Reality Fan Forum - The Amazing Race Spoilers - Big Brother Live Feed Updates - Survivor Spoilers - Reality TV Spoilers - Big Brother Spoilers

The Amazing Race International Versions => The Amazing Race: International Versions => Topic started by: maf on August 22, 2011, 11:25:25 AM

Title: Racing report, China Rush Season 2, complete
Post by: maf on August 22, 2011, 11:25:25 AM

Racing report
Amazing Race China Rush
Season 2, Episode 1

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 race starts in the Lujiazui park in Shanghai. Here 11 teams will embark on a trip across China for the chance to win a trip around the world worth 400.000RMB.

Teams arrive by bus and are:

Lily & Jan, dating couple from Germany and USA
Xiao Long & Lv Meng, Wushu coaches from China
Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er, Recording artist from China
Paul & Nash, expat teachers from Canada and Ghana
Mary & Cecilia, cousins/students in Canada, from China
Matt & Kylie, international students in China (from Australia and New Zealand)
A Lai & Jackie, Mother and son from Ningja China
Simon & Katherine, long distance dating couple from USA and China
Rhett & Howie, 30 year china veterans from USA
Summer & Eachan, childhood friends and now newly dating from China
Elena & Tameka, fitness fanatics from UK and Ukraine

The first clue is located on top of the team bags and tells teams to make their way to the Hong Qiao railway station and take train to Wuzhen water town in the Zhejiang province.

Had Fei'er twisted his ankle in the initial sprint to the bags and will have real problems putting any weight on that foot for the rest of this leg. That means running is out and they will be considerably slower than the rest of the teams.

All teams end up on the same train to Wuzhen.
G7451 Shanghai-Hangzhou 12:40-13:40

Once in Wuzhen teams travel by taxi (except Sun Bin & Had Fei'er who got a ride in a private car) to the Wuzhen monument where the next clue awaits. Teams get this clue in the following order:
1. Mary & Cecilia
2. Matt & Kylie
3. Lily & Jan
4. A Lai & Jackie
5. Xiao Long & Lv Meng
6. Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er
7. Rhett & Howie
8. Summer & Eachan
9. Simon & Katherine
10. Elena & Tameka
11. Paul & Nash, long after the others

Paul & Nash had bad luck with their taxi driver who drove them straight past the monument and into central Wuzhen. By coincidence he dropped them off close to the wedding gown museum (see below) where they found the other teams who they followed for a while. Eventually they realized they had missed a clue and went back to the landmark.

Route info: "Make your way to West Wuzhen to the first floor of the Xi Qing Tang Wedding Hall Museum". Once there teams must find a red envelope containing money, they must then present it to a newly-wed bride on Nv Hong Street to get their next clue.

Teams find the bride in the following order:
1(+7) Summer & Eachan
2(+0) Matt & Kylie
3(+3) Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er
4(-3) Mary & Cecilia
5(+0) Xiao Long & Lv Meng
6(-3) Lily & Jan
7(-3) A Lai & Jackie
8(-1) Rhett & Howie
9(+0) Simon & Katherine
10(+1) Paul & Nash
11(-1) Elena & Tameka

Route info: Find the clue box at the West Wuzhen old post office. Teams reach this in the following order:
1(+0) Summer & Eachan
2(+3) Xiao Long & Lv Meng
3(-1) Matt & Kylie
4(-1) Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er
5(-1) Mary & Cecilia
6(-2) A Lai & Jackie
7(-1) Lily & Jan
8(+0) Rhett & Howie
9(+0) Simon & Katherine
10(+0) Paul & Nash
11(+0) Elena & Tameka

Detour: Hang out or Dig in

In Hang out teams make their way to a fabric dyeing workshop. Once there they must use bamboo poles to hang four different pieces of cloth on bamboo frames high above. The frames seems to be at least 5 meters up in the air. This task looks easy when the locals demonstrate, but teams quickly learn that it is much harder than it looks. Teams also turn out to have trouble remembering to pick different patterns.

In Dig in teams make their way to a local bean paste factory. Once there they must search among 78 unmarked vats for a specific ancient coin. Some of the vats have bean paste in them and it is in this paste the coins are hidden. This is basically a messy and smelly needle in a haystack task.

Choice quotes:
"In fact, hanging fabric is not that easy", Xiao Long & Lv Meng
"It was pure luck. We really had good luck. We dug in bean paste two times", Mary & Cecilia
"It stinks! Is it bean paste? So disgusting.", Jackie
"Should we give up?", Jackie finds the digging hard
"I can't even reach the bottom of the jar", Kylie hags with her feet in the air trying to search through all the bean paste

Teams complete the detour in the following order:
1(+4) Mary & Cecilia (dig in)
2(+4) A Lai & Jackie (dig in)
3(+1) Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er (hang out)
4(-1) Matt & Kylie (hang out, switched to dig in)
5(+2) Lily & Jan (hang out)
6(-4) Xiao Long & Lv Meng (hang out)
7(+1) Rhett & Howie (hang out)
8(-7) Summer & Eachan (hang out)
9(+1) Paul & Nash (hang out)
10(+1) Elena & Tameka (hang out)
11(-2) Simon & Katherine (hang out)

Route info: make your way to Wen Chang pavilion and take a ferry to An Du Fang dock to find the next clue there.

Teams reach the dock in the following order:
1(+0) Mary & Cecilia
2(+0) A Lai & Jackie
3(+3) Xiao Long & Lv Meng
4(+0) Matt & Kylie
5(+0) Lily & Jan
6(-3) Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er
7(+1) Summer & Eachan
8(+1) Paul & Nash
9(-1) Rhett & Howie
10(+0) Elena & Tameka
11(+0) Simon & Katherine

In reality the teams encountered a road block here. One person need to sit on a float tub in the lake and catch 5 fishes. This task was very hard and only two teams, Mary & Cecilia and Xiao Long & Lv Meng, completed it. The other teams made a deal to give up and move on. This is probably why production choose to cut the entire episode.

Route info. Teams must make their way to the east Wuzhen pharmacy and search through more than 100 medicine drawers for four different Chinese characters. When placed in the correct order these characters will spell the location of the pit stop.

On their way there Mary & Cecilia hitched a ride with a local truck. They were not shown to get a penalty for this so either they got it behind the scenes, or the rules are different from the American version.

Paul & Nash seemed to have a very hard time to locate the pharmacy and lost a lot of time.

Choice quotes:
"We went through the drawers really fast. Around 2 minutes", Mary & Cecilia

The characters spell out "Jiang Zhe Fen Fu", which was the official court house of Wuzhen during the Ming dynasty. Now it serves as the first pit stop. Teams reach it in the following order:
1(+0) Mary & Cecilia, win a trip to the thousand islands lake in Hangzhou.
2(+1) Xiao Long & Lv Meng
3(+2) Lily & Jan
4(+3) Summer & Eachan
5(+4) Rhett & Howie
6(+5) Simon & Katherine
7(+3) Elena & Tameka
8(-2) Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er
9(-7) A Lai & Jackie
10(-6) Matt & Kylie
11(-3) Paul & Nash, are eliminated

Title: Re: Racing report, China Rush Season 2, leg 1 is on page 1
Post by: georgiapeach on August 22, 2011, 11:25:51 PM

LOVE your recaps maf!! Thanks for sharing them with us!! :hrt:

Title: Re: Racing report, China Rush Season 2, leg 1 is on page 1
Post by: SuperTux on August 23, 2011, 07:55:38 PM

Well... It is "Jiang Zhe Fen Fu" actually.

Title: Re: Racing report, China Rush Season 2, leg 1 is on page 1
Post by: maf on August 24, 2011, 11:02:44 AM

Quote from: SuperTux on August 23, 2011, 07:55:38 PM

Well... It is "Jiang Zhe Fen Fu" actually.

You are right, I have updated the report accordingly.

Title: Re: Racing report, China Rush Season 2, leg 1 is on page 1
Post by: SuperTux on August 25, 2011, 07:53:23 PM

Quote from: maf on August 24, 2011, 11:02:44 AM

Quote from: SuperTux on August 23, 2011, 07:55:38 PM
Well... It is "Jiang Zhe Fen Fu" actually.

You are right, I have updated the report accordingly.

You made it still wrong :lol: Jiang Zhe not Jiang Zhen

Title: Re: Racing report, China Rush Season 2, leg 2
Post by: maf on August 26, 2011, 10:32:20 AM

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'er	06:03	(+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.

Title: Re: Racing report, China Rush Season 2, leg 3
Post by: maf on September 01, 2011, 03:55:09 PM

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'er	18:52	(+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.

Title: Re: Racing report, China Rush Season 2, leg 4
Post by: maf on September 06, 2011, 12:08:03 PM

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'er	08:02
2.	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.

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 penalty
6(-1)	Simon* & Katherine	(3-0)	Gave up and took the 2 hour penalty
7(-1)	Rhett* & Howie	(2-1)	Gave up and took the 2 hour penalty
8(+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.

Title: Re: Racing report, China Rush Season 2, leg 4 is on page 1
Post by: georgiapeach on September 07, 2011, 04:22:54 PM

These are AWESOME as always!! Thank you SO much for doing them!! :yourock:

Title: Re: Racing report, China Rush Season 2, leg 5
Post by: maf on September 09, 2011, 01:11:52 AM

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'er	02:08
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.

Title: Re: Racing report, China Rush Season 2, leg 6
Post by: maf on September 21, 2011, 11:15:13 AM

Racing report
Amazing Race China Rush
Season 2, Episode 6

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 at Bai Long Square, and this is also where teams
are released in the following order:

1.	Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er	07:52
2.	Lily & Jan	07:56	(+0:04)
3.	Elena & Tameka	08:35	(+0:43)
4.	Matt & Kylie	??:??	(+?:??)
5.	Simon & Katherine	??:??	(+?:??)
6.	Mary & Cecilia	??:??	(+?:??)
7.	Rhett & Howie	??:??	(+?:??)

Only the first three teams are shown departing.

Route info: Go to Wulong in the Chongqing Municipality.

Teams must now travel by plane and bus to Wulong. Once they arrive they must find the five dragon statue and search the nearby Wujiang bridge for their next clue.

All teams make the same flight. After the flight teams travel 120km by a chartered bus. The bus arrives in Wulong at 21:50. When the bus arrives teams rush into taxis for the statue. Given the look on the team faces they were completely unprepared when the bus stopped.

Choice quotes:
"I had poisoning form the day before, I already had diarrhea and I was already throwing up", Kylie does not feel quite 100%
"beeep beeep, I can't believe that we're racing non-stop", Cecilia looks completely stressed out in the taxi

Teams reach reach the next clue box in the following order:
1. Simon & Katherine
2. Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er
3. Lily & Jan
4. Elena & Tameka
5. Mary & Cecilia
6. Matt & Kylie, a bit after the others
7. Rhett & Howie,

Route info: Make your way by taxi to Zhang's lamb hot pot restaurant. In this challenge teams must eat 10 plates of lamb cooked in the hot broth (and drink one beer). But before they may eat they must search through 600 bottles of beer (from the race sponsor) for one of just a few with a race marker on the bottom.

Choice quotes:
"Quickly, eat it. We must be totally crazy to do this.", Hao Fei'er
"Can my life get any worse today?", Kylie does not really feel like eating hot spicy food on an upset stomach
"Eating lamb was horrible, there was way too much to eat", Sun Bin did not enjoy this task
"I don't want to look behind us but I don't think he is the only person getting sick", Rhett & Howie are coping better than most
"Maybe can you puke on that side please", Tameka to Elana
"I can't even listen to all this, all this suffering going on", Rhett puts pieces of napkin in his ears to block the sounds of throwing up
"I don't even eat lamb, I absolutely hate lamb", Lily
"Can you shuffle and I eat?", Jan has an interesting idea on how to eat faster
"You'd never guess that at one point I used to be a vegetarian, so that wasn't easy", Tameka
"A kilo and a half of lamb, and Howie and I were hungry so we ate everything", Rhett was hungry and enjoyed the meal

Teams complete the eating and drinking in the following order:
1(+2) Lily & Jan
2(+0) Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er, 2 minutes after Lily & Jan
3(+1) Elena & Tameka
4(+1) Mary & Cecilia
5(+1) Matt & Kylie
6(-5) Simon & Katherine
7(+0) Rhett & Howie

Route info, Make your way by taxi to a vegetable farm in Mugen Village in Shuange town where you will prepare breakfast for the pigs. This is done by grinding 8 cobs of dry corn and mixing it with vegetables in the traditional way. If, and only if, they can get the pigs to eat their feeds the farmer will give them their next clue.

Choice quotes:
"I'm stuffed. Maybe you can feed me to the pigs.", Cecilia

Teams must first take a mandatory overnight rest. The next day they are released in 10 minute intervals in the order they finished the meal. They are released as follows:
1. 08:50 Lily & Jan
2. 09:00 Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er
3. 09:10 Elena & Tameka
4. 09:20 Mary & Cecilia
5. 09:30 Matt & Kylie
6. 09:40 Simon & Katherine
7. 09:50 Rhett & Howie

Choice quotes:
"Just grind your *beep* off, OK? And I'll chop my *beep* off.", Lily seems to want to add some extra proteins to the pigs meal
"If we were a bit faster, we could have been the first team to depart today", Hao Fei'er is not satisfied with being team #2
"Nothing I do is going to be good enough for you", Lily complains to Jan
"Honk the horn. What's going on here?", Rhett & Howie get stuck in a traffic jam
"It was just like Moses and the parting of the Red sea", Rhett is impressed with how Howie cleared the traffic jam

Rhett & Howie got stuck in a traffic jam. But Howie got out and started directing cars and clears it up enough so they can continue.

When teams arrive at the farm they see a speed-bump sign which means that here is an extra task for Rhett & Howie. In the speed bump they must make their way by taxi to a nearby cabbage field and then irrigate it by hand. Once they have successfully sprinkled two buckets of water onto the cabbages they can continue racing.

Choice quotes:
"Man you suck at doing this", Lily strikes back at Jan
"How do we make them eat this?", Lily wonders why the pigs look scared
"We should leave them alone, right?", and she find the answer
"We happened to feed the little pigs. They didn't have any appetite at all.", Hao Fei'er thinks their pigs ate to slowly
"We were lucky, by the time we bring our pig feed the farmer brings on the real pigs.", Tameka knows they were lucky
"Our pigs took 20 minutes to eat, and their pigs took 3 minutes", Lily finds it unfair
"Eat it all up and you'll be handsome enough to marry a beautiful girl", Cecilia encourages the pigs
"They're really kind of cute aren't they?", Kyle feels a connection with the pigs

"If we were a couple we would probably have broken up by now", Matt is happy they don't have any relationship issues
"I would have punched you in the face by now", Kylie agrees

Teams complete the task in the following order:
1(+1) Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er
2(-1) Lily & Jan, seconds after #1
3(+0) Elena & Tameka
4(+0) Mary & Cecilia
5(+0) Matt & Kylie
6(+0) Simon & Katherine
7(+0) Rhett & Howie

Route info, make your way to the entrance of Fairy mountain scenic zone where you will find your next clue. Teams make their way there by taxi and arrive in the same order they left the farm.

Detour, roll it or ride it.

In roll it teams gets to experience the Zorb. A plastic globe where two people can be strapped inside and then be rolled down a hill. But before they may dizzy themselves with this they must count all the tires (719) along the hill.

In ride it teams must drive a car two laps around a 1.2km go-kart course (a dirt track) in less than 7.5 minutes while switching driver after the first lap. If they can not complete both laps in the allotted time they must wash the wheels of the go-kart before trying again.

Choice quotes:
"I don't really know where to go", Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er hear the most dreaded words from their taxi driver
"I got this scar from a go-kart accident", Cecilia has experience
"She's a great supporter, she's a great partner, she's a great team mate to have", Simon appreciates Katherine
"I kind of steered us into the fence a little on the first round", Howie on why he took 8 minutes for hist first lap
"This is going to be horrible", Matt is about to start rolling down the hill
"It was fun though", Kylie did like the Zorb

Two teams did the roll it detour. They both finished counting the tires at the same time and as they were walking to the judge to give their numbers they Matt instinctively asked Simon what they had got, and Simon of course asked back. That's when the teams learned that they had gotten different numbers. But Matt & Kylie were correct. Simon & Katherine lucked out, they got the correct number from Matt so they did not have to recount.

Rhett & Howie were the only team which did not make the time limit on the go-karts. In interviews afterwards they say that this cost them 10-15 minutes.

Teams complete the detour in the following order:
1(+1) Lily & Jan, ride it
2(-1) Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er, ride it
3(+0) Elena & Tameka, ride it
4(+0) Mary & Cecilia, ride it
5(+0) Matt & Kylie, roll it
6(+0) Simon & Katherine, roll it
7(+0) Rhett & Howie, ride it

Route info, make your way by taxi to the entrance of the Three Natural Bridges scenic zone. Here teams will find their next clue.

Lily & Jan had bad luck here. They finished the detour a few minutes before Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er, but then their taxi driver was missing so they had to find him. In the end they only leave a couple of seconds before the rockers.

Choice quotes:
"They are always on our *beeep*", Lily does not like being chased by the rockers.

Teams reach the zone entrance in the following order:
1(+1) Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er
2(-1) Lily & Jan
3(+0) Elena & Tameka
4(+0) Mary & Cecilia
5(+0) Matt & Kylie
6(+0) Simon & Katherine
7(+0) Rhett & Howie

Road block, "who likes to hang out?". In this road block one contestant must complete a 90 meter rappel down a cliff.

Teams complete the roadblock in the following order (* denotes team member performing the road block, and the numbers how many road blocks each team member have performed):

1(+1)	Lily & Jan*	(2-3)
2(-1)	Sun Bin* & Hao Fei'er	(3-2)
3(+0)	Elena* & Tameka	(3-2)
4(+0)	Mary & Cecilia*	(3-2)
5(+0)	Matt & Kylie*	(3-2)
6(+0)	Simon* & Katherine	(4-1)
7(+0)	Rhett & Howie*	(2-3)

Choice quotes:
"I think I busted a nut", Sun Bin almost injured himself while rappelling
"I'm scared. Am I insane that I chose to do this?", Cecilia is healthily skeptical of heights
"I was worried she couldn't hold up.", Mary was afraid Cecilia would not be able to complete the road block
"To be honest, I don't think I'm heavy enough for this", Kylie finds the going slow

This time there seems to be at least two different ropes, which allows Jan to pass Sun Bin.

Route info: Make your way via Taxi to People's square in downtown Wulong and find the next clue.

Teams reach this in the same order the finished the road block.

Route info: "Make your way on foot to the pit stop". The pit stop is located in Wulong Century Square. To get there teams must cross the river on a pedestrian bridge.

Teams reach the pit stop in the following order:
1(+0) Lily & Jan, win a trip to Bali
2(+0) Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er
3(+0) Elena & Tameka
4(+0) Mary & Cecilia
5(+0) Matt & Kylie
6(+0) Simon & Katherine
7(+0) Rhett & Howie, are eliminated

On the way to the pit stop Rhett & Howie asks a couple of small school children to walk them there. This them expands so at the time they reach Century square they are accompanied by at least 5 kids. As usual Rhett is juggling while walking up to the mat. But this time when they reach the mat he throws his juggling balls to the kids.

Choice quotes:
"Study hard and progress every day", Howie inspires the kids
"We are leaving with infinite treasures", Rhett

This was one of the classier eliminations I have ever seen on the race. Their interaction with the kids and their acceptance of the fact of elimination was very encouraging.

This leg of the race was fairly linear. After the initial eating challenge there were almost no changes in position, the first two teams switched a couple of times but then reverted and the eating challenge completion order turned out to also be the pit stop order. But things could have gotten shaken up if the wise men hadn't crashed their go-kart or Simon & Katherine had not learned the correct number of tires from Matt & Kylie.

Title: Re: Racing report, China Rush Season 2, leg 7
Post by: maf on September 24, 2011, 01:52:20 PM

Racing report
Amazing Race China Rush
Season 2, Episode 7

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 at Bai Long Square, and this is also where teams are released in the following order:

1.	Lily & Jan	05:36
2.	Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er	05:39	(+0:03)
3.	Elena & Tameka	05:49	(+0:13)
4.	Mary & Cecilia	06:03	(+0:27)
5.	Matt & Kylie	??:??	(+?;??)
6.	Simon & Katherine	??:??	(+?:??)

Departure times were not given for the last two teams.

Route info: Travel to the Furong caves scenic area and find your next clue at the pavilion near the parking lot.

Lily & Jan start to persuade a local to give up her cab, but abandon it when they find another one. Only to have Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er come up and take the taxi the local girl just vacated.

Choice quotes:
"We can never say we are safe from the rockers", Lily feels the rockers hot on her heels
"Today, we are 30 seconds behind Lily and Jan.", Hao Fei'er
"They're not with us. They're our enemies.", Hao Fei'er puts things in perspective for their taxi driver

Teams reach the clue box in the following order:
1(+0) Lily & Jan
2(+0) Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er, seconds after #1
3(+1) Mary & Cecilia
4(-1) Elena & Tameka
5(+1) Simon & Katherine
6(-1) Matt & Kylie

Road block: "Who wants to take a trip to remember?". In this road block one team member must ride a long zip-line across the river canyon. At the other side they will encounter two local singers. They must observe and memorize the details of the singers costumes. Once they think they have all the patters memorized they will zip back. Once back they must pick out the 8 used patters among 20 symbols (Alan says there are 30 symbols to choose from, but the board only holds 20 pictures). If they are not correct they have to climb up the mountain and start over again. At least that is what Alan says. In practice teams are allowed to make multiple guesses.

Choice quotes:
"I didn't read the additional information. I had no idea what I had to do later", Elena broke race rule #1 (always read the instructions)
"My cousin claimed that she had a good memory", Cecilia
"I was still asleep at the road block." Matt explains why he did not read the instructions
"Elena came down first and then she just passed me her numbers", Kylie appreciates that Elena was good for her word
"Look, I could have gotten it, I just didn't read the instructions", Matt tries to excuse himself

Mary had trouble remembering all the pictures but worked together with Katherine when she showed up to figure it out.

When the others had left Matt and Elena decided to work together and they both went across again to have another look.

Teams complete the roadblock in the following order (* denotes team member performing the road block, and the numbers how many road blocks each team member have performed):

1(+0)	Lily* & Jan	(3-3)
2(+0)	Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er*	(3-3)
3(+2)	Simon & Katherine*	(4-2)
4(-1)	Mary* & Cecilia	(4-2)
5(-1)	Elena* & Tameka	(4-2)
6(+0)	Matt* & Kylie	(4-2)

Route info: Teams must now make their way by bus back to Chong Qing Bei International airport and catch a flight to Lijiang. Once there they will find the next clue at the Lijiang airport.

Choice quotes:
"I was so exited when I found out that the next leg would be in Lijiang. I once lived in Lijiang for a while.", Sun Bin feels he will have an advantage

Teams travel on the same flight to Lijiang but once there they are released in the same order as they finished the road block in. They all quickly find teh clue bpox located outside the terminal.

Route info: teams must travel by public shuttle bus to a traditional Naxi restaurant. One there they must make Naxi Baba, a traditional flat wheat pancake. Teams must make four approved Babas to receive their next clue.

Outside the airport teams quickly learn that the buses are few and far between. Lily & Jan and Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er pool their money and manage to charter a bus to leave at once. Initially the driver wants 500 Yuan but halfway along the way Hao Fei'er talks him down to 300. They take this bus to downtown Lijiang and the change to a city bus for Zhao Xiong Ge.

Choice quotes:
"Can you call the driver of the next bus and ask him not to let them charter his bus?", Hao Fei'er plays dirty
"So we just give him 150 per team and just run, just leave", Lily does not believe in the agreed price

The second bus to leave carries Simon & Katherine and Mary & Cecilia and leaves about 10 minutes after the first bus.

The last two teams leave the airport on the third bus which leaves about 35 minutes later.

Just when the city bus carrying the two first teams leaves the bus stop it start to smell like something is burning. So everybody has to get out of the bus and wait for the next one. Which allowed the next bus from the airport to arrive so now all the first four teams are together.

At the baking challenge there is much confusion with four teams simultaneously trying to get the attention of the one judge. But the judge has weak spot for foreiginers, so Matt receives the most help.

Choice quotes:
"She just ignores us", Mary & Cecilia are not pushy enough
"It's too stiff. It'll be difficult to roll it out", the judge gives detailed advice
"None of the pancakes you have made have qualified", but she is tough as well
"We both don't cook. I really don't cook, but it was really really fun", Lily did enjoy the baking
"There's not enough salt in it", The judge is really picky to Ceclia
"You know, you shouldn't consume too much salt. If you want to lead a healthy life, take in less sodium and potassium", Cecilia tries, in vain, to reason with the judge
"Look, the flavor is good. But, do you think it's round?", the judge expects perfection
"It just doesn't look nice", Another rejection
"I was being tricky. I though it would be more likely for her to approve my pancake if I waited until she had done enough rejecting", Hao Fei'er had an idea, which did not work out
"You should make Baba like this in the future", The judge has a final word of wisdom

It may be the editing, but the judge seems much nicer to the two trailing teams.

Teams succeed in making anough approved babas in the following order:
1(+0) Lily & Jan
2(+0) Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er
3(+1) Mary & Cecilia
4(-1) Simon & Katherine
5(+1) Matt & Kylie
6(-1) Elena & Tameka

Route info: make your way by public transportation to Shuhe. Once there find the clue box at the Chama Yingbin square.

The first three teams all make the same bus from the restaurant, but Simon & Katherine misses this by a few seconds. But another bus comes soon, and along the way this bus passes the first bus.

Choice quotes:
"You were yelling just now. I though there was something going on here.", The driver of the first bus explains why he stopped.

On the walk from the bus stop to the square the teams from the first bus (which became the second bus) catches up with Simon & Katherine so all reach the clue box more or less simultaneously:
1(+1) Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er
2(+2) Simon & Katherine
3(+0) Mary & Cecilia
4(-2) Lily & Jan, within seconds of #1
5(+0) Matt & Kylie
6(+0) Elena & Tameka

Detour: Communicate to Renovate?

In renovate teams must travel on foot to a square in the center of the village. Here they must renovate an old horse cart by painting it (light blue and yellow) and put a new fabric roof on it.

In communicate teams must make their way on foot to a theater near the center of the village. Here one team member must describe a set of Dungba characters to their team mate who must draw the images on a blackboard. The describer may not look at what the drawer is drawing.

Choice quotes:
"I was very very cautious about the communication one, because we fight", Lily is hesitant
"It was so cute for her to do it that way", Sun Bin enjoyed seeing Hao Fei'er trying to perform the characters
"A trapezium, a trapezoid. A distorted trapezoid", Cecilia is crystal clear in her communications
"With Simon, I think he just have anger issues", Matt tries to diagnose Simon
"I can't do it without getting *beep* up again", Simon has problems touching up the paint job
"This is a terrible detour. We should just have done the other one.", Lily is frustrated
"Something which looks like a snowman, but the body is a drop", Elena describes a character
"If you do make me do wrong, then congratulations", Jan feels the pressure

Teams complete the first side of the detour in the following order:
1(+2) Mary & Cecilia, communicate
2(-1) Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er, communicate
3(-1) Simon & Katherine, renovate
4(+0) Lily & Jan, communicate
5(+0) Matt & Kylie, took one look at communicate and switched to renovate
6(+0) Elena & Tameka, renovate

Route info: "Make your way to Feihua Chushui inside the Shuhe village to find your next clue. Caution U-Turn ahead."

At Feihua Chushui teams encounter a double U-turn sign just in front of the clue box. Teams reach this in the following order:
1(+0) Mary & Cecilia, U-turns Lily & Jan
2(+0) Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er, U-turns Elana & Tameka (at 18:30)
3(+0) Simon & Katherine
4(+0) Lily & Jan
5(+0) Matt & Kylie
6(+0) Elena & Tameka

Choice quotes:
"This is revenge", Cecilia
"At the U-Turn spot, the first team that crossed our minds was Simon and Katherine's team. But we were not sure whether they were ahead of us or behind us", Hao Fei'er
"Whatever, let's just U-turn them", but she did not spend much though on the team they actually U-turned.
"Yeah, they yielded us for no reason", Mary & Cecilia remember
"If we survive today we're gonna kill them *beep*", Lily did not appreciate to get a dose of her own medicine
"When we went to the U-turned detour everybody thought we had switched", Lily & Jan did not tell the others what had happened
"Elena and Tameka have already seen ours, like when they walked by. So they might have an easier time drawing that stuff", Jan worries
"We were surprised that we were U-turned by the rockers, who all the previous legs were out friends", Elena was surprised by the U-turn

Hao Fei'er said they used the U-turn to help Matt & Kylie who helped them in a previous leg. That may be but I also think they saw the opportunity to get rid of a strong team. After all Elena & Tameka did win one leg and they may well be the physically most fit team of the remaining teams.

The U-turned teams finish the other side of the detour in the following order:
5(-1) Lily & Jan
6(+0) Elena & Tameka

Route info: "Take public transportation to Da Yan Ancient Town." Teams will find their next clue at the entrance to this ancient town. They reach it in the following order:
1(+0) Mary & Cecilia
2(+0) Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er
3(+0) Simon & Katherine
4(+0) Matt & Kylie
5(+0) Lily & Jan, after 19.40
6(+0) Elena & Tameka

Route info: "Make your way to the Mufu Palace in Da Yan Ancient Town. It's the Pit Stop for this leg."

Choice quotes:
"It's even harder than hiking in the mountain", Hao Fei'er does not like to navigate the streets of the ancient town
"I'm gonna kill those *beep* cousins", Lily can't let go

Teams reach the palace in the following order:
1(+0) Mary & Cecilia, win a trip to Dubai
2(+0) Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er
3(+0) Simon & Katherine
4(+0) Matt & Kylie
5(+0) Lily & Jan
6(+0) Elena & Tameka (it is a lot darker when they arrive), are saved by a non-elimination

Choice quotes:
"We didn't get the first place. I'm not happy about that", Sun Bin is not satisfied
"We know that Fei'er when she Yielded the sisters and she was crying in the pit stop together with the sisters. The next day she said, 'Oh come on girls, I'm an actress, I can fake it'. It was all fake", Elana does not trust Hao Fei'er

Title: Re: Racing report, China Rush Season 2, leg 8
Post by: maf on October 02, 2011, 12:54:35 PM

Racing report
Amazing Race China Rush
Season 2, Episode 8

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 are released from the Mufu palace in Da Yan Ancient Town in the following order:

1.	Mary & Cecilia	10:06	)
2.	Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er	10:15	(+0:09)
3.	Simon & Katherine	10:25	(+0:19)
4.	Matt & Kylie	10:35	(+0:29)
5.	Lily & Jan	10:55	(+0:49)
6.	Elena & Tameka	11:05	(+0:59)

Route info: "Make your way on foot to Guang Bi Lou". This is a structure within the Mufu palace grounds. Teams reach this clue box in in the same order they were released.

Route info: "4506". Now that is what I call a puzzling clue. And we get many shots of completely baffled racers when they read the clue. A lot of them start asking around for the 45th street, but there is no such street in this town).

Eventually all teams figure out that this is the height of the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. So they have to travel to the mountain (via taxi and bus) and then ride a cable car to the point where there is a big stone showing the height as 4506, and at the base of this stone is the next clue box.

Choice quotes:
"Oh, what kind of Route Info is this?", Hao Fei'er
"Alright, that sounds like a bus", Matt has a spontaneous idea (not bad actually)

All teams catch rides with the small blue vans plying the local taxi trade. But these turn out to be fragile beasts. Two of the six taxis break down. One just stops and the other starts smoking like it was on fire.

Choice quotes:
"Our can broke down in the middle of nowhere", Sun Bin
"Is it exploding? Don't worry, it won't", Kylie has confidence in their taxi
"It's on fire", Kylie a little later when the car has stopped again
"You're saying this car can not go any further?", Kylie confirms with their driver
"Hey, you guys are cheating me!", Their driver is not happy when they just walk away after having given him as much money as they thought he was entitled to

Teams reach the route marker at 4506 in the following order:
1(+0) Mary & Cecilia
2(+1) Simon & Katherine
3(+2) Lily & Jan
4(-2) Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er
5(-1) Matt & Kylie
6(+0) Elena & Tameka

While Elena & Tameka are on their way up the cable car they see most of the other teams going down. They realize they are quite a bit behind at that point.

Road block: "Who wants to get high?" In this road block one team member must carry his/her backpack and a flag up a steep snowy/icy hill.

Choice quotes:
"Use your hand", Cecilia shots advice to Mary
"Shut up", But Mary does not appreciate it
"Alright", Cecilia accepts the fact and shuts up, this is almost a first in the entire history of the race
"I felt horrible. My lung was burning, my fingers were on fire", Jan did not find the road block easy
"I thought to myself that I couldn't stop to breathe from the oxygen tank and I couldn't stop to drink water, because I would then lose my momentum", Mary
"He's my bull", Lily is proud of Jan when he reaches the top of the slope.
"It was a bit frustrating. Because I wanted to go faster, but I just physically couldn't", Tameka

Some teams are better prepared for snow than others. Simon for example have thick clothes, double gloves and fancy sunglasses. Mary on the other hand has trousers which end just below the knee and no gloves.

From Mary's comment we learn that oxygen and water was close by at all times. Actually from some shots it seems there was a flight of stairs next to the slope they were ascending.

Sun Bin started the ascent with a furious pace, but in the end he just barely made it.

Teams complete the roadblock in the following order (* denotes team member performing the road block, and the numbers how many road blocks each team member have performed):

1(+0)	Mary* & Cecilia	(5-2)
2(+1)	Lily & Jan*	(3-4)
3(-1)	Simon* & Katherine	(5-2)
4(+0)	Sun Bin* & Hao Fei'er	(4-3)
5(+0)	Matt* & Kylie	(5-2)
6(+0)	Elena & Tameka*	(4-3)

Route info: "Make your way to the Dongba Valley". Teams will find their next clue at the Dongba Valley Village entrance.

Choice quotes:
"We just met Lily and Jan. Our spirits are kind of low", Mary & Cecilia when Lily & Jan make the same bus down the mountain
"We shared a van with Lily & Jan because we had to, not because we wanted to.", Mary & Cecilia then had to share a van with them
"Mary, you did a good job", Lily does not seem to hold a grudge today

Teams reach the clue box at the village entrance in the following order:
1(+1) Lily & Jan
2(-1) Mary & Cecilia, one second later
3(+0) Simon & Katherine
4(+0) Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er
5(+0) Matt & Kylie
6(+0) Elena & Tameka

This is where Elena & Tameka eventually encounter their speed bump. In this speed bump they must learn how to make a traditional Ta Liu minority pastry. Once they have made 20 rice-cakes they may continue on the race.

The other teams can proceed straight to the clue box and pick up the next clue which contains a detour: "On the mark or through the park"

In through the park teams must deliver various local items between different family compounds within the village. The problem in this task is not navigating the village but rather the fact that the items are heavy and/or unwieldy.

In on the mark teams must try their hand of the time-honored Naxi skill of archery. Using traditional bows and arrows both team members must hit the target for a total of 100 points.

Choice quotes:
"With the bow and arrow challenge. If you can execute it well you can save a lot of time", Simon has a good idea
"It's not working, we are changing detours", But Simon quickly realizes that the archery is very hard so they change detour
"If we continued she would probably have got one in her eye", Matt comments on the fact that Kylie's arrows ended up all over the place

Most team do the carrying side. The first object to carry is a fairly big pile of firewood. Carrying baskets for carrying it on your back are provided. Lily & Jan and Matt & Kylie are the only teams which manages to bring all the firewood in one go.

The second object is two large jugs of wine. These are heavy and unwieldy. They can also break which both Hao Fei'er and Mary find out through personal experience. They both have to return and fetch new ones when they accidentally break theirs.

Choice quotes:
"The wine jug just killed me, it was so heavy", Lily struggled
"No, I can't hold it either", Mary to Cecilia who struggles a lot with the wine
"He give me instructions because I am younger than him. He has a lot more experience than me. I think so far our relationship works well for me.", Katherine why she is not more assertive in their team
"I tried to help her, but it's against the rules", Sun Bin was not permitted to help Hao Fei'er
"My cousin was angry at me. She gets all energetic when she gets angry.", Cecilia
"Big vases of wine or whatever it was. And I couldn't do it. Matt had to do both", Kylie

The rules here are a bit unclear. We hear several times teams say that they may not help each other. But they still do carry each others burdens now and then (and Matt did a lot for Kylie). But we do not see any penalties given out for this.

The last objects is a pair of drums. These are relatively large and unwieldy but do not weight all that much.

Teams complete the detour in the following order:
1(+0) Lily & Jan, park
2(+1) Simon & Katherine, started mark but switched to park
3(+1) Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er, park
4(-2) Mary & Cecilia, park
5(+0) Matt & Kylie, started mark but switched to park
6(+0) Elena & Tameka, mark

Route info: "Make your way to Hua Ma Alley and look for the clue box". This clue box was fairly tricky to find. Lily & Jan were the quickest since they sat and stared out of the windows of their car as they drove to the street.

Other teams had great difficulties finding the clue box. Mary & Cecilia ran into Simon & Katherine while looking. They dismissed a local who said the ally extended a long way off. But later he returned with his car having found the clue box. So he drove them over to the box, and really saved their day.

Matty & Kylie lucked out and got the same min bus driver as Lily & Jan had so he knew exactly where to go.

Choice quotes:
"He doesn't know. Quit following him", Cecilia to Simon & Katherine who are following a local
"Come on, get in. I've found it", But later the local angel returns
"Thank you, You're really so kind", Mary has the decency to thank him
"You're the best driver I've ever met", Katherine to the local who are driving them to the clue box
"I believe there is true love in this world", Their driver has a good life philosophy

Teams find the clue box in the following order:
1(+0) Lily & Jan
2(+1) Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er
3(+2) Matt & Kylie
4(+0) Mary & Cecilia
5(-3) Simon & Katherine
6(+0) Elena & Tameka

Route info, teams must now go to the black dragon pool where the pit stop for this leg of the race can be found. This is actually very close.

Teams reach the pit stop in the following order:
1(+0) Lily & Jan, win round trip tickets to California
2(+0) Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er
3(+0) Matt & Kylie, are very surprised they got third place
4(+0) Mary & Cecilia
5(+0) Simon & Katherine
6(+0) Elena & Tameka, are eliminated

Title: Re: Racing report, China Rush Season 2
Post by: maf on October 27, 2011, 09:54:25 AM

I will do reports on the last legs as well, but that will take a while since I'm going away for a couple of weeks.

Title: Re: Racing report, China Rush Season 2, leg 9
Post by: maf on January 10, 2012, 12:12:54 AM

Racing report
Amazing Race China Rush
Season 2, Episode 9

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 are released from the Black Dragon pool in the following order:

1.	Lily & Jan	09:43
2.	Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er	09:55	(+0;12)
3.	Matt & Kylie	10:07	(+0:24)
4.	Mary & Cecilia	10:19	(+0:36))
5.	Simon & Katherine	10:30	(+0:47)

Route info: board a flight to Xining in Qinghai Province. Upon arrival board the marked shuttle to Xunhua. The clue actually says that they will eventually have to board a taxi a travel to downtown Xunhua and look for a clue along the way. All teams make the same flight.

In Xining teams board two shuttle buses. Bus #1 carries:
Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er
Mary & Cecilia
Simon & Katherine

Bus #2 carries:
Lily & Jan
Matt & Kylie

When the buses arrive teams jump into taxis to continue the trip towards downtown Xunhua.

Choice quotes:
"Are there any iconic buildings along the way?[", Cecilia has a hunch where the clue box may be located
"Like a gate or something?", Katherine has the same idea

None of the teams miss the clue box at the old city gates. They reach it in the following order:
1. Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er
2. Simon & Katherine
3. Mary & Cecilia
4. Lily & Jan
5. Matt & Kylie

Route info: "Make your way to the Yijia Minority Products Company at no.6 Huang He Road". This company manufactures the typical Muslim head coverings. At the factory teams must select 40 matching hats from a big pile and then work together to trim any loose strings from them. After the trimming has been approved they must correctly fold and package the hats before delivering them to the factory boss.

Nobody have any problems locating the hat factory.

Choice quotes:
"They can't see all the details. There are so many to inspect", Simon thinks they don't need to be perfect
"I think they're gonna be really strict", Kylie thinks different
"Alright, well I'm glad I'm anal", Kylie after having gotten a few of their hats inspected
"Should I do the inside too?", Hao Fei'er gets her hats rejected
"Since we're girls we should be good at crafts.", Mary thinks they should have been be good at this
"Mom, I'm sorry I screwed this up", Cecilia knows they were not

It took a while for Mary & Cecilia to realize their hats did not look alike. So they had to redo a lot. This cost them a lot of time.

Teams complete this task in the following order:
1(+3) Lily & Jan
2(+3) Matt & Kylie
3(-2) Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er
4(-2) Simon & Katherine
5(-2) Mary & Cecilia

Route info: "Show up early tomorrow morning at the Yellow river promenade". Here (next to the Jishi Pedestrian Bridge) teams must cross the Yellow river on a lamb hide raft. But first they must inflate the lamb hides (by blowing into them). Once the supervisor is satisfied with the amount of air they may paddle across the river. A local rower will help them to cross the fairly rapid river.

But right now it is late and dark so teams must rest overnight. They will be released in the morning in the same order and intervals as they completed the hat task.

Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er are released a little before 11.00. Their driver bring them to the wrong side of the river so they have to walk across the bridge before they can start. Later Mary & Cecilia also arrive at the wrong side, just in time to run into Simon & Katherine who direct them to the correct place.

Choice quotes:
"It was so gross. I was blowing into it and I was gagging at the same time", Lily did not appreciate blowing up the lamb hides
"Don't panic", The rower to Mary & Cecilia

Teams complete this task in the following order:
1(+1) Matt & Kylie (as Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er arrive)
2(-1) Lily & Jan
3(+0) Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er
4(+0) Simon & Katherine (as Mary & Cecilia arrive)
5(+0) Mary & Cecilia

Detour: Bun or Sun

In Sun teams must travel to the nearby village of San Lan Ba Hai and assemble one solar cooking panel.

In Bun teams must travel to the Yilasi household in the same village and make 20 traditional dumplings.

Choice quotes:
"When they said dumplings, I didn't think they'd be like flower dumplings", Kylie has expected something simpler
"Oh my god, mine is disgusting", Kylie finds that it is hard to make flower dumplings
"It is so *beep* hard I am actually considering doing the other one", Kylie almost switched
"It was actually the most horrible detour I have done so far", Jan
"I was taken aback and thought to myself that they were still working on this task even though they started it an hour earlier than us", Cecilia is surprised to see the other teams still working on the dumplings
"When I finished one, I could only laugh at it. Then I turned around to check out my cousin's. Hers was ugly too.", Mary & Cecilia quickly decide to switch
"This reminds me of my mother. She's really fast at this. How could such a smart mother have such a dumb daughter?", Hao Fei'er struggles with the dumplings
"Building it was like assembling IKEA furniture", Cecilia found the sun side easy

The sun detour is much faster than bun. The only difficulty is that you have to put the parts with letters on them in the correct order. Simon & Katherine did not and had to fix it. They told Mary & Cecilia about this so the cousins could do it right the first time.

Teams complete the detour in the following order:
1(+1) Lily & Jan, bun
2(+2) Simon & Katherine, sun
3(-2) Matt & Kylie, bun
4(+1) Mary & Cecilia, started bun but switched to sun
5(-2) Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er, bun

Route info: "Make your way by taxi to Yimahai village and find your next clue on the main road that winds through the village".

This village is surprisingly difficult to find. Most people they meet have not heard about Yimahai. But eventually teams reach this clue box in the following order:
1(+2) Matt & Kylie
2(-1) Lily & Jan
3(-1) Simon & Katherine
4(+1) Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er, a second before #5
5(-1) Mary & Cecilia

Road block "Who can pull their own weight?". In this road block teams must cross the river on a hand-operated zip-line. That is they load up (two watermelons and a teddy bear) and get into a cart and must then drag the cart across the river. Once across they must make their way on foot (there is no alternative) to a village a bit away, deliver the goods (including handing the teddy bear to a happy child) and then go back across the river. Pulling the cart across the river is heavy work so some contestants really struggle.

Choice quotes:
"I have never really seen her so intent on really wanting to do something", Simon is surprised that Katherine insists on performing the road block
"I found the hardest bit actually walking up the hill", Matt thought the walk after the river was the hardest
"I thought I could do it if that's all", Cecilia though the road block was to weight yourself
"He went across the river in less than 3 minutes", Lily about how Jan killed the river crossing
"It was not a nice beginning", Katherine started by dropping a watermelon and could only watch as it rolled into the river
"It was not easy, and I took several breaks", Katherine found it hard
"Each team member needs to finish six Roadblocks, and Sun Bin has already finished five", Hao Fei'er explains why she did this road block
"She stopped. Let's cheer her on again", Sun Bin enlists some local kids to help cheer on Hao Fei'er
"Aaaah... so scary!", Cecilia does not like the river crossing
"You're great. You're almost here, sweetie", Hao Fei'er encourages Cecilia (since she has to wait for Cecilia to cross before she can return)
"It's sliding back. I just can't get beyond this part.", Cecilia almost gives up

Matt & Kylie deliberated but finally decided that Matt should do the road block since he is stronger and they really wanted to win a leg. But this means that Matt can not do any more road blocks.

Teams complete the roadblock in the following order (* denotes team member performing the road block, and the numbers how many road blocks each team member have performed):

1(+0)	Matt* & Kylie	(6-2)
2(+0)	Lily & Jan*	(3-5)
3(+0)	Simon & Katherine*	(5-3)
4(+0)	Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er*	(4-4)
5(+0)	Mary & Cecilia*	(5-3)

Route info, "Make your way by taxi to the Wendu monastery". This is a well known Tibetan center and teams will find their next clue here. Teams reach this clue in the following order:
1(+1) Lily & Jan
2(-1) Matt & Kylie, a few seconds after #1
3(+1) Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er
4(-1) Simon & Katherine
5(+0) Mary & Cecilia

Route info: "Travel by taxi to Camel spring mosque. The pit stop for this leg of the race". The camel spring mosque is a famous local landmark so it should not be too hard to find.

Lily & Jan work together with Matt & Kylie to find this clue box. But once they found it they started to race full speed for the pit stop. It all ends with a footrace to the mat.

Choice quotes:
"Please give us first for this leg. We've been so well behaved", In the taxi Kylie begs for help from above

Teams reach Alan in the following order:
1(+1) Matt & Kylie, win a new clue
2(-1) Lily & Jan, seconds after #1
3(+0) Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er
4(+0) Simon & Katherine
5(+0) Mary & Cecilia

Route info: "Travel by bus to the Datong bus station in Datong, Qinghai"

Choice quotes:
"I hate you right now", Kylie mumbles something about Alan
"My first though was: that's great cine Cecilia & Mary didn't have to get eliminated", Simon reacts to the news that the leg is not over yet
"That's when it kicked in for me, it was just like too much", Kylie broke down when she found out they first have to travel to Xining which is 2 hours away

Title: Re: Racing report, China Rush Season 2, leg 9 is on page 1
Post by: SuperTux on January 10, 2012, 12:22:22 AM

Yay! This thread's been updated! :hearts:

Title: Re: Racing report, China Rush Season 2, leg 10
Post by: maf on January 10, 2012, 12:28:36 AM

Racing report
Amazing Race China Rush
Season 2, Episode 10

Disclaimer: I do not speak any Asian language, and furthermore is English not my first language so I am sure there will be mistakes.

No departure times are given as teams just continue race from the last pit stop at the Camel spring mosque in the following order:
1. Matt & Kylie
2. Lily & Jan
3. Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er
4. Simon & Katherine
5. Mary & Cecilia

Route info: "Travel by bus to the Datong bus station in Datong, Qinghai" All teams travel by taxi to the local bus station. Where they find out that there are no more buses tonight. The next morning teams seem to be released in the order they arrived.

Th enext morning teams learn that there are no direct buses to Datong for here so they must first travel to Xining and then take another bus from there. Once they arrive in Datong teams must search outside the bus station for their next clue.

Bus #1 for Xining leaves at 07:00 and carries
Matt & Kylie
Lily & Jan

Bus #2 was scheduled to leave at 07:30. But the Rockers paid for the empty seats so it could leave earlier. The bus carries:
Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er
Simon & Katherine

Bus #3 departs at 08:00 and carries
Mary & Cecilia

Choice quotes:
"A passenger got off the bus to buy breakfast", Sun Bin describes the problems they faced (the transaction took some time)

Bus #2 to Xinit actually arrives before bus #1, so those teams manage to catch and earlier bus to Datong.

Teams reach the clue box in Datong in the following order:
1(+2) Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er, a second before #2
2(+2) Simon & Katherine
3(-1) Lily & Jan, a second before #4
4(-3) Matt & Kylie
5(+0) Mary & Cecilia

Road Block: "Who is the piece maker?" In this road block contestants must first travel by bus to Yao Zi Gou (~0:30). There they will be given pieces to six different shadow puppets. They must correctly assemble the different figures to receive their next clue. This task is a lot harder than it sounds.

The first four teams all end up on the same bus to Yao Zi Gou. But Mary & Cecilia have bad luck and are told the next bus leaves at 12:20. Fortunately for them a kind man arranges a new bus for them and they can also be on their way, and they arrive at the road block while the other teams are still there.

Choice quotes:
"I have absolutely no idea how to do this", Hao Fei'er is stumped by the puppets
"Lily, considering how she is so comfortably bossing Jan around all the time, having a puppet challenge is really suitable for her, right?", Simon
"There was blood all over the place", Jan comments on the fact that Lily cut herself with the scissors
"I think the only thing I got right the first time was the horse. Because it had four legs, and that is pretty much the same in every country, I think", Kylie
"I had a bit of fun with the puppets I think for about an hour and a half. Then I realized, man these teams are leaving", Kylie finally realizes the gravity of the situation
"My cousin was awesome. If we hadn't wasted an hour on that shuttle bus we would have been faster than Kylie and Matt[/]", Cecilia

Matt laid down against a wall and almost fell asleep while Kylie toiled away with the puppets. His reasoning was that he did not want to disturb Kylie. But this was not popular with Kylie who wanted support and encouragement.

Teams complete the roadblock in the following order (* denotes team member performing the road block, and the numbers how many road blocks each team member have performed):

1(+2)	Lily* & Jan	(4-5)
2(-1)	Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er*	(4-5)
3(-1)	Simon & Katherine*	(5-4)
4(+0)	Matt & Kylie*	(6-3)
5(+0)	Mary* & Cecilia	(6-3)

Route info: "Make your way to the Dong Xia Zhen food store". Here teams will discover the joys of Babao tea (eight treasures tea). Teams get to taste and look at a cup of Babao tea. They must then try to find the ingredients in the food store and make another cup. Once they have made a correct cup of team they will receive their next clue. However if they make three incorrect guesses they must wait 15 minutes before trying again. The task is quite hard, the store contains lots of different ingredients, and only some of them are marked.

Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er hitched a ride with a delivery truck to Dong Xia Zhen. And in the back there happened to be boxes of Babao tea and the the box carried a list of ingredients.

Teams arrive at the tea task in the following order:
1(+0) Lily & Jan
2(+0) Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er, while #1 are still at the task
3(+0) Simon & Katherine, while #2 is still at the task
4(+0) Matt & Kylie, while #3 is still at the task
5(+0) Mary & Cecilia, while #4 is still at the task

The correct ingredients are: raisins, dates, walnuts, dried apricots, rock sugar, goji berries and tea leaves.

Choice quotes:
"We should work together", Simon & Katherine wants to work with the Rockers, but Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er are not interested
"The ingredients we looked for were different from those we saw on the box", Hao Fei'er explains why they had trouble with the tea
"I'm not sure, he's playing with our minds", Kylie tries to guess which ingredient is wrong by looking at the judge

Teams complete this task in the following order:
1(+0) Lily & Jan, got it on their third attempt
2(+0) Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er, got it on their third attempt
3(+0) Simon & Katherine, got it on their first attempt
4(+0) Matt & Kylie, got it on their fourth attempt
5(+0) Mary & Cecilia

We only get to see one tea attempt by Mary & Cecilia. But we know that Matt & Kylie had 13 minutes left on their penalty when the cousins arrived. But they still managed to finish before Mary & Cecilia. It is therefore very probable that the cousins made multiple guesses and probably got a penalty as well.

Route info: "Make your way to the Guang Hui temple". Once there teams must light three large and three small candles and properly greet the awaiting monk to receive their next clue.

Teams reach the monk in the following order:
1(+0) Lily & Jan, after first having greeted a monk in another temple
2(+0) Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er
3(+0) Simon & Katherine
4(+0) Matt & Kylie
5(+0) Mary & Cecilia

Detour: "Spin it or stack it"

In spin it teams make their way to the Duo Long village. Here teams must remove two honeycomb plates from the beehives, place the plates in a centrifuge. They must then spin the centrifuge to extract the honey and finally pour it into a jar. During all this the local bees will lavish their attention on the racers.

In stack it teas make their way to the same village. Here they must tie lose hay straws into bales, carry them across a narrow bridge before stacking them in the proper manner.

Choice quotes:
"I saw how to harvest honey on TV", Sun Bin prefers the bees
"Actually I'm very proud of Lily because I expected her to be way more fiery and way more explosive than she actually was, so far", Jan
"When I do the race I kind of wanna have fun as well, but for Jan it's all about winning. In a way I find it kind of sexy", Lily
"Ah, ah, this one, this one", Katherine yells to Simon that he should brush away the bees which are attracted to her
"Too bad she's wearing Capri pants", Hao Fei'er comments on Katherine's pants, which stop not long below the knees
"I hate bees. I'm allergic to them", Kylie did not feel that the bees detour was a good option for her
"I can't believe we are doing this. It's hilarious", but Kylie is doing the bees anyway
"I think harvesting honey is cool", Cecilia on why they choose the spin detour
"This is horrible. Don't sting me", Mary & Cecilia find the bees stingy

Mary & Cecilia had a really hard time with the bees. They got stung a lot and there was a lot of screaming going on. The lesson here is do not wear tight fitting clothes when working with bees. And make sure you close the net which covers your head completely so the bees do not get inside it.

Teams complete the detour in the following order:
1(+0) Lily & Jan, stack
2(+0) Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er, spin
3(+0) Simon & Katherine, spin
4(+0) Matt & Kylie, spin
5(+0) Mary & Cecilia, spin

Route info: "Make your way to the Ming dynasty great wall and find your next clue". The wall turns out to be high up on a hill, and most of the local taxis are gas-driven and unable to drive that high up. So many teams had troubles getting to this clue box.

Choice quotes:
"The car doesn't have enough power", Jan & Lily's driver say his car can't drive up to the wall
"This way because it is the most beautiful", Jan has a hunch where they should search

Teams reach this clue in the following order:
1(+0) Lily & Jan
2(+1) Simon & Katherine
3(-1) Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er
4(+0) Matt & Kylie
5(+0) Mary & Cecilia

Route info: "Travel to Lao Ye Mountain. This is the Pit Stop in the last leg of your journey. Caution: the last team to check in there will be eliminated". At the clue box teams also find big stuffed toy from one of the sponsors. They have to bring this to the pit stop.

Teams reach Alan at the pit stop in the following order:
1(+0) Lily & Jan, win a trip to Hawaii
2(+1) Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er, win a footrace against Simon & Katherine
3(-1) Simon & Katherine
4(+0) Matt & Kylie
5(+0) Mary & Cecilia, are eliminated

Choice quotes:
"I'm almost 20 years old and I have never done something this great. I got to travel and see so many places with the race. It's such a magical thing to be able to participate in The Amazing Race", Cecilia

Title: Re: Racing report, China Rush Season 2, leg 11
Post by: maf on January 23, 2012, 09:30:31 AM

Racing report
Amazing Race China Rush
Season 2, Episode 11

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 are released from the pit stop in Da Tong in the following order:

1.	Lily & Jan	06:52
2.	Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er	07:17	(+0:25)
3.	Simon & Katherine	07:21	(+0:29)
4.	Matt & Kylie	07:53	(+1:01)

Route info: "Make your way to Penglai, Shandong province". Once teams arrive they must make their way to the statue of the eight immortals to find their next clue.

All teams fly via Beijing to Yantai. It seems they are on different flights to Beijing but all teams arrive on the same flight to Yantai. Once in Yantai teams rush into taxis for further transportation to the statues.

Choice quotes:
"Are you sure you don't need to follow them?", Matt to their taxi driver as he takes the local roads (the others take the freeway)

They arrive at the status in the following order:
1. Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er
2. Lily & Jan
3. Simon & Katherine, not long after #1
4. Matt & Kylie

Route info: "Make your way on foot to the nearby Hai Xian Ju restaurant". Here each contestants must eat a local delicacy, raw sea cucumber. Each team member must consume 2 sea cucumbers. A chef shows them how to bite the top off and squeeze out the intestines (which they do not need to eat).

Choice quotes:
"What are we supposed to get?", Hao Fei'er asks when they reach the restaurant (i.e. teams are not told beforehand)
"Picking it out of the tank just freaked me out", Lily did not enjoy the meal
"Oh my god, I can't eat this", Lily freaks out
"This is disgusting", Matt sums it up

Teams complete the meal in the following order:
1(+0) Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er
2(+0) Lily & Jan
3(+0) Simon & Katherine
4(+0) Matt & Kylie

Route info: "Go back to the beach tomorrow and travel to the Yu Jia Le fishing dock".

The next morning teams continue in the order they finished the meal. Teams travel by taxi to the Yu Jie Le fishing dock. Here they encounter an intersection which means that each team must work together with another team to complete the next task. The order which they arrive here is the same as they completed last night's meal.

Under the intersection sign is a clue box with a road block: "Who's ready to reel it in?". In this road block one member of each of the two intersected teams must travel out to one of two fishing boats. They must then guide their captain towards some marked buoys and search for ones with large fishing nets attached. They must then work together and hoist the heavy nets until they find one with a clue attached. There are many buoys, and many of them just have an heavy object attached so this task is very physical.

Choice quotes:
"We got together like it was magnetic", Hao Fei'er liked to work with Lily
"We kept pulling the rope and the only thing we found was disappointment", Hao Fei'er
"Why the hell are the girls doing the challenge?", Simon relaxes on the beach with the other boys
"We spent really really long time 'case both of us not that physically strong", Katherine on why they fell behind

Teams complete the roadblock in the following order (* denotes team member performing the road block, and the numbers how many road blocks each team member have performed):

1(+0)	Sun Bin* & Hao Fei'er	(5-5)
1(+0)	Lily* & Jan	(5-5)
2(+0)	Simon & Katherine*	(5-5)
2(+0)	Matt & Kylie*	(6-4)

Route info: "Make your way to the entrance of Chateau Junding". The next clue can be found at the entrance of this winery. Teams reach it in the following order:
1(+0) Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er
2(+0) Lily & Jan
3(+0) Matt & Kylie
4(+0) Simon & Katherine

Detour: Find the Wine or Count the Vines?

In count the vines teams make their way to a marked 5 acre section of the wine yards and count all the vines there. There are 1843 vines and some of them are quite hard to tell apart, so this task is a lot harder than it sounds.

In find the wine teams must first figure out a code. They are given four pairs of glasses (which are upside-down, empty, half full and/or full) and told which pairs represent 0, 1, 6 and 9. They must from these figure out the combinations for all 10 digits. Once they have this they can use it to decode another 5 pair of glasses and show their unique five digit number to a judge who will tell them if it is correct. If it is correct he will further unscramble it and send them searching for the barrel with the matching number which they have to deliver to the door.

The code is a ternary system with an offset of 1. Both glasses upside down means zero. All other digits consists glasses in three different positions: 0 = empty, 1 = half full and 2 = full. The digit expressed is: 1 + right_glass + left_glass*3.

Choice quotes:
"We learned the lesson from the puzzle game. We don't want to take the riskier task. So we counted the vines.", Hao Fei'er
"You're not thinking, I feel like you're just blanking out", Lily struggles with the code and does not feel like Jan is helping
"I don't think we are good at this", Lily feel stumped by the code
"Jan, does this count as one or two", Lily have found an ambiguous Vine
"25 plus 15 is 30", Lily is not good at math (or it may be exhaustion, hunger etc)
"Why is he laughing at me", Kylie feel that the judge laughs at her

The code breaking turned out to be quite hard. Both Lily & Jan and Matt & Kylie struggled a lot with this. Only Simon & Katherine seemed to solve it without to much head scratching.

Teams complete this detour in the following order:
1(+3) Simon & Katherine, find
2(+0) Lily & Jan, started find, switched to count but after one failed guess they switched back to find
3(-2) Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er, count
4(-1) Matt & Kylie, find

Route info: Teams must now make their way to the theater of the San Xian Shan park. Here they must don traditional costumes before learning to play an ancient Chinese instrument where you hit various bells. After watching and hearing a demonstration they have 10 minutes to practice before they both have to perform the piece correctly and in unison. If they fail they will have to wait 15 minutes before they may try again. Teams seem to get a piece of paper with the correct sequence written on it.

Matt & Kylie have not even arrived when the other teams have completed this task so they are way behind.

Choice quotes:
"I'm definitely musically challenged", Simon
"Do you have a mirror", Hao Fei'er wonders how she look in costume
"I'm so embarrassed, I was the weak link on that challenge", Simon takes the blame for their poor musical performance
"We shall see", Kylie doubts her abilities after having seen the demonstration

Teams complete this task in the following order:
1(+2) Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er, on their first attempt
2(+0) Lily & Jan, on their second attempt
3(-2) Simon & Katherine, on their third attempt
4(+0) Matt & Kylie, on their third attempt

Route info: "Make your way via jet ski to the ancient coastal fortress". That is they must travel down to the beach, mount a jet ski (a driver is provided) and travel to the Bei Wo Du Residence. Here they will find their next clue. The backpacks are transported separately.

There is no change in the order on the way to the clue box in the coastal fortress.

Route info: "Make your way to the platform above the water gate. This is the Pit Stop for this leg". Teams must also bring another stuffed teddy bear from a sponsor to the pit stop. They reach Alan in the following order:
1(+0) Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er, win a trip to the Maldives
2(+0) Lily & Jan
3(+0) Simon & Katherine
4(+0) Matt & Kylie, are eliminated

Choice quotes:
"I know as soon as I get back to Shanghai I'll miss the race. It's like coming back from a really good holiday and you get these like post holiday blues", Kylie

Title: Re: Racing report, China Rush Season 2, leg 12
Post by: maf on January 25, 2012, 12:48:10 AM

Racing report
Amazing Race China Rush
Season 2, Episode 12

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 are released from the pit stop in Yantai in the following order:

1.	Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er	06:48
2.	Lily & Jan	06:58	+0:10
3.	Simon & Katherine	07:03	+0:21

Route info: "Board a flight to Shanghai. Once there, take public transportation to the Hilton Hongqiao Hotel".

Choice quotes:
"We're pretty much the dark force team who are going up against teams who have won 4 and 3 legs", Simon know they are not the most likely winners

All teams buy tickets to the same flight. And at the airport, while waiting for departure, all teams approach other passengers with smart phones or computers to check how they should reach the hotel by public transport.

Once in Shanghai we get some scenes which feel strange. We see teams strolling calmly out of an empty plane, i.e. last of all passengers. And then they head for the baggage belts to pick up their checked bags. It is only after they have collected their bags when we see them start hurrying.

All teams make the same subway train and follow each other to the Hilton. All open the next clue within seconds of each other.

Route info. Teams must now dress a deluxe room at the hotel. They have three minutes to study a sample room before they have to go to their own room. Their own room is clean but the bed is not done and all the accessories (lots of things like soaps, towels, hangers, slippers, table decorations etc) are just piled around the room. They must dress this room to look exactly like the sample. Every time the judge fails them they can take another 3-minute look at the sample room.

Choice quotes:
"It said 'enjoy life' on the clue, so we thought we would relax a little bit in the hotel", Hao Fei'er should have learned how the race works by now
"I do the housework at home. But this is five-star housework.", Sun Bin
"How does it look? Pretty close huh?", Simon hopes to sway the judge
"No", But the judge is a man of few words

Teams get their rooms approved in the following order:
1. Simon & Katherine, on their second (shown) try
2. Lily & Jan, on their third (shown) try
3. Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er, on their third (shown) try

Route info: teams must now travel by public transportation to downtown Shanghai's south Huang Pi Road. Here they will find the next clue box close to a old style green mail box. To get there teams first travel by bus and then subway.

Simon tells Katherine to tell the waiter helping them to not tell the other teams. Katherine protests and thinks he can't do that.

The bus turns out to leave once every half hour and Simon & Katherine makes it while Lily & Jan does not. The latter decide to walk instead.

Choice quotes:
"You're lost in your own home city.", Hao Fei'er to Sun Bin when they have trouble in the subway

Teams find the green mailbox in the following order:
1(+0) Simon & Katherine
2(+0) Lily & Jan
3(+0) Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er

Detour: "Spin It or Snap It?" (Alan presents it as "Native or newcomer")

In spin it teams must master a Kongju. Both team members must walk two laps on the training course (back and forth on level ground) without dropping the spinning toy.

In snap it teams must test their observation skills. They will be given one photograph of a tourist at a nearby location. They must then search the area to find the tourist and recreate the photograph (place and posture) before taking a new photo with the provided camera. Teams learn that the judge is very picky, their picture has to look exactly like the original. This options start by the fountain in Xintiandi.

Teams complete the detour in the following order:
1(+0) Simon & Katherine, spin it
2(+0) Lily & Jan, snap it
3(+0) Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er, spin it, half a minute or so after #2

Route info: "Find the marked vehicle in Huangpi Lu and drive yourselves to the Snow Beer Factory in the Baoshan District". Here they will find a forklift challenge. Each team member must use a forklift to move six pallets of beer to a designated target area. The target area for each team is only slightly bigger than six pallets, so they have to stack them as well. If they drop a pallet or break any bottles they will have to serve a penalty for 15 minutes before trying again.

Unlike the recent US versions the Chinese TAR seem to allow teams to just hire a cab and follow it. Simon & Katherine do this immediately.

Choice quotes:
"Even though Sun Bin was born and grew up in Shanghai he's never heard of it", Even the natives have a hard time finding the factory
"It was my first time driving in Shanghai", Jan also had trouble

Teams arrive at the factory in the following order:
1(+0) Simon & Katherine
2(+1) Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er
3(-1) Lily & Jan

Choice quotes:
"I lined it up for you to just slide it in", Simon leaves the forklift in an easy position when it is Katherine's turn
"I've been a forklift driver before", Jan feel confident

Teams complete the task in the following order:
1(+0) Simon & Katherine
2(+1) Lily & Jan
3(-1) Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er, had to serve one penalty for dropping a box

Route info: "Drive to 1984 bookstore on Hu Nan Lu". Here teams
will find their next clue.

Choice quotes:
"I just called and they said this place wasn't registered", The taxi guiding Simon & Katherine can't find the bookshop
"You know that we're in our home city, but we kept getting lost. It was so pathetic", Hao Fei'er

Lily & Jan reach the Nan Lu street and stop to ask somebody where the bookstore is. It turns out that it is just across the street. Which is good for them, Simon & Katherine eventually find a local who knows where it is and guides them there.

Teams reach the bookstore in the following order:
1(+1) Lily & Jan
2(-1) Simon & Katherine
3(+0) Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er

Road block: "Who is ready for a trip down memory lane?"

Teams must now leave their cars and make their way to the nearby red town sculpture park. Affixed to a number of giant sculptured legs in this park are 11 pictures and 11 names of locations visited during the race. Using only their memory one team member must place the pictures and names in chronological order before receiving their next clue.

Simon & Katherine catch up to Lily & Jan by the statues. Then after Lily & Jan have left the rockers catch up to Simon & Katherine.

Choice quotes:
"I'm missing a name. I know what I'm looking for, I just can't find it", Simon gets frustrated
"Good luck", Hao Fei'er wishes Simon & Katherine good luck when they leave

Teams complete the roadblock in the following order (* denotes team member performing the road block, and the numbers how many road blocks each team member have performed):

1(+0)	Lily & Jan*	(5-6)
2(+0)	Simon* & Katherine	(6-5)
3(+0)	Sun Bin* & Hao Fei'er	(6-5)

Route info: "Take the ferry to Pudong, then take public transportation to the Mercedes-Benz arena". This is the finish line of the race. Teams first travel by taxi to the ferry. On the other side of the river they jump onto a bus which takes them close to the arena.

The next sequence is edited to give an impression of a close race where teams are neck and neck while racing for the finish line. But given what they show and what they do not show we realize that no teams share a ferry with another team so there is probably a decent amount of separation so that the outcome is never in any doubt.

At the finish line teams are greeted by all the eliminated teams and Alan. Teams reach it in the following order:
1(+0) Lily & Jan, win the round the world trip and a place in an expedition to Tibet
2(+0) Simon & Katherine
3(+0) Sun Bin & Hao Fei'er

Choice quotes:
"I got annoying sometimes", Lily summarizes
"We got to really know each other better", Simon
"We finally made it", Hao Fei'er is glad to have reached the finish line
"I've known her as a woman until now, but I feel like she's become a man", Sun Bin about his partner

Title: Re: Racing report, China Rush Season 2, complete
Post by: SuperTux on January 25, 2012, 12:56:46 AM

Good work, maf!