The crowd gathered at the hash's second (or is it third) home at Dublin Pub for another run, this one at the Atakent Exhibition center, otherwise known as hell and gone from anywhere civilized in Almaty. You get there by going down Satpaeva till you see the big arches. No, they don't mean McDonalds. Too bad.

A nice intimate circle (although oddly shaped) had been arranged by EMP and her faithless assistant Dostan. That is, we thought it was just an oddly shaped circle until EMP explained that this was, in fact, the Anti-Valentine's Day Hash, and as a revenge we were all going to be tied and whipped till we couldn't stand being tied and whipped any more. Either that, or we'd be forced to run a trail marked in little blue hearts.

The pack chose the latter, as Cosmopolitan recently revealed that bondage is twentieth century.

Cries of "shitty trail" began in earnest only a few minutes away from the circle, as the hounds drifted off true trail through a hole in a fence only to come face to face with the end of the trail. GM Digital Dildo made a silent reminder to himself to print out the Bishkek hare's guide on stone tablets and beat the virgin hare Dostan with it later. EMP's walking trail fared much better, mostly because walkers lack the incentive to go through holes in fences.

After helpful-haring our way back to the true trail, the pack traipsed up within sight of the mountains and past the lovely dump behind a lovely construction site, where some local children were scavenging through the remains of old Zhigulys to get parts for their moon rocket. Pumpkin Eater stopped to mark the trail in alternative colors at an outdoor privy that had considerably more outdoors than indoors, owing to the erosion and rain that had nearly washed the portapotty off of its foundation. Luckily it was able to withstand one more deluge, although any fluid Pumpkin Eater lost in the process was quickly replaced in the circle as he was sentenced to a down-down for his dirty deed.

The runners lost the trail again for awhile behind the exhibition center proper, but picked it up again through sheer perseverence and cleverness (read: process of elimination). Heading behind the buildings they spotted a particularly nicely-shaped heart mark (or "heart-ons" as the hounds had been yelling all day) and stopped for a photo op just as the walkers were catching up.

One more turn and there it was, the HHH mark again, and this time the end of the trail for real. Pumpkin Eater made ready to fill in as Hash Piss for the errant Make Me Come, and he and Oleg scampered off to retrieve the beer from the nearby Astana Cafe for the down-downs. Virgin Zhenya, of some obscure relation to Pumpkin Eater and an aspiring sportsman drank his first down-downs, and Dostan, setting his first trail this day, inadvertently let slip that he was wearing new shoes and was soon encouraged to quench his thirst from his shiny new footwear, which he did with gusto and spent the rest of the circle tottering on one foot.

Hares were chosen for the next three weeks:

Feb 22. Pumpkin Eater and Oleg
Feb 29. Pit Row and Argin
Mar 7. PedFac and Pocket Shadow