The Saigon Hash House Harriers, an informal exercise and social club, “hash” through the countryside near Ho Chi Minh City

There’s nothing quite like knocking back a few cold ones after a pleasant walk or run through the Vietnamese countryside.

“Hashing,” a weekly jog first begun in 1938 by a group of British officers in Malaysia wanting to run off the weekend’s excesses, began in Ho Chi Minh City in 1990. Originally a men’s activity, hash groups are now mostly co-ed.

A combination of exercise and social club, the Harriers meet at the Caravelle Hotel in District 1 every Sunday at 2 p.m. The Hash Bus brings the group to different locations outside for a day of exercise.

The hashers in Saigon, known as SGH3, count among their ranks not only expats, but several local Vietnamese.

The club divides into two groups each session – one for runners and one for those who prefer a jog. They take two different routes with an average length of four to six kilometers for the jogger group and from eight to 10 kilometers for the runners. The joggers can also walk if they prefer. Both routes lead to a common destination, at which point a few beers are cracked before the groups gather into the bus again and head for a watering hole back in the city. The trip usually ends with a tipsy meal at a restaurant.

In addition to regularly scheduled trips, Saigon’s Harriers are known for their special events, such as the Red Dress Run and the Halloween Run. SGH3 will be celebrating its 1,000th run at a to-be-announced more distant location in November.

The fee for each trip is VND180,000 (US$10.52) for foreigners, VND100,000 ($5.84) for Vietnamese and VND10,000 ($0.58) for kids. Registration for the weekly events can be done online at www.saigonh3.com, via e-mail (saigonhash@xsmail.com) or by calling: 0903 374 742.

Reported by Kim