Amazing Race Fodder

Amazing Race Stays in Vietnam

This week them teams are still in Vietnam. I was shocked to learn at the beginning of this episode that Rob collapsed from heat exhaustion after checking in at the Pit Stop. That wasn't mentioned on the broadcast that came to my house last week at all. Let me know if any of you did get a glimpse of that. I did know about Mary's sprained ankle, and she is being quite a trouper. A sometimes grumpy trouper, but a trouper nonetheless.

Their first clue tells them they need to take a taxi to Hanoi 20 miles away to find Lai Thai To Garden where they will need to go to the Southeast corner and listen for their next clue. What? Well, alrighty then. Each team is given 588,000 Dong by a man sitting at a table for this leg of the race.

Erwin & Godwin are the first to leave, as they were the first to arrive. However, they fall victim to the "taxi driver dilemma". Their driver takes them somewhere else and when they finally arrive they are in 6th place. They are not the only ones to have taxi trouble--more on that later.

Since the teams are told they will need to listen for their next clue, most of them arrive at the garden quietly. Of course, there are a few that can't help themselves from saying things like "Okay we need to listen" "Shut up I'm trying to listen" and "What are we supposed to be listening for?â€ The Beauty Queens stop to listen to some crickets on a trash bin. Not sure what they were thinking, but if you like that sort of thing, you can listen to some here from freesound.

Once they find the correct section of the garden, there is a loudspeaker blaring "Attention Racers! Taxi across the Red River to Ben Xe Gia Lam. Then take a bus to Ben Xe Bai Chay. Then find Hydrofoil Harbor". Lucky for me, TAR decided to use some captions and fill the viewers in on the spelling of the places. Going on pronunciation alone can make for difficult conversation, especially if you already have a language barrier in place.

Or, you could do what Rob & Kimberly did. They didn't bother to listen to the clue and told their driver to follow Tyler & James' taxi. I was not at all surprised when over a dozen motorbikes got in their way and they lost them. Rob was freaking out. Kim said, "I almost want to go back". Um, DUH, if you want to stay in the race, you're gonna have to go back. How utterly ignorant to not get the clue and go off anyway. Well, they got back to the square and changed drivers as Rob thinks it is entirely the driverâ€™s fault that he couldn't follow the other cab. He gets out of the cab and starts screaming "Open the trunk! We're getting out! That's it!" So, they get a driver to listen to the clue and take them on their merry way. Or so they thought. For some reason, Rob & Kimberly decide that this driver also does not know where he is going and have him take them back around the block to the square. Now, I have no idea how Rob & Kimberly KNEW he was going in the wrong direction when they don't even know where they are going and he hasn't even gotten them a block away. So, they are going for the third times a charm rule. At least, this last driver gets them where they are going.

The teams arrive at Ben Xe Gia Lam and it appears to be a closed train or bus station. They are all thinking they will be camping out here for the night. Then along comes a charter bus to take them 103 miles east to Ha Long Bay. Here they must search for Hydrofoil Harbor where they will find their next clue. Gee, sometimes it is hard to write this blog and not sound like Phil.

When they receive their clue, they get a ROADBLOCK. This roadblock asks - Who has strong arms and legs? One person has to summon the guts and nerve to power through a potentially frightening challenge -- or so says Phil. Whoever does this task must use a mechanical ascender to climb 90 feet up the sheer face of a rock. Three teams can go at a time and it is first come, first served.

The teams get on motorboats that take them to the rock face. Dustin & Kandice jumped in a boat ahead of Lyn & Karlyn, and it turns out one of the Beauty Queens cut their leg in that maneuver. I agree with Lyn & Karlyn "They cut in line and they got cut." The climbers were Dave, Terry, Rob, Godwin, Karlyn, Sarah, Tyler, and Dustin. When they got to the top, a clue was attached to their gear and they repelled back down to the platform. Their next clue told them to travel by motorboat 1.2 miles to Sung Sot Cave to search for their next clue. If you want some more info on the cave and the Halong area in general visit this site.

Now, I have to take a moment to interject my feelings about Peter. The more I see of him the more I think he is a jerk. First he was trying to get people to pay money to watch Sarah move on her leg, now while Sarah is waiting to ascend the rope -- she's kind of nervous and worried at the moment. He is sitting in the boat relaxing and saying things like "Pull the handicap placard out and tell them you are next in line." What a bonehead. Actually, I can think of lots more names for him, but they probably would not be allowed on this site. I think that Sarah is finding out more than she bargained for. She even says at the end of the episode that her feelings for him have changed. She's not always impressed with his temperament or his treatment of her. I am sorry that it took you going to Vietnam with him to find that out. For someone who is a triathlete, Peter sure does talk a lot about quitting and giving up. I think he was just here with Sarah thinking they would get a break and have an easier time because of her disability. Ok, enough about Peter for now. Granted in all fairness, I must say that I have only seen what CBS chooses to air, and he may be a nice guy in person. (though I doubt it)

The next clue they get is a DETOUR. They must choose between Over and Under. In Over, teams must travel by a boat called a Junk to a buoy in the middle of the bay. Here they will get a sampan and row themselves to a supply boat where they will load up with supplies and go to a floating village to deliver their wares to two addresses. They must obtain a signature from the customers and return to the supply boat to get their next clue. In Under, teams travel by Junk to the buoy to get their sampan and row to a pearl farm where they will need to collect 30 oyster nets and deliver them to the pearl farmer to get their next clue. Three teams chose Over: Lyn & Karlyn, Tom & Terry and Dustin & Kandice. However, only Lyn & Karlyn made it to Under as the other teams were not able to fight the strong winds to get them there.

Of all the teams, only Tyler & James made the rowing look like easy work. Everyone else had real trouble trying to row anywhere. No one was going to be asked to join any sculling teams any time soon. I have to say that Mary gets the quote of the episode here "We've never been in the real-live ocean! Water over your head and you fail, you're dead". Best....quote...ever! Love ya Mary!

Each team had their own difficulties with this task. It proved to be mentally and physically challenging for all. Rob had a full out temper tantrum. Except for the low voice, I would have thought he was a two year old. I was thoroughly hoping Kimberly would give him a time-out. When they first got on the boat he kept telling Kimberly to get in the front of the boat. She wanted to help him row. After he sends her to the front for the third time, he realizes he can't row the thing by himself and tells her to get back here and help him. This does not seem to be helping their relationship much.

Once the teams have completed this task, their next clue tells them to get back to their Junk and travel 9 miles to Soi Sim Island where they will find the next Pit Stop. Somehow, Dustin & Kandice's clue gets shredded. Yes, I said shredded -- don't know how, but they can't (or don't) thoroughly read the clue. They think they have to row themselves all the way to Soi Sim. Since they don't know where it is, they just row around for a while looking for Phil. Once they give up, and decide to go back to the Junk they find out they should have gone there all along.

Tom & Terry have a bad experience with their boat as well. In the end, Tom gets so utterly frustrated with being on the sampan, he jumps out and pulls the boat along while walking or swimming. Wow! Terry was exhausted from the initial climb and Tom just couldn't stand rowing anymore, so he literally jumped ship. It was a truly valiant effort. Alas, it was not enough to keep them from coming in last place and they were eliminated from the race.

The race finished in the following order:
1. Rob & Kimberly - still not sure how they managed this
2. Peter & Sarah
3. Tyler & James -- a bit delayed when their Junk captain forgot to pull up the anchor
4. Erwin & Godwin
5. David & Mary
6. Lyn & Karlyn
7. Dustin & Kandice
8.Tom & Terry

Rob & Kimberly each received a jet ski for winning this leg of the race. It will be very interesting to see what happened on next weeks' show. What will happen between Rob & Kimberly and Peter & Sarah? Usually, in the first episode I have picked a team that I really like and really want to win. This time it took me 4 episodes. Congrats to Dave & Mary. They have completely won me over with their cute accents and wide-eyed wonder at all of the new things they are experiencing.


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