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Racing report, China Rush Season 2, complete
maf:
Racing report
Amazing Race China Rush
Season 2, Episode 2
Disclaimer: I do not speak any Asian language, and furthermore is English not my first language so I am sure there will be mistakes.
Teams leave the pit stop at the old court house in Wuzhen in the following order:
1.Mary & Cecilia 05:03 2.Xiao Long & Lv Meng 05:08(+0:05) 3.Lily & Jan 05:13(+0:10) 4.Summer & Eachan 05:33(+0:30) 5.Rhett & Howie 05:38(+0:35) 6.Simon & Katherine 05:43(+0:40) 7.Elena & Tameka 05:48(+0:45) 8.Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er06:03(+1:00) 9.A Lai & Jackie 06:08(+1:05)10.Matt & Kylie 06:28(+1:25)
Route info, teams must make their way to Jiangwan Village in Jiang Xi Wuyuan. Teams must travel on one of three chartered buses.
Bus #1 departs at 05:30 and arrives around 10:34. This bus carries:
Mary & Cecilia
Xiao Long & Lv Meng
Lily & Jan
Bus #2 departs at 06:00 and carries:
Summer & Eachan
Rhett & Howie
Simon & Katherine
Elena & Tameka
Bus #3 departs at 06:30 and carries:
Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er
A Lai & Jackie
Matt & Kylie
Once they reach the village teams must find an ancestral hall. There they will find the next clue between two lions. This seems fairly easy to find and nobody seems to lose any significant amounts of time. They reach this clue box in the following order:
1(+0) Mary & Cecilia
2(+0) Xiao Long & Lv Meng
3(+0) Lily & Jan
4(+1) Rhett & Howie
5(+1) Simon & Katherine
6(+1) Elena & Tameka
7(-3) Summer & Eachan
8(+2) Matt & Kylie
9(+0) A Lai & Jackie
10(-2) Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er
Route info, "It is time to put the pieces together". Teams must navigate the narrow village streets to find the house at No. 74 Bei Men Street. Once there they will find a 64 piece puzzle which they have to solve. The puzzle shows an intricate red and white design and all pieces are square which makes it fairly hard to solve.
The first teams arrive here just before 11.00. And the first two teams have already left as the teams from bus #2 arrive. But only one more team manage to finish before the teams from the last bus arrive.
Choice quotes:
"My head is about to blow up", Xiao Long & Lv Meng do not feel that puzzles are their forte
"Grandpa, may I know your age?", Rhett & Howie asks how old the puzzle judge is (the answer is 82)
Teams complete this challenge in the following order:
1(+0) Mary & Cecilia
2(+1) Lily & Jan
3(-1) Xiao Long & Lv Meng
4(+0) Rhett & Howie
5(+2) Summer & Eachan
6(+0) Elena & Tameka
7(+1) Matt & Kylie
8(+2) Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er
9(+0) Simon & Katherine
10(-1) A Lai & Jackie, gave up and took a 2 hour penalty
Route info, "Make your way by taxi to Xintian Village to find your next clue". Teams must now make their way 58km across the valley to Xintian where they find the clue in the following order:
1(+0) Mary & Cecilia
2(+0) Lily & Jan
3(+0) Xiao Long & Lv Meng
4(+1) Summer & Eachan
5(+1) Elena & Tameka
6(-2) Rhett & Howie
7(+0) Matt & Kylie
8(+1) Simon & Katherine
9(-1) Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er
10(+0) A Lai & Jackie
Detour: Hunters or Gatherers.
In Hunters teams must search a 10.000 square meter tea field for a golden tea leaf.
In Gatherers teams must don traditional garb and pick 3 liang (150g) of fresh green tea. Once they have picked enough high qualify leaves they must measure up the exact amount using a traditional scale.
When they arrived Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er missed the clue and instead started following the other teams doing the hunters side of the detour. After half an hour they realized the task was hard and started to wonder what the alternative might be. That is when they realized they had missed the clue box. They set out to find it and then they did gatherers.
Choice quotes:
"It takes a long time to pick three liang", Mary & Cecilia find that the task is time consuming
Teams complete this detour in the following order:
1(+0) Mary & Cecilia (gatherers)
2(+0) Lily & Jan (gatherers)
3(+4) Matt & Kylie (hunters)
4(+1) Elena & Tameka (hunters)
5(+1) Rhett & Howie (gatherers)
6(-3) Xiao Long & Lv Meng (gatherers)
7(-3) Summer & Eachan (gatherers)
8(+0) Simon & Katherine (gatherers)
9(+0) Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er (hunters, gave up and switched to gatherers)
10(+0) A Lai & Jackie (hunters)
On leaving the detour Matt & Kylie saw an arrow and directed their taxi down that road. After 20 minutes they realized that this was an arrow pointing to the other detour option so they had to go back having lost a total of 40 minutes.
Route info: make your way by taxi to Yantian Village. Once there they must find another ancestral mansion. Once inside teams must search in the rooms for a numeric code. Once they think they have got it they can use the code to unlock a wooden box which contains the next clue.
The rooms are rather well stocked with clocks, and may of those are showing the time as 28 minutes past 9. This gives a code of 0928. Some teams have a very hard time figuring this out.
Teams complete this task in the following order:
1(+3) Elena & Tameka
2(-1) Mary & Cecilia, worked together with Summer & Eachan
3(+4) Summer & Eachan
4(+2) Xiao Long & Lv Meng
5(-3) Lily & Jan, asked Eachan for the code and got it
6(-1) Rhett & Howie
7(-4) Matt & Kylie
8(+0) Simon & Katherine
9(+0) Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er, gave up and took the 2 hour penalty
10(+0) A Lai & Jackie, gave up and took the 2 hour penalty
Choice quotes:
"We totally gave up", Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er thought they were last
"It could be about the clock", Jackie almost got it
"There's number under the chair", but A Lai finds lots of other numbers
"Take your time, we still have an hour left on our penalty", Hao Fei'er to A Lain & Jackie
"Keep going, don;t give up", Hao Fei'er encourages A Lai & Jackie
Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er gave up just before 5pm, which seems to have been just before A Lai & Jackie showed up. A Lai & Jackie tried but made the task much more complicated than it was and after almost two hours when Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er had left they gave up and decided to take the two hour penalty.
Route info: travel by taxi to Lying Dragon Valley. Once there teams must hike up the mountain to a bridge where they will find the next clue. They reach this in the following order:
1(+0) Elena & Tameka
2(+0) Mary & Cecilia
3(+1) Xiao Long & Lv Meng
4(-1) Summer & Eachan
5(+0) Lily & Jan
6(+0) Rhett & Howie
7(+0) Matt & Kylie
8(+0) Simon & Katherine
9(+0) Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er
- A Lai & Jackie
Road block: Who is ready for a rush? In this road block contestants must climb up a 12 meter waterfall wearing traditional grass shoes while freezing cold water gushes past them. The problem with this road block is that only one team at a time can perform it. So unless somebody gives up there is no way to pass any team. And nobody gives up.
Choice quotes:
"But you are a woman", Sun Bin is trapped in an earlier century while Hao Fei'er do the climbing
"You are a tough woman", But he repents as she is on the way
Teams complete the roadblock in the following order (* denotes team member performing the road block, and the numbers how many roadblocks each team member have performed):
1(+0)Elena & Tameka (1-0) 2(+0)Mary & Cecilia (1-0) 3(+0)Xiao Long & Lv Meng (0-1) 4(+0)Summer & Eachan (0-1) 5(+0)Lily & Jan (0-1) 6(+0)Rhett & Howie (0-1) 7(+0)Matt & Kylie (1-0) 8(+0)Simon & Katherine (1-0) 9(+0)Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er(0-1) - A Lai & Jackie (0-0)
Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er are far behind the other teams when they get here. So far that it is after dusk and it is actually close to pitch black outside. But they get to climb anyway.
Route info: make your way by taxi to the Pit Stop at Rainbow bridge.
It turns out that Elena & Tameka have a new taxi driver who does not know the local short cuts. Mary and Cecilia's driver does know about them. So they manage to pass Elena & Tameka in the taxi and arrive at the pit stop with a 30 second lead.
Teams reach the pit stop in the following order:
1(+1) Mary & Cecilia, win a trip to Sanya in Hainan
2(-1) Elena & Tameka
3(+0) Xiao Long & Lv Meng, seconds before #4 and #5
4(+0) Summer & Eachan
5(+0) Lily & Jan
6(+0) Rhett & Howie
7(+0) Matt & Kylie
8(+0) Simon & Katherine
9(+0) Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er
- A Lai & Jackie
Choice quotes:
"We are worried that winning two legs will make us a target for the other teams.", Mary & Cecilia
A Lai & Jackie were released from the code breaking challenge after all other teams had checked in. They got the same clue as the other teams but when they got out of their taxi they were greeted by Alan who eliminated them on the spot.
I can understand giving up the code breaking challenge. It seems easy to over-think the problem and if you do that you can spend a lot of time testing different codes. But it seems very strange that you should not be able to complete the puzzle in less than two hours. I have a feeling A Lai & Jackie were far too quick in giving up. They actually talked about giving up the digging in bean paste task in the previous episode as well.
On the other hand, it is easy to judge people from the comfort of your couch. It is a completely different thing to actually be there.
maf:
Racing report
Amazing Race China Rush
Season 2, Episode 3
Disclaimer: I do not speak any Asian language, and furthermore is English not my first language so I am sure there will be mistakes.
Teams leave the pit stop at the old court house in Wuzhen in the following order:
1.Mary & Cecilia 15:13 2.Elena & Tameka 15:25(+0:12)3.Xiao Long & Lv Meng 15:34(+0:21)4.Summer & Eachan 15:45(+0:32)5.Lily & Jan 16:00(+0:48)6.Rhett & Howie 16:09(+0:57)7.Matt & Kylie 16:18(+1:05)8.Simon & Katherine 17:00(+1:48)9.Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er18:52(+3:39)
Route info: Travel by bus to Jing De Zhen. Once there travel by train to Ningde in Fujian Province. Disembark at the Taimu Mountain Railway station and search for your next clue.
Choice quotes:
"We're worried we're going to be the target for a Yield or U-Turn", Mary & Cecilia worry
Teams travel on two different buses to Jing De Zhen. The buses seem chartered, there are no locals on them and they had Amazing Race symbols in the windshields. Once in Jing De Zhen all teams end up on the same train to Ningde.
Outside the station there are nine taxis conveniently parked ready to leave immediately. It feels very much arranged, and a closer look shows that the taxis have small race stickers on their trunks.
When they arrive teams must take a taxi to the Niulanggang beach and search for their next clue. The observant reader new remembers that the starting line clue said the next clue would be found at the train station. The answer to this inconsistency is that there was an unaired task between the train station and the beach. The task is rumored to have been to count colored umbrellas.
The taxi ride shown is a bit extreme. Teams urge their drivers to drive faster and pass the other cars. Traffic rules seem optional. Personally I would not have felt safe in those taxis.
Choice quotes:
"Whose taxi is that? Just hit it!", Cecilia (I hope she means the gas pedal and not the other taxi)
Teams finally arrive at the beach in the following order:
1. Mary & Cecilia
2. Summer & Eachan
3. Xiao Long & Lv Meng
4. Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er
5. Simon & Katherine
6. Matt & Kylie
7. Rhett & Howie
8. Elena & Tameka
9. Lily & Jan
Detour: Wheels or Peels?
In Wheels teams must maneuver an oversized water tricycle into the water and out to retrieve a large inflatable ball. Once they have unhooked the ball from its anchor they must hitch a ride to shore on a banana boat. Once back on land they must climb into the ball to retrieve their next clue.
In Peels teams must ride a Segway to a designated area of the beach and search for six types of local fruit buried in the sand. Once they have received one of each fruit and given them to the fruit vendor teams will get their next clue.
The fruit finding task was very hard. There was a fairly large area of sand where teams could dig, and there were no indications where the fruit might be hidden. Even though the teams traded fruits with each other nobody managed to get the full set. Eventually all the teams who initially choose this option switch to wheels.
Choice quotes:
"Can we eat one?", Xiao Long & Lv Meng get hungry digging in the sand
"Beeeeep beeeeep", Mary & Cecilia when they finally have completed wheels
Teams complete the detour in the following order:
1(+3) Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er (wheels)
2(+3) Simon & Katherine (wheels)
3(+4) Rhett & Howie (wheels)
4(+2) Matt & Kylie (wheels)
5(+3) Elena & Tameka (wheels)
6(+3) Lily & Jan (started peels but was the first team to switch)
7(-5) Summer & Eachan (started peels but switched to wheels together with M&C)
8(-7) Mary & Cecilia (started peels but switched to wheels together with S&E)
9(-6) Xiao Long & Lv Meng (started peels and finally switched when all other teams had left)
This detour was very poorly constructed. The sides were very uneven and the whole thing felt like a big mess. It gets even worse when you read an behind the scenes report which stated that the detour was not ready when teams arrived since the fruit was not hidden. And there were numerous other production delays. Basically it ended with production calculating what they thought the interval between the teams should be.
Route info, take a shuttle bus to downtown Ningde. Once there go to North Bank Park and use a paddle boat to find the next clue in the lake. Caution, Yield ahead.
There are nine clues floating in the lake. So the clue finding will get harder for the later teams.
The first shuttle buss carries:
Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er
Rhett & Howie
Matt & Kylie
Elena & Tameka
The second shuttle bus carries:
Simon & Katherine
Mary & Cecilia
Lily & Jan
Summer & Eachan
And finally in the last shuttle
Xiao Long & Lv Meng
Teams arrive at the yield and clue box by the lake in the following order:
1(+0) Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er, yields Mary & Cecilia
2(+2) Matt & Kylie
3(+2) Elena & Tameka
4(-1) Rhett & Howie
5(+2) Summer & Eachan, arrive after the first 4 teams have left
6(-4) Simon & Katherine
7(-1) Lily & Jan (not shown)
8(+0) Mary & Cecilia, have to wait for a stick of incense to burn down before they can continue
9(+0) Xiao Long & Lv Meng, arrive before the incense is burned down
Choice quotes:
"Sorry, cousins. We really like you, but you've already won two legs", Hao Fei'er on why they yielded
"Words can't express how angry I am.", Cecilia is not happy about the yield
The water in the lake is really shallow so some teams get out and drag their boats behind them instead. Teams complete this task in the following order:
1(+1) Matt & Kylie
2(-1) Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er
3(+0) Elena & Tameka
4(+0) Rhett & Howie
5(+1) Simon & Katherine
6(-1) Summer & Eachan
7(+0) Lily & Jan
8(+1) Xiao Long & Lv Meng
9(-1) Mary & Cecilia
From the editing it looks like Xiao Long & Lv Meng find their clue just as Mary & Cecilia are about to embark their boat.
Route info, make your way to the Mindong restaurant and find your next clue.
At this point all the first four teams hitch a ride to the restaurant with various locals.
Teams reach the restaurant in the following order:
1(+0) Matt & Kylie
2(+0) Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er
3(+0) Rhett & Howie
4(+0) Elena & Tameka, have left before #5 arrive
5(+1) Summer & Eachan
6(-1) Simon & Katherine
7(+0) Lily & Jan, leave just before #8 arrive
8(+0) Xiao Long & Lv Meng
9(+0) Mary & Cecilia
Roadblock, in this roadblock one team member must eat a large serving of blood clams followed by 3 glasses of Baijiu.
The clams are actually rather tasty, it just looks a bit gross. The real difficulty is opening the clams. Some manage with just their fingers while others crush them against the floor.
Choice quotes:
"How do you open it?", Matt realizes what the hard part of the roadblock is
"I enjoyed the food, and Baijiu made my day", Elena
"Is there any place that we can stamp on it?", Rhett & Howie get creative about how to open the clams
"Please pretend that these taste bad and make me feel better, ok?", Summer is disappointed that the road block Eachan is doing is too easy
"It was so funny, he had blood oozing out of his mouth, and he was projectile vomiting when the Wushu guys walked up", Lily has a warped sense of humor
Teams complete the roadblock in the following order (* denotes team member performing the road block, and the numbers how many roadblocks each team member have performed):
1(+1)Sun Bin* & Hao Fei'er(1-1)2(-1)Matt* & Kylie (2-0)3(+1)Elena* & Tameka (2-0)4(-1)Rhett* & Howie (1-1)5(+0)Summer & Eachan* (0-2)6(+0)Simon* & Katherine (2-0)7(+0)Lily & Jan* (0-2)8(+1)Mary & Cecilia* (1-1)9(-1)Xiao Long* & Lv Meng (1-1)
The end of the road block felt a bit strange. Lv Meng just sat there calmly fanning himself with a clue as he watched Cecilia finishing her clams. He didn't say anything to encourage his partner. Xiao Long did eat his clams with gusto, but i did not feel as if his heart was in it. They also seemed unhurried when leaving the road block, in stark contrast to the frantic cousins.
Route info: Make your way to the She Museum which is the Pit Stop for this leg. Caution, the last team to check in there, may be eliminated.
After the road block it seems Xiao Long & Lv Meng managed to find a taxi (a black one) before Mary & Cecilia.
Choice quotes:
"Come on, overtake that black car", Mary & Cecilia
"Let's overtake all the black cars", Mary & Cecilia again
"We told our driver not to speed. Let them go first if it's not safe to pass them. We were just worried about their safety", Xiao Long
Teams reach the pit stop in the following order:
1(+0) Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er, win a three-day trip to Hong Kong.
2(+0) Matt & Kylie
3(+0) Elena & Tameka
4(+0) Rhett & Howie
5(+0) Summer & Eachan
6(+0) Simon & Katherine
7(+0) Lily & Jan
8(+0) Mary & Cecilia, arrive seconds before #9
9(+0) Xiao Long & Lv Meng
In conclusion we can say that this leg was a mess due to production problems. Inside information tells us that Xiao Long and Lv Meng threatened to quit the race after the detour, but they were persuaded to continue by the other teams. But given their behavior at the road block and in the taxi afterwards it felt like they wanted to be last.
maf:
Racing report
Amazing Race China Rush
Season 2, Episode 4
Disclaimer: I do not speak any Asian language, and furthermore is English not my first language so I am sure there will be mistakes.
Teams leave the pit stop at the She museum in Ning De in the following order:
1.Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er08:022.Matt & Kylie 08:10(+0:08)3.Elena & Tameka 08:25(+0:23)4.Rhett & Howie 08:38(+0:36)5.Summer & Eachan 08:50(+0:48)6.Simon & Katherine 09:02(+1:00)7.Lily & Jan 09:10(+1:08)8.Mary & Cecilia 09:25(+1:23)
--- Quote ---Route info: Make your
way to the main entrance
of Dan Xia Shen Scenic
Zone of Guangdong
Province.
--- End quote ---
All teams fly to the Guangzhou international airport on:
CZ3690 Fuzhou->Guangzhou 14:55-16:21 (11 minutes late)
Then they all take the same high speed train the city of Shao Guan. When they arrive at the park, around 21:00, teams find that it has closed for the day (closed at 17.00) and that it will open again at 9 the next day.
The next morning there is a mad dash through the gate and into the park to the clue box.
Route info: Make your way to Xuanjuyan Taoist temple. Transport 35 kilos of rice to the Taoist priest.
Teams must now travel by public bus to a specific gate. Here teams will find bags of rice which they will have to carry along the paths up to the temple. The bag of rice hangs from a pole which the team members should put on their shoulders. This task is extremely physical. The rice is heavy and the path and stairs are steep.
Choice quotes:
"Can we just keep it a pace so that I can actually make it to the top?", Kylie thinks the pace is too high
"Hi ho, Hi ho...", Simon forces production to pay royalties to Disney
"No, I can't take it", Mary & Cecilia struggles
"This is nothing, they should have given us a harder challenge", Simon pretends it is easy
"I worry about Cecil and Mary", Simon cares about the cousins
"I can't even move it", Mary & Cecilia are having real problems
"I want to lay a curse on myself who applied for the race", Cecilia jokingly regrets applying the race
"Not much longer", Elena tells Mary & Cecilia how long they have left
"Almost halfway there", but Kylie tells them a different story
"Tomorrow we can enjoy the best morning tea in Guangdong.", Mary & Cecilia try to look forward as they struggle with the rice
"Why do you need so much rice?", Mary & Cecilia asks a justified question of the monk giving out the next clue
Teams deliver their rice in the following order:
1. Elena & Tameka
2. Lily & Jan
3. Matt & Kylie
4. Rhett & Howie
5. Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er
6. Simon & Katherine
7. Summer & Eachan
8. Mary & Cecilia, a fair bit behind the other teams
Route info, make your way by boat and buggy to Xuanjitai. Teams must now make their way down the mountain and find the Jinjiang dock where they must ride a marked boat for 10 minutes up the river to the next stop where a marked shuttle buggy will take them to the next clue.
Boat #1 carries
Elena & Tameka
Lily & Jan
Matt & Kylie
Boat #2, departs a minute after #1 and carries
Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er
Simon & Katherine
Boat #3 carries
Rhett & Howie
Boat #4 carries
Summer & Eachan
Boat #5 carries
Mary & Cecilia
Choice quotes:
"I'm the king of the world... I'm the queen actually", Mary & Cecilia play Titanic on the boat, with a slight twist
After the boat tour teams enter the shuttle buggies and are driven to the clue box.
Choice quotes:
"We are getting a quite close relationship with the two rockers", Kylie about the relation with Sun Bin and Hao Fei'er
Teams reach the next clue box on the road to Xuanjitai in the following order:
1(+0) Elena & Tameka
2(+0) Lily & Jan
3(+0) Matt & Kylie
4(+1) Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er
5(+1) Simon & Katherine
6(-2) Rhett & Howie
7(+0) Summer & Eachan
8(+0) Mary & Cecilia
Road block: "Who feels rock solid?". In this road block teams must hike up a narrow and steep path to a lookout point. There one team member must descend down an unsteady rope ladder to fetch a clue and then climb back up again. It looks like the ladder is about 20-30 meters high and initially it follows the face of the cliff but the last part hangs free.
This road block is again very physical and teams are already exhausted from carrying the rice and then climbing up to the lookout point. So it should come as no surprise that a number of teams give up and take the 2 hour penalty.
Choice quotes:
"I really wanted to give up", Lily had to struggle
"You can give up, or you can just... give it some...", Tameka can't find the words, but she did find the strength to not give up
"You should have done this", Lily to Jan when she is almost done
"He's dead", Kylie jumps to conclusions when Matt is to tired to reply to her calls
"It was beeeep hard", Matt explains why he couldn't do it
"I can't do this, I'm too exhausted", Simon
"...it's gonna be even more memorable when his wife sees that on TV and wonders what the hell were you doing", Howie about Rhett
"My 32 year old body just isn't what it used to be", Simon
"I'm sure because my legs are trembling", Mary is sure she wants to give up immediately
Teams complete the roadblock in the following order (* denotes team member performing the road block, and the numbers how many roadblocks each team member have performed):
1(+0)Elena & Tameka* (2-1)2(+0)Lily* & Jan (1-2)3(+1)Sun Bin* & Hao Fei'er(2-1)4(+3)Summer & Eachan* (0-3)5(-2)Matt* & Kylie (3-0)Gave up and took the 2 hour penalty6(-1)Simon* & Katherine (3-0)Gave up and took the 2 hour penalty7(-1)Rhett* & Howie (2-1)Gave up and took the 2 hour penalty8(+0)Mary* & Cecilia (2-1)Gave up and took the 2 hour penalty
Mary gave up after only a couple of steps on the ladder while all of the others gave up when they were unable climb back up again. This was probably a smart move on her part since they gained some time and she would probably have been unable to complete the task.
Mary & Cecilia are 1:28 after Summer & Eachan after the road block.
Route info: "Make your way to the Xaifu Village". Teams must now make their way down the mountain and catch a shuttle bus to cross the scenic zone to Xaifu village where they will find their next clue at the village gate.
Teams reach this clue in the following order:
1(+0) Elena & Tameka
2(+0) Lily & Jan
3(+0) Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er
4(+0) Summer & Eachan
5(+0) Matt & Kylie
6(+0) Simon & Katherine
7(+0) Rhett & Howie
8(+0) Mary & Cecilia
Detour: Chasing chickens or dancing lions.
In Chasing chickens teams must return to their buggy and travel to a free-range chicken farm. Once there they have to scramble to catch 10 chickens to get their next clue. This task is a lot harder than it sounds since the chickens are quick and sneaky.
In dancing lions teams must enter the village and find the main square. Here they will find the head of a lion costume. They must then search the village for the one house holding the rest of their lion costume. Once they have found the rest of costume they must put it on, perform part of an ancient lion dance before finally have their lion eat the vegetables provided (its hanging high above from a string). The producers have gathered most of the villagers as audience in the village square. And they will be entertained.
Teams are also cautioned that there is an U-turn ahead.
Choice quotes:
"I'm afraid of chickens, they'll bite me", Hao Fei'er
"Go in there and grab them", Lily tells Jan how to catch chickens
"This is really hard", Lily has an insight
"We were enjoying dancing and entertaining the crowd", Elana after the detour
"I freaked out just watching him catch a chicken", Lily was not of much help catching chickens
"Their stomach must be hurting with laughter", Howie about the audience at the Lion detour
"And it was the most fun I've had since starting this race", Kyle about the detour
"Mary, tell you something, get the fat chickens. They can't run", Cecilia has a bright idea
Teams complete the detour in the following order:
1(+2) Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er (chickens)
2(-1) Elena & Tameka (lion)
3(+1) Summer & Eachan (lion)
4(-2) Lily & Jan (chickens)
5(+0) Matt & Kylie (lion)
6(+1) Rhett & Howie (lion)
7(+0) Simon & Katherine (chickens)
8(+0) Mary & Cecilia (chickens)
Rhett & Howie finished the detour a few seconds after Matt & Kylie. But the latter were faster in the run to the buggy, and they did not bother to wait for Rhett & Howie. After all the next stop was the pit stop. From a strategy point of view this was good racing(tm), but Matt & Kylie may have made a couple of enemies.
Choice quotes:
"Matt & Kylie honey, you're hurting us", Rhett & Howie are not happy
Mary & Cecilia finish the chicken detour not long after Simon & Katherine and catch up to them as they ware waiting for the buggy.
Choice quotes:
"We are walking together to the finish line", Simon to Mary & Cecilia
Route info: Make your way to the Shaoyin Pavilion which is the Pit Stop for this leg. Teams must now take the shuttle buggy and travel to a cable car which will bring them to the top of the park. Here they must search for the Shao Yin Ting Pavilion.
The U-turn sign is found at the start of the cable car. Teams reach
this in the following order:
1(+0) Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er
2(+0) Elena & Tameka
3(+0) Summer & Eachan, U-turns Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er
4(+0) Lily & Jan
5(+0) Matt & Kylie
6(+0) Rhett & Howie
7(+1) Mary & Cecilia
8(-1) Simon & Katherine
Most of the teams arriving after Summer & Eachan seem shocked when they see the U-turn board. Some wanted to use it and Mary & Cecilia definitely expected to see their own faces there.
Choice quotes:
"We don't want the other teams who are behind us to use the U-turn on Cecilia's team.", Eachan on why they U-turned a team they knew was ahead of them
"Let's do the sisters, make sure they are eliminated", Lily & Jan, on the way to the U-turn sign, plans to U-turn Mary & Cecilia
"Sneaky", Lily sees the U-turn board and realize their dastardly plan has been thwarted
"Why didn't they U-turn the Wise Guys?", Mary & Cecilia had expected Summer & Eachan to U-turn Rhett & Howie
Teams must now travel the cable car up the mountain and find Alan at the Pit Stop. Teach check in in the following order:
1(+0) Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er, win a trip to Malaysia
2(+0) Elena & Tameka
- Summer & Eachan, tells Alan that they are quitting the race
3(+1) Lily & Jan
4(+1) Matt & Kylie
5(+1) Rhett & Howie
6(+2) Simon & Katherine
7(+0) Mary & Cecilia
8(-5) Summer & Eachan, are eliminated
The small bombshell here is of course that fact that Summer & Eachan decided to quit the race. They did this because word had reached them that Eachan's grandpa's cancer had recurred. So they told Alan and then waited in the background until the last team had arrived before stepping onto the mat.
Mary & Cecilia held hand with Simon & Katherine when they stepped on the mat together. But production seemed to decided that Simon & Katherine arrived before Mary & Cecilia.
Choice quotes:
"At the very beginning, we were running around like chickens with their heads cut off.", Hao Fei'er recollects the first legs of the race
"I really want to race to the end. I really want to. However, I can't.", Eachan
"Sometimes if it's between your dreams and family, you have to choose family", Summer
"Ahhhhhhhh yeah, we had a two hour penalty", Kylie on why she is very surprised to be in team #4.
"This is only a race with only 12 legs. But the friends you've made could be your friends for a lifetime.", Cecilia
Inside information tells us that this was meant to be a non-elimination leg. But the decision of Summer & Eachan forced the producers to change their plans and make this an elimination. This also affected the next leg.
This episode felt much better than last week's train wreck. And as an added bonus we got to see that deep bonds of friendship have developed between some of the teams.
georgiapeach:
These are AWESOME as always!! Thank you SO much for doing them!! :yourock:
maf:
Racing report
Amazing Race China Rush
Season 2, Episode 5
Disclaimer: I do not speak any Asian language, and furthermore is English not my first language so I am sure there will be mistakes.
The last pit stop was on a scenic lookout reached by cable car. But teams are released somewhere a bit more accessible. Which they should be glad of because getting off that mountain in the middle of the night would have been challenging. Anyway teams are released in the following order:
1.Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er02:08 2.Elena & Tameka 02:16(+0:08)3.Lily & Jan 02:28(+0:20)4.Matt & Kylie 02:40(+0:32)5.Rhett & Howie 02:52(+0:44)6.Simon & Katherine 03:04(+0:56)7.Mary & Cecilia 03:18(+1:10)
Yet again the producers have compressed the start times. In the previous leg all but the first three teams took a two hour penalty, and it feels very improbable that all the first three teams should have made some horrible mistake in the latter part of that leg.
Route info: Travel by train to the local airport. Then fly to Hehua airport in Zhangjiajie in Hunan Province. There take a taxi to the bus terminal and then take a bus to Yellow Dragon Cave (Wu Ling Yuan), where they will find the next clue.
All teams travel on the same flight:
CZ3385 CAN-DYG 07:54-09:12
At the airport there is the usual stampede for the taxis. But the taxi roulette spreads teams out so they take different buses:
Bus #1 carries and arrives:
Rhett & Howie
Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er
Lily & Jan
After three teams the bus is full so Mary & Cecilia and Elena & Tameka must wait for the next bus. They are not happy about this.
Bus #2 carries
Mary & Cecilia
Elena & Tameka
Matt & Kylie
Bus #3 carries
Simon & Katherine, who had bad luck with their taxi
The teams in the first bus paid their driver extra to drive directly to the Yellow Dragon cave. A text on the screen says that bus #2 did the same, but nothing of this was shown.
Teams reach the clue box in the following order:
1. Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er
2. Lily & Jan
3. Rhett & Howie
4. Elena & Tameka
5. Mary & Cecilia
6. Matt & Kylie
7. Simon & Katherine
Route info: Teams must go to a Xiang Fi Farmhouse nearby and find a bamboo pole. They must then use traditional tools (a flimsy saw) to cut the bamboo into four pieces and pour the Baijiou (which is aging inside) into a container.
Choice quotes:
"But then I realized that I don;t know how to use that tool", Mary had no idea how to use a saw
"They had completely finished, but I hadn't finished cutting even one. I started to panic then", Cecilia realized things were not going well when Elena & Tameka left
Teams complete this task in the following order:
1(+0) Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er
2(+1) Rhett & Howie
3(-1) Lily & Jan
4(+0) Elena & Tameka
5(+1) Matt & Kylie
6(+1) Simon & Katherine
7(-1) Mary & Cecilia
Route info: Go to the Xiang Xi Theater to find the next clue.
Choice quotes:
"We made a mistake. We took the No. 1 bus. The bus driver told us that it only takes 30 minutes to get there. And later we find it only takes 10 minutes by taxi.", Cecilia
Teams reach this clue box in the following order:
1(+1) Rhett & Howie, traveled by taxi
2(-1) Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er, traveled by bus
3(-1) Lily & Jan, traveled by bus
4(+0) Elena & Tameka, traveled by taxi
5(+0) Matt & Kylie, traveled by taxi
6(+0) Simon & Katherine, traveled by taxi
7(+0) Mary & Cecilia, traveled by bus
Detour: Name that view or Name that tune alternatively Look or Listen
In name that view (look) teams make their way to a gallery where they must test their luck by guessing the names of some of the famous peaks. They are given a poster with ten names and a bunch of photos (more than 10). They must place the correct photo by each name to get their next clue.
In name that tune (listen) teams travel to Baofeng lake up in the mountains. Once there they travel by boat out to another boat where local girls will sing four short songs from Xiang Xi (while showing signs with their names on). Then teams must remember the words and melodies while traveling on to another place nearby where a male singer will sing one of the songs. They must then guess which song he performed. If they guess wrong they must go back to listen to the girls again before making another guess.
According to a local there is a 20 minute walk from the taxi drop off point to the lake where listen takes place.
Here we encounter an odd discrepancy. The clue cards the racers read calls the detour options look or listen. But Alan, and the on screen text, calls them name that view or name that tune.
Choice quotes:
"We should buy pictures of the mountains", Howie has a bright idea
"I studied folk songs", Hao Fei'er feels confident going into the detour
"It is not fair since we were team number one until then", Hao Fei'er is upset at their taxi driver who made a wrong turn
"We're performing pretty pathetic today", Cecilia rates their performance
"The more we kept going the more we kind of were changing(the pictures)", Howie about how their detour option turned to chaos
"I don't want to climb the mountain anymore", Cecilia has had her share of mountains
"I can't sing, I can't play an instrument, I can turn the radio on", Kylie is not into music
"I was going to stop his singing, but my sister was really enjoying that song.", Cecilia
Teams complete the detour in the following order:
1(+2) Lily & Jan (listen)
2(+0) Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er (listen)
3(+1) Elena & Tameka (decided to do look, but couldn't find a taxi who knew where it was so they switched to listen), made one wrong guess
4(+3) Mary & Cecilia (listen)
5(+0) Matt & Kylie (decided to do look, but couldn't find a taxi who knew where it was so they switched to listen), made one wrong guess
6(+0) Simon & Katherine (went for look but when they couldn't find it they switched to listen)
7(-6) Rhett & Howie (started look but after an hour they gave up and switched to listen), got it on the third try
Route info: Make your way to the main entrance of the Wuling Yuan scenic area. Caution yield ahead.
Teams reach the yield and clue box here in the following order:
1(+0) Lily & Jan, yields Mary & Cecilia
2(+0) Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er
3(+0) Elena & Tameka
4(+0) Mary & Cecilia, are passed by two teams while they wait for the incense to burn down
5(+0) Matt & Kylie
6(+0) Simon & Katherine
7(+0) Rhett & Howie, arrive after Mary & Cecilia have been released
Choice quotes:
"I'm sorry but they are just a big threat to us the whole time", Jan justifies the yield
"Are you serious?", Mary & Cecilia do not appreciate being yielded
"The only thing I can think of now is I must get my revenge", Cecilia wants to strike back
"A non-elimination is our only hope for today bro", Howie thinks they are dead last (and he is right)
Inside information tells us that production had planned to have an intersection here. But since Summer & Eachan quit the previous leg there is now an odd number of teams so they replaced it with a yield instead.
Road block: Who is the spice lover? In this road block contestants must chop 3.5kg of onions, garlic and chili peppers. The road block is made slightly more endurable by the fact that it is performed outside in the rain.
Teams must travel by bus, cable car and buggy to the actual road block location at Tujia village (probably near Shentangwan gulf).
Choice quotes:
"Just continue to remind me to do it quickly", Hao Fei'er with just a small hint of sarcasm
"The garlic and chili were making her cry. That's funny", Sun Bin has a little humor
"Oh my god, the garlic is insane", Kylie finds that chopping garlic is harder than expected
"Smash it with the knife, the garlic", Simon gives detailed instructions to Katherine
"Everywhere I touched the chilies with my hand it's on fire", Kylie found the spices hot
"My parents are from Jamaica so I'm quite used to cutting up hot chilies and that kind of stuff", Tameka did not have any problems with the road block
"Don't chop it, slice it. Smaller, smaller. When you cut it make it smaller. No no no no don't make it like that", Simon keep giving detailed instructions
"Get angry! Vent!", Cecilia tries to motivate Mary
"I love you more than I can say", a little later Cecilia tries a different tack
"It smells soo good, smell it", Mary to Cecilia after the road block
"Yummy", Rhett & Howie like the spices
"Men can cook too, you know", Rhett & Howie joke with the locals
During this roadblock Simon behaves like a true control freak. He keeps very close to Katherine and gives her a steady stream of directions on how to chop. Perhaps he ought to have been a bit more careful since Katherine does after all hold a rather sharp knife in her hand. But she resists the urge to apply it to him and keeps chopping spices. But he partly redeems himself when he a little later gives her a massage (and shuts up).
Rhett & Howie arrive after all other teams have left. They know that they are last and do not hurry. Instead they take time to juggle with the onions banter with the locals. After a while Howie ties a scarf over his eyes and performs the rest of the task blindfolded. It feels like he does this both because it is more fun that way and to protect his eyes.
Teams complete the roadblock in the following order (* denotes team member performing the road block, and the numbers how many roadblocks each team member have performed):
1(+0)Lily* & Jan (2-2)2(+0)Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er*(2-2)3(+0)Elena & Tameka* (2-2)4(+1)Matt & Kylie* (3-1)5(+0)Simon & Katherine* (3-1)6(+0)Mary* & Cecilia (3-1)7(+0)Rhett & Howie* (2-2)
Route info: Make your way to Lianxin bridge near Hallelujah mountain.
Teams have to travel first by shuttle and then by foot to reach the bridge.
Choice quotes:
"Some guy told he, hey it's this way, and it was actually the other way", Jan got bad directions on the way to the bridge
The teams reach the bridge in the following order:
1(+1) Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er
2(-1) Lily & Jan
3(+0) Elena & Tameka
4(+0) Matt & Kylie
5(+0) Simon & Katherine
6(+0) Mary & Cecilia
7(+0) Rhett & Howie
Route info: Make your way to the Bai Long Elevator. Take the elevator to Bai Long Square. It's the Pit Stop for this leg.
Again teams have to travel by foot, shuttle and foot again to reach the elevator.
Choice quotes:
"The passengers were scared at first. They thought it was a robbery.", Hao Fei'er was very determined to get the shuttle bus to depart at once
"Maybe we should have yielded the Rockers?", Lily has second thoughts (but it's too late)
"Could be a non-elimination, but I don't think so", Howie thinks they are about to be eliminated
When they arrive at the elevator the Rockers find out that they have to wait four minutes for the next departure. This is inconvenient since Lily & Jan are only 2 minutes behind. Once in the elevator both teams guard their positions by the door and when it gets down there is a footrace. But Hao Fei'er turns out to be faster than Lily so the Rockers win.
Teams reach Alan in the following order:
1(+0) Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er, win a seven day trip to Thailand
2(+0) Lily & Jan
3(+0) Elena & Tameka
4(+0) Matt & Kylie
5(+0) Simon & Katherine
6(+0) Mary & Cecilia
7(+0) Rhett & Howie, are saved by a non-elimination (but they will encounter a speed bump in the next leg)
The area where this episode was filmed is probably breathtakingly beautiful. And it is mentioned multiple times that it was part of the inspiration for the floating mountains in Avatar. However then impression is spoiled a bit by the fact that it rains quite a bit throughout the episode.
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