Amazing Race 10 Spoilers

[Chateau d If]

Just for fun, anybody with Google Earth should go look at this city Qiqihar (see map above).

It will give you an idea of why/where China has so many people.

[puddin]

Its so surreal Chateau!!
Mongolia travelogue
June/July 2005 trip
Vicariously.Through.Me
Around the world via China
and the ex-soviet countries in 1997
Pictures of Mongolia

[Chateau d If]

TAR Neobie left this in the TWoP timeline thread on Jun 11, 2006 @ 5:01 am

I'm travelling somewhere in China right now trying to get to the TAR10 teams, so the mileage calculations might have to take a while. Sorry guys!

I can probably help with the Greece thing though. In the Opening Flashing Sequence, there was a frame of a pier with a fortress in the background, and we've found this at Nafplion, on the eastern flank of the Peloponesse. We were kind of perplexed that it never appeared on the show (this has never happened before), so, well, mystery solved!

I thought he was joking.

[puddin]

Now thats what I call a real detective ! Anyone else green with envy ? I bet he finds the Teams  !!

(also thats thread is fun to read Chateau , nice work you all do over there !! )

[gingerman28]

This indicates that they may have arrived at 1:30 pm.  I don't understand why teams would have been required to drive to the China Mongolia boarder.

Unless that was th only way to catch the train.   

Post

This seems to be a lot more travel time than is usual for TAR.  First eps traditionally take up to two days to complete, so perhaps the teams first had to do a task in China before continuing on to the border.  Maybe they had to find a spot on the Great Wall first, and this clue told them to continue on to drive on to the border and catch a train to UlanBator.

[Chateau d If]

Here is a time check using May 28th as a start day.

Constraints:
Normal time flight out:  afternoon
14 hours for the train ride over the Gobi Desert
1:30 pm train arrival

If there is a pit stop in China then ... brb

[Chateau d If]

Okay, if there is a pit stop before Mongolia then the start date gets moved one day further back to Saturday May 27th.

[puddin]

You guys are too Much 

 

[Slowhatch]

Wow! You go away for a few hours and you miss all the fun. Let me try to add something. Markers for the first stop:

• a cafe that serves latte
• popular among ex-pats
• Ethiopian owner
• next door to "monastery/museum"

This site describes Millie's Espresso as being "popular among expats." This site (towards the bottom of the page) mentions Millie, the Ethiopian-American owner. And this site states that the restaurant is near the Chojin Lama museum (former monastery). So I'll go out on a limb and call Chojin Lama (haven't found a home page for it yet).

[puddin]

About time you got here Slowhatch ! I checked out your links and I think your call is right on

[Slowhatch]

Alternatively, take local trains from Beijing to the Mongolian border, cross by bus, and continue to Ulaanbaatar on local trains.

Another article that suggests (last paragraph) that there's no straight-through train service.

[Chateau d If]

Thanks Slowhatch, I was looking for that confirmation angle.  But I got nowhere.  I did have my suspicions that it was the place.  Here it is by Google Earth.

Below was the picture I was going by.  From here.

[Slowhatch]

The GE stuff is interesting. If you look at the northern suburbs you can see the difference between the ger-city and the Western/Soviet city. I tried using GE to find Terelj, but it's in the fuzzylands; generally, it's north of Nalayh and east of UB.

[Slowhatch]

I agree with the others that the drive to the border (if the poster heard the account correctly) is a bit puzzling. Here's a newspaper story of the 33-hour train trip: the border delay occurs when they switch the undercarriage. And here's a webshot of a ticket for train 23. And I checked the Miat 2006 schedule for PEK-ULN: it's sparse, but there are flights available (none on Tuesday).

[puddin]

I invited Charlie & Rachel from Mongolia to join us so if you see them make sure shout 
Slowhatch thats one of the questions I hope Charlie can answer !!

[gingerman28]

Here is a time check using May 28th as a start day.

Constraints:
Normal time flight out:  afternoon
14 hours for the train ride over the Gobi Desert
1:30 pm train arrival

If there is a pit stop in China then ... brb

Don't think that there is an actual pit stop in China; but most first two-hour eps have various tasks and lots of traveling.  So if we follow your schedule with teams leaving Seattle on May 28, then after they arrive in Beijing and clear customs at 11:30PM they may have to find cars/taxies and proceed to someplace between Beijing and Erlyan.  Perhaps the Great Wall. But the teams have to bed down for the night to wait for opening "hours of operation" let's say 8:30AM.  They do the task.  Clue tells them to drive/take taxi to Erlyan and find train station and book train to Ulan Bator.  Since train leaves at 10:30PM  this gives them plenty of time to walk the wall and  to do tasks, find clue and drive on to Erlyan.

Just some possibilities.  So the first elimination is at the pit stop in or around Ulan Bator (Terelj).

By the way, just in case anyone really cares, the name of the desert is just Gobi.  Gobi means desert in Mongolian, so it is redundant to say Gobi Desert.

[Hi-Fi]

Nice work, guys!!!!


Man, I love this pre-TAR time!! So much fun!

[charlierose]

Nice work, guys!!!!


Man, I love this pre-TAR time!! So much fun!

I totally agree. It is so much fun.

Now we have to wait and see where they are heading to next.  One thing is for sure. No Germany this time around. ( For all of you non Soccer Fans - The World Cup is held there this month of June.)

Lets continue waiting

[gingerman28]

Nice work, guys!!!!


Man, I love this pre-TAR time!! So much fun!

I totally agree. It is so much fun.

Now we have to wait and see where they are heading to next.  One thing is for sure. No Germany this time around. ( For all of you non Soccer Fans - The World Cup is held there this month of June.)

Lets continue waiting

Looks like the teams are going to pile up the mileage early since it seems the teams are going to New Zealand next and then on to Kuwait with perhaps another stop in between Auckland and Kuwait.

[puddin]

just messing around based on sightings ( speculation )
Seattle to Bejiing / China( May27th to  ?~ )
Bejiing/China to Mongolia (May 31st to  ?~  )
Mongolia to South New Zeland /Auckland ( June  2nd? ~ ?)
South New Zeland/Auckland to Malaysia/Singapore ?
Delhi,India ?
Kuwait (June 9th)

[Kogs]

nice map

[puddin]

  your too kind Kogs

hey Miss WendyWings is from New Zealand and has been hinting she knows something here
ETA: Fits good with the Ferry spoiler

Devonport -naval base, old war tunnels
Over and out.
www.devonport.co.nz/things.htm knock yourselfs out kids

[Kogs]

Link to DevonPort

http://www.devonport.co.nz/

ETA:

Devonport Ferries Timetable
From Auckland:... catch the ferry at the Ferry Buildings, Quay St at the end of Queen St.
From Devonport:.... catch the ferry at the Devonport Wharf, only two minutes walk from the village
Trip time is approx 12 minutes and the tariff is $8.40 return. Ferries leave every 30 minutes during the day.

pssssst puddin remeber this post i made? 

[puddin]

I remember Kogs but we thought because there was an Asian team we assumed it was AXN : Asia ! Pretty smart on the casting /producers to include an Asian team ( who by the way looks like my fav team ) for the USA version !

[Kogs]

thats very true puddin.