Have a fabulous trip and don't forget your TAR detecting on Guam!
We'll try this again...
This is my take on what we know/don't know so far about this week.
Frank speculation is in red. Blue is where I hope puddin will attach a pretty pic.
Preview 1 and 2 here .
The big debate seems to whether this is a TBC or a not TBC...
And I'm happy to report that we all seem in perfect agreement that it is either a TBC or....a NEL.....or an Elim....or a BVM surprise!
If the
BQ confessional is from a future episode as seems likely, then that removes my only objection to this being a TBC.
And if the
Cha's confessional is in Guam as seems likely, then there are no confessionals for this episode which makes a TBC even more possible.
Teams depart the Hong Kong Jockey Club on Dec 13th after a
12 hour pitstop, leaving
possibly between about 3-7 AM?? (see
mswood's
Timeline here)
They are directed to go to
Macau, a former Portuguese territory.
They go to the Hong-Kong to Macau
TurboJet ferry terminal at Sheung wan. (
Boingo's
nice GE map here?)
Ferries depart at 0130, 0200, 0400, 0445, 0600, 0700, 0730, 0800 and then every 15 minutes until 1800, and take approximately 55 minutes. It costs HK$138 (=$17.68) after 0700 and HK$172 (=$22) before 0700 (Hmmm....maybe this is where O/D lose their lead?).
(We know what the two Detours and the Roadblock are, we know they rent a kiddie car, we know they go to Lou Lim Ieoc Gardens.
We don't know which order things occur in for sure ie Roadblock or Detour first, and we don't know that the Garden is for sure the site of the Pitstop/TBC Mat stop--so take the rest with a little salt.)
The teams
find their cluebox at the
Ferry Terminal in Macau and choose between two Detours, each with their own pros and cons. (Don't you miss that?*sigh*)
At some point, teams collect their own
kiddie bumper car and drive themselves to their tasks. I think that is now and may provide a little H of Op.
Ch/M take the bumper car part a little too literally, which may explain how they fall behind.
Row it or
Roll it? (
titles mine)
O/D choose Row it and fetch and carry a
ceremonial drum along the waterfront near
Neobie's Macao-Taipei Bridge to a
Macau Dragon Boat where they
row to I don't know where.
This task in hindsight proves to lead to a costly time delay.
The other teams all choose Roll it and proceed to
Hakushu8's
bamboo pole Noodle workshop, where
they roll out handmade noodles. And we won't even go there about
riding that pole!
Timeshots during this task
put Eric there about 5:30 and Ch/M there about 7:05 (
AM presumed). (conflicting time info--will need to be determined)
Teams eventually
drive themselves to the Roadblock, which occurs at
Slowhatch's
Macau Tower .
(
Order of arrival, conversations, deals etc. are educated speculation--you have been warned! )
The Roadblock, which one member of each team performs, is the
Skywalk and the
SkyJump and who knows
maybe they throw in the Bungy and the Mast Climb too! (I'm so glad to finally see an AllStar worthy task that I would keep them up there all day!)
We
see Charla performing this task for her team.Now,
it appears that E/D and the BQ's arrive at the tower (BQ's first?) close to each other, where they
find a Yield. Since E/D need to arrive at the Mat first, I believe that the BQ's negotiate with E/D to NOT Yield them, but rather a team further behind (O/D) in exchange for allowing E/D to reach the mat in first place. Is this why we see
Dustin praying? They would be relying on E/D's honor to not yield them after all.
(And while this may be a wise move by the BQ's at this moment, I think you can say that this moment is also where they lose the race to E/D.
)
Now WHY O WHY do they choose O/D instead of Ch/M??
You must decide....
Ch/M being a later arrival to the tower (too much time gambling in the Casinos
), make a generous offer of some of their homemade noodles to O/D (really maybe $$)...
All teams then drive themselves in the bumper cars to
schwartzmoor's Lou Lim Ieoc Garden where
Dee takes a nosedive.
This is the Pit-Matstop for the race.
Order of arrival:
E/D who escape the marked for elimination penalty.
BQ's second
Ch/M third
O/D sadly last and are
either marked for elim, elim, or surprised by BVM depending on your POV.
All teams may be TBC'd and keep on racing to Guam.......or not?
