it was a pretty good premiere. not too spectacular, but it has many moments that i could enjoy.
The fact that the racers had to climb 100+stairs to the top of buddha statue only to find out that they have to travel by ferry to another destination is super neat. season 30 onwards would have been them to go to the destination and then do the task right after, so this feels another classic tar stuff which always appreciated
speaking the ferry, im glad that they have to travels to destinations by ferry twice in this leg. hong kong leg is not an hong kong leg without ferries, and im glad that they force the racers to embrace the iconic ferry ride twice there.
also i do like the tasks that are much more traditional compared to other HK legs. The RB is nice, but i thought being in the rain made the task much more difficult than it looked. The sing FITR was brutal for a first leg's task so its a good sign, the dancer task was much easier but i am glad they finally touched the dragon dance after a while.
Speaking of FITR, i thought it was a fine mechanic, forcing them to think the strategy: whether you want the easier task but much more competition or harder task but less signin spot and a assumption that they are on a level ground. Both tasks still have a consequence to be at risk on an elimination, vanishing the imbalance/unequal tasks they chose. however, so far its much more of a upper-staking detour (TAR 26 Monaco Detour came to my mind) instead of being own, which kind of shame. adding a task before or after the FITR task would have been enough to fulfill the premise of the twist of "separating the race on either own".
Overall, an enjoyable chaotic HK leg as usual, and im looking forward to see the rest of the season
Score: 8/10
