Author Topic: TARAus2 Episode 11 (China) Discussion *SPOILERS*  (Read 18065 times)

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Offline supah

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Re: TARAus2 Episode 11 (China) Discussion *SPOILERS*
« Reply #25 on: August 17, 2012, 02:14:13 AM »
Does anyone with knowledge of China know just how far off Joseph and Grace wandered on that final leg? That has to be as lost as a team has ever gotten in the history of the TAR franchise. They wandered into another country, I really don't know how you do that.

They did NOT enter another country. Inner Mongolia is a PROVINCE of China!

We do know they did stop at the Badaling section of the Great Wall of China. If you want a rough idea, Badaling is about a 2 hour drive north WEST of Beijing, and Mutianyu (where they were supposed to be) is about a 2 hour drive north EAST of Beijing. In other words their taxi driver was WAY off. I imagine instead of turning around in the direction they came in, they continued on from Badaling and got closer and closer to Inner Mongolia.  :(

Offline starrynight

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Re: TARAus2 Episode 11 (China) Discussion *SPOILERS*
« Reply #26 on: August 17, 2012, 03:21:42 AM »
I don't think they were eliminated because of the van.  The two other taxis later destroyed their chances, particularly the one that took them to a hotel and took their remaining money so they had to walk for hours to get to the next task.

But since the van ate up such a huge chunk of their money, they couldn't have taken another taxi if they wanted to from the hotel. The van was probably what led to their eventual downfall.

Except that they begged for money in another episode and got to the finish line, it was the final two taxi drivers who took them way off course and made getting to the finish before the others impossible.  I hate that teams are forced to beg but in the past racers have managed to get money like that and survived, however if you are taken many miles off-course you are pretty much finished.


Offline amazing race fan

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Re: TARAus2 Episode 11 (China) Discussion *SPOILERS*
« Reply #27 on: August 17, 2012, 03:37:38 AM »
Does anyone with knowledge of China know just how far off Joseph and Grace wandered on that final leg? That has to be as lost as a team has ever gotten in the history of the TAR franchise. They wandered into another country, I really don't know how you do that.

They did NOT enter another country. Inner Mongolia is a PROVINCE of China!

We do know they did stop at the Badaling section of the Great Wall of China. If you want a rough idea, Badaling is about a 2 hour drive north WEST of Beijing, and Mutianyu (where they were supposed to be) is about a 2 hour drive north EAST of Beijing. In other words their taxi driver was WAY off. I imagine instead of turning around in the direction they came in, they continued on from Badaling and got closer and closer to Inner Mongolia.  :(

Thanks :tup:. I am not a real China expert, but I guess they were closer to Beijing than I thought. I got the impression that they were about five or six hours in the wrong direction. I bet The Amazing Race wasn't too happy with the taxi bill they had to pay once Joseph and Grace got eliminated.

Offline 123blueandwhite

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Re: TARAus2 Episode 11 (China) Discussion *SPOILERS*
« Reply #28 on: August 17, 2012, 04:47:51 AM »
I don't think they were eliminated because of the van.  The two other taxis later destroyed their chances, particularly the one that took them to a hotel and took their remaining money so they had to walk for hours to get to the next task.

But since the van ate up such a huge chunk of their money, they couldn't have taken another taxi if they wanted to from the hotel. The van was probably what led to their eventual downfall.

Except that they begged for money in another episode and got to the finish line, it was the final two taxi drivers who took them way off course and made getting to the finish before the others impossible.  I hate that teams are forced to beg but in the past racers have managed to get money like that and survived, however if you are taken many miles off-course you are pretty much finished.

They really lucked out in that Vancouver leg. The people there are friendlier and are less adamant to give money to strangers. Even if the taxi driver took them to the wrong destination the first time, had they had enough money they could've just easily taken another taxi without having to walk for hours upon hours to the bridge. According to google maps, the walk from the hotel to the bridge was 4-5 hours.

From that point on, they already had no chance even if the 2nd taxi driver took them there successfully. Had they been more careful with their mode of transportation at the start of the leg, then the outcome for them would've been a lot more favourable and we would've likely had a different winner for TARAU2, considering how the cops started 2 hours behind the top 2 finishers in leg 11.

Offline apskip

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Re: TARAus2 Episode 11 (China) Discussion *SPOILERS*
« Reply #29 on: August 17, 2012, 09:40:56 AM »
Does anyone with knowledge of China know just how far off Joseph and Grace wandered on that final leg? That has to be as lost as a team has ever gotten in the history of the TAR franchise. They wandered into another country, I really don't know how you do that.

They did NOT enter another country. Inner Mongolia is a PROVINCE of China!

We do know they did stop at the Badaling section of the Great Wall of China. If you want a rough idea, Badaling is about a 2 hour drive north WEST of Beijing, and Mutianyu (where they were supposed to be) is about a 2 hour drive north EAST of Beijing. In other words their taxi driver was WAY off. I imagine instead of turning around in the direction they came in, they continued on from Badaling and got closer and closer to Inner Mongolia.  :(

Thanks :tup:. I am not a real China expert, but I guess they were closer to Beijing than I thought. I got the impression that they were about five or six hours in the wrong direction. I bet The Amazing Race wasn't too happy with the taxi bill they had to pay once Joseph and Grace got eliminated.

I have been to China and went to the Badaling section of the Great Wall. It and all the other sections I am going to mention are within one hour of the outer edge of Beijing (traffic slows people down once inside Beijing's limits) in various directions of north. If you remember the part where Joseph and Grace are asleep in the taxi, they passed the turnoff for the Juyongguan section of the Great Wall. However, they wanted neither of the above, as the much-less-touristy Mutianyu section was the correct one. 


Offline amazing race fan

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Re: TARAus2 Episode 11 (China) Discussion *SPOILERS*
« Reply #30 on: August 17, 2012, 02:54:30 PM »
Does anyone with knowledge of China know just how far off Joseph and Grace wandered on that final leg? That has to be as lost as a team has ever gotten in the history of the TAR franchise. They wandered into another country, I really don't know how you do that.

They did NOT enter another country. Inner Mongolia is a PROVINCE of China!

We do know they did stop at the Badaling section of the Great Wall of China. If you want a rough idea, Badaling is about a 2 hour drive north WEST of Beijing, and Mutianyu (where they were supposed to be) is about a 2 hour drive north EAST of Beijing. In other words their taxi driver was WAY off. I imagine instead of turning around in the direction they came in, they continued on from Badaling and got closer and closer to Inner Mongolia.  :(

Thanks :tup:. I am not a real China expert, but I guess they were closer to Beijing than I thought. I got the impression that they were about five or six hours in the wrong direction. I bet The Amazing Race wasn't too happy with the taxi bill they had to pay once Joseph and Grace got eliminated.

I have been to China and went to the Badaling section of the Great Wall. It and all the other sections I am going to mention are within one hour of the outer edge of Beijing (traffic slows people down once inside Beijing's limits) in various directions of north. If you remember the part where Joseph and Grace are asleep in the taxi, they passed the turnoff for the Juyongguan section of the Great Wall. However, they wanted neither of the above, as the much-less-touristy Mutianyu section was the correct one.

You just don't ever know how far lost a team is unless you know the area. TAR makes it so there is a vague area between about 1-6 hours where you just don't know how lost or far behind a team is. If a team is lost or in last place by less than an hour they edit it to make it seem close, but if its between an hour and six or so hours lost or behind its really vague and you can't tell. Like for example, The Cops were about three hours behind the second place team going into the final leg, but you would have never been able to guess they were three hours behind by the editing. You could have thought one hour or you could have thought five hours. Its obvious when a team is like half a day behind, but they usually try something to catch them up a little bit, but when you are so far behind you know there is no shot you will catch up.

Offline SuperTux

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Re: TARAus2 Episode 11 (China) Discussion *SPOILERS*
« Reply #31 on: August 19, 2012, 08:28:05 PM »
I haven't watched this episode. People on Weibo.com say that one team got ripped off--a van trip that iniquitously cost 650 yuan:groan: I see many Chinese fans are ashamed of that driver... :lol:
好像用中文做签名档会比较酷。

Offline SuperTux

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Re: TARAus2 Episode 11 (China) Discussion *SPOILERS*
« Reply #32 on: August 20, 2012, 06:44:51 AM »
I'm watching this episode now.

I think everyone who wants to travel in China should be reminded that please NEVER TAKE A VAN! To some extent vans are private cars. They'll charge you highly. Just choose a common taxi!

Haha, those contestants' Chinese was so bad :)

The only sentences I understood were Grace's "west Lake beef broth" (xihu niurou geng), twins' "stir fried shredded potato with soy sauce" (jiangyou tudou si) and "thank you" (xiexie)
« Last Edit: August 20, 2012, 08:28:01 AM by SuperTux »
好像用中文做签名档会比较酷。

Offline Slowhatch

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Re: TARAus2 Episode 11 (China) Discussion *SPOILERS*
« Reply #33 on: August 20, 2012, 08:07:03 PM »
The JoGrace van (650 yuan, later 600) had no markings, just a small taxi sign on top. The van that Paul/Steve picked asked for 700 yuan before they bailed out; this sign was on the side.

Offline starrynight

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Re: TARAus2 Episode 11 (China) Discussion *SPOILERS*
« Reply #34 on: August 26, 2012, 05:08:43 PM »
I thought Grace did bargain down the amount for the van, but obviously the last taxi finished them anyway.  And I vaguely remember Shane and Andrew telling a taxi driver he wouldn't get paid for taking them to a wrong place?  A lot of it is luck and if you can get away with not paying a bad taxi driver sometimes, particularly with the amount of money they seem to have to spend on taxis on some of these legs.  As it is a crooked taxi driver can demand payment and singlehandedly take a team out of the race.


Offline SuperTux

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Re: TARAus2 Episode 11 (China) Discussion *SPOILERS*
« Reply #35 on: September 11, 2012, 01:05:00 AM »
Why didn't Joseph and Grace choose the subway or bus instead? :lol: It'd be way cheaper. In Beijing one subway ticket costs 2 yuan (=0.3 Australian dollar), no matter how far you go. As to the bus, it costs no more than 3 yuan.
好像用中文做签名档会比较酷。