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AMAZING RACE ASIA COMMENTARY

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TARAsia Fan:
I was more than happy to see Andy, but not Laura, go. He wasn't my cup of tea, but having read interviews since TARA aired, I will say he seems to be a nice guy. Perhaps Michael McKay edited him more to be a villain, but it appears during the show, Andy was doing nicely all by himself.

Again, it appears in the physical tasks, SanFran, especially Sandy will blow through them without too many problems. Zab and Joe Jer will do well in the mental challenges. Mardy/Marsio are a smarter team than I have given them credit for. I certainly thought they would have been eliminated by now. Andrew/Syeon are certainly physically fit, but her foot may hinder them if they have to run. Interesting contrasts here. Two physically fit teams and two mentally fit teams. Should make for some interesting viewing especially in the next leg.

apskip:
EPISODE 11 starting at DELHI, INDIA Buddhist temple

Sandy/Francesca depart at 147am
Andrew/Syeon depart at 154am but Syeon has a bad injury to her foot and can't run.
Mardy/Marsio depart at 155am.
Zabrina/JoeJer depart at 215am

Teams fly 200km to Dubai, united Arab Emirates where they taxi to the Berg Dubai water taxi station and get an Abra water taxi. There is a YIELD ahead.
Andrwe/Syeon claim a money-only alliance with Zabrina/Joe/Jer and an everything-but-money alliance with Mardy/Marsio.
S/F have no confidence in their original taxi driver, so ditch her and get another one.
The view of the skyscrapers along the route to Berg Dubai is imressive.
The arrival at Berg Dubai is Z/JJ, S/F, M/M, A/S but nobody uses the YIELD.

The Roadblock is "Who Wants to Play Around?" One member of a team has one ball, a putter and one club at the golf Academy 9 hole Par 3 course to finish and get the next clue. If they lose the ball they must go back to the beginning to get a new one.

Zabrina arrives first and completes the course first, as solid round.
Francesca arrives second and complete the course second, another solid round.
Despite her foot problem, Syeon gets around the course and maintains third position.
On the way to the course, the water taxi of Mardy and Marsio borke down eliminating their lead over Andrew/Syeon, who were willing to help before the engine came back to life. Marsio was not a good choice to play golf. On the 6th hole, he lost his ball and had to go back for a new one. He finished about 3 holes after Syeon, abotu 30 minutes behind.

The next clue sends teams on a useless trip to Dubai International Marine Club to find a clue at the boat Leopard of Dubai to go to Ski Dubai at the Emirates Mall. The DETOUR there is HACK or HIKE. HACK is use a small hammer and chisel for each team member to break through a 150 pound block of ice. HIKE is for each team member to be outfitted to carry a 25kg backpack plus rope us the slope to the top of the ski lift, get the clue and then walk down. S/F and A/S chose HACK and both finished quickly. Z/JJ and M/M, who arrived well behind, had major problems getting up the slope.

The next clue sent teams to GOLD SOUK to find a specific MODERN JEWELRY shop matching a photo. There are 500 gold shops in the Gold Souk area. S/F used trial and error and eventually found the right one. A/S got lucky and seemed to find it more quickly. Z/JJ phoned ahead, but this did not really help them and they had difficulty. M/M seemed to find it fairly quickly and make up time.

The final clue sent teams to locate a marked car to take them to Margham Desert Camp. Teams reached the pitstop in exactly the same order. M/M were fortunate to find a non-elimination point, so they lost their money but stayed alive in the race.

TARAsia Fan:
I absolutely loved this episode. To see the buildings and architecture of a city that literally grew from the desert. Marsio playing the golf roadblock really cost the team as Zab, Syeon and Francesca seemed to breeze through the course.

Climbing up the ski slope with 50 pounds of equipment was not easy, especially for Zab and Joe Jer. But Mardy and Marsio were huffing and puffing up the slope as well.

I thought this would be the end of Mardy/Marsio, but the dreaded non-elimination leg came into play. We'll see if they can recover in the next leg.

apskip:
I totally agree with you. I think Dubai is quite an interesting place. I noted the skyscrapers that line the major transit routes. The Abra water taxis were reminiscent of Old Dubai. The golf course's irrigated greenery provided an amazing contrast with the surrounding desert. Ski Dubai is the most fascinating, with the decadence of a ski slope inside and temperatures above 100 degrees most of the time outside. The Gold Souk concept is ancient, but the stores themselves are selling very expensive merchandise to the wealthy. Margham Desert Camp, although we did not see much of it, is a traditional Bedouin habitation.

Dubai is showing up in the news a lot. I saw the beginning of a program this weekend on National Geographic Channel about new islands being created offshore to form a world map with continents and the major islands. The Burj al Arab Hotel is known to be one of the most luxurious in the world. The 3 Palm Island complexes are in various stages: one complete; one to finish next year; one under development and not started construction yet.

patlini:
I'm sure going from the searing sun to the indoor ski slope must have messed with them.

And yet another fine physical performance from Sandy

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