs (the word for foreigner in Thai) tend to be quite a lot bigger and heavier than the average Thai farm-worker.
These preview pictures sent by "Skidmark" and his co-Hare look like the virgin territory we are going to be using this weekend look like they are pretty great and we could be in for a real treat this weekend. Everyone in the Hash loves new trails and since this one looks hilly and scenic, it could end up becoming a regular location for us.
Now we just have to wait and see the reaction of the locals when we turn up with 20 or so people in the afternoon. Hopefully it will be like almost all of the rest of our runs and the people who live there wont mind at all. We are a friendly bunch, so 95% of the time we don't encounter any problems.
ON ON!
