This is going to have to be short and sweet, guys! Due to work committments I haven't been able to help as much as I would like with the spoilers this week, so am going to give you a brief summary of what we have so far...
From Michael McKay:
Next week's episode is one of my favourites of the series. I do hope you like that one too.
Oddly enough, we seem to have NO AXN newsletter this week and NO Michael McKay intro...
We then had the
First Screencaps from snap-on and the preview brought to us by banzai:
Teams leave Cochin for Pune:Possibly by train? The drawback is that there is only one train a week on June 2--can Sam/Vince make it?
Or by plane:
thanks to apskip:How to get from Cochin to Pune. The options are one of 3 flight combinations through Mumbai each day and rail travel. Rail is easy because there is only one train each day at 1300 arriving Pune just after midnight at 0040. Flights require long connect time in Bombay except for the middle set:
AI691 COK BOM 0430 0615 connecting to 9W202 BOM PNQ 0955 1040
9W402 COK BOM 1300 1440 connecting to 9W101 BOM PNQ 1635 1710
9W404 COK BOM 1605 1745 connecting to Kingfisher Airlines IT3146 BOM PNQ 2215 2300
Banzai found this train info:
http://www.hotelscochin.com/train.htm
1098 Ernakulam - Pune (Monday) - 23.00
According to that page, there's only 1 weekly train from Cochin to Pune.
It's on Monday at 11PM. June 2nd is Monday.
Banzai also pointed out that Allen was going to fly:
http://www.alivenotdead.com/allanwu
And when the day's fun is all done, it's time once again to race off to the airport to prepare for the teams to start the next leg!
Allan Wu's blog is up and he has to fly. Hmm.
What about the racers? Do they fly or take a train?
We believe that teams will have to play a bit of cricket in order to get their next clue:
Both the location of
PUNE (formerly known as Poona) and the
Nehru Stadium location were identified by Boingo almost immediately on 10/30:
Slowhatch also confirmed the location with some
License Tag analysis :
It's Pune, as best I can see it: MH is Maharashtra and 12 is Pune.
Boingo identified this as the Shivaji Rd. & Laxmi Rd. intersection
with this further info:
The pointy building is labeled as "Mahatma Phule Mandai", and the yellow thingie is probably some sign.
Mahatma Phule Mandai ( Market )
Mahatma Phule Mandai is situated in the center of Pune City. Because of its location this place is often used for meetings, Conferences, starting point for the Ganesh festival procession etc. This market is well known for getting fresh vegetables, fruits and articles for the Poojas
Fuzzie
banzai helped us to see the
two probable Detours: Detour 1: Deliver pots
Detour 2: crush Sugar cane:
Pitstop or waiting for transportation?
TARA flag.
Geoff's left leg has a shadow
One of my friends was able to translate the writing on the truck and help with some of the other pictures:
He was later able to add re the store:
... pretty sure KU...something--perhaps Kubernath
So the thought is that the
Roadblock will have something to do with the wedding turbans. Match one? Find one particular one? We don't have enough to say....
Several of us had a good look around for this location but the actual spot eluded us. We felt that this was probably not a Pitstop since there were no backpacks, but it is possible they dropped them before arriving.
Some of the possible locations for this include the University of Pune:
and the back view of the Physics Building also looked interesting, but not an exact match.
Perhaps the closest matches were found at the "MIT"
Maharasha Institute of Technology...So where else might we see our racers if we still need a Pitstop?
The
Aga Khan Palace would be a strong possibility, as would the
Palace/Fort of Shanivar Wada, or the temple complexes on
Parvati Hill.The
Film and Television Institute could be used, or any of the
lovely gardens as well.