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spiderbraidsOr, as I'd like to call it, Natalie Glebova's trip from hell. Yes, it was that terrible for her.
Episode 2:
* This one was a 90 minute episode. There was that much to show. So, we begin at the Ratchapreuk Gardens, as the contestants got clues to go to Flight of the Gibbon to do some zip lining. My reaction: "They have zip lines here too?" Nothing notable happened at the zip lines, except for an obligatory bunching because everyone started the leg in the middle of the night.
* Next stop, some banana plantation. At this point, there was mostly cab racing. My mommy criticized the cab racing and complained about how dangerous it was. I'd agree. At the banana plantation, a Roadblock asking for the sneaky contestant: Basically, avoid getting shot by paintball snipers to get your next clue... Seriously? Oh, whatever.
* Next stop, some opera house in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam, and this is where the trouble began for the former Miss Universe. Most teams elected to travel via Siem Reap (Angkor Wat), while others (both Thai teams, and William/Isaac from Korea) went via Bangkok. Result: Bangkok bound teams had to wait until morning to connect to HCM, by which time the Siem Reap teams were already semi-bunched for the next morning's tasks, but we're getting ahead of ourselves. Nat complained about how bad it was to sleep in the airport. Seriously?
* The clue at the Opera House called for contestants to head over to some cafe... to play a racing game on a Nokia cell phone. Yeah, gotta get that product placement in there somehow. Basically each contestant had to finish the race in some time limit to get the next clue, directing them to some flower shop in some market. It was closed for the evening, and we got ourselves some confusion as some contestants were told by the locals that the market would open at 7... but the Hours of Operation sign at the flower shop said it opened at 6.
* Next stop, Cai Be via bus, for the Detour. Choice: Sampan (load fruit on to a boat) or Some Walk (catch chickens, put them into a cage, deliver them to some market). Most took the chickens. And around this point, the Bangkok stragglers were only now getting to HCM.
* Meanwhile, the leading teams were heading back to HCM via bus again to some church for a charity task. Always got to have a charity task, huh? After a short bit of Henry and Bernie (Malaysia, 2nd last week) getting sentimental at the church, we had lots of footage of contestants buying stuff with the US$500 provided by Singha Corporation for their respective charities. They weren't buying things willy-nilly mind you, they were told what they would like to get. Like veggies, cartoons, games, even a music keyboard in one case.
* After the charity, they got to the post office to get a clue directing them to the pitstop: The Museum of Vietnamese History. With no Mai/Oliver (Thailand, 1st last week) in the way this week, Henry and Bernie got first place, and free gas. Nice. AD/Fuzzie (Singapore) finished 2nd, and kissed the mat. Ew...
* The stragglers were so far behind, they did chicken carrying in the middle of the night (too dark to row, see), and Pailin and Natalie simply gave their US$500 to the charity. Hey, I found it surprising that there was actually a laptop store open that late for one of the teams to buy one. (Note: Natalie was a brand ambassador for Singha for a while. Probably still is now.) In fact, by the time William/Isaac got the clue at the Post Office, the clock on the post office clearly said 12:30am, before William/Isaac were eliminated.
Episode 3:
* Right off the bat, more transportation hell, as all the teams were to take buses to Hue. We're talking a 25 hour bus ride. And we're talking really terrible buses here. One set of teams lucked out and got an air-con bus. Another set of teams got a flat tire and had to wait while it was getting fixed. Yeah, wake me up where they're in Hue okay?
* And we're FINALLY in Hue, and of course the first team to get there finally got to say, "Good Morning, Vietnam." Would you believe it, ANOTHER Caltex-mandated task? I found that surprising since none of the gas stations I saw in Vietnam (yeah, I went there) were Caltex. Then again, they were performing this task at what the host described as a Caltex "service facility", rather than a gas station, so whatever. The long bus ride screwed some teams real good, because they took a while to find the facility, and Natalie complained that she didn't sign up for this. Yeesh. More screwy effects later.
* Right now, though, everyone got down to changing tires and oil on a jeep. And after they were done they got a clue to go to Khai Dinh tomb, prompting an "Ooh, ooh! I was there!" from me... and a "Pipe down" from mom. Heh. Meanwhile, hilarity as Henry/Bernie had to push-start their jeep over and over, and one of the teams did the Rocky Balboa at the steps of the tomb.
* Khai Dinh tomb, and it's a Roadblock asking "Who's up for a king's ransom?" In this case, head to Minh Mang tomb, find coins representing former emperors of Vietnam, and bring them back to Khai Dinh for a later task. Some teams went to the trouble of taking notes on the history of each emperor, which paid off when the later task was to arrange the coins in the order to each emperor's reign (contestants could go back to the other tomb to get the info they needed).
* While contestants struggled with the task, those contestants who weren't doing the Roadblock talked about how bad Geoff was to Tisha (Phillipines). Yeah, drama, drama, drama. Back to the task, and while other teams pretty much helped each other finish the Roadblock, Natalie was so frustrated at not being able to do the same (and that's after she'd already visited the other tomb for extra info once), she elected to take the 4-hour penalty. Not that it would matter since they were already last anyway, so the rest of the tasks were essentially just laboring the point.
* Okay, next task is a Detour, with either Sticks (roll 10 incense sticks, which allowed for the host to insert a lame pun about "getting incensed") or Stalks (thresh rice the old fashioned way). Everyone except Geoff/Tish picked Sticks, and not much getting incensed to be seen in the task, just another Henry/Bernie push start.
* Next stop, some square in the middle of Hue with cyclos, and more screwyness, when everyone was looking for a clue box before finding that the clue was on the cyclo. I guess a 25 hour bus ride and other stressful tasks will do that to you.
* Clue called for teams to ride their cyclos to the Hue Citadel, the next pitstop. So, more hilarity with people having problems riding their cyclos, crashing and spilling. Ouch. I repeat my comment above. And yet, despite the jeep problems AND the spilling (yep, that's them in the spilling pic), Henry/Bernie still finished first. Go figure! Meanwhile, Pailin/Natalie predictably finished last, and were eliminated. Given the penalty, even if this week were an NEL, their chances for the next leg wouldn't have looked very good, bar serious bunching.
And since TAR US starts again this week, keeping up with the events of two TARs won't be easy (especially with a qualifying exam coming up). So, might be a few weeks between TAR posts.
Episode 2:
* This one was a 90 minute episode. There was that much to show. So, we begin at the Ratchapreuk Gardens, as the contestants got clues to go to Flight of the Gibbon to do some zip lining. My reaction: "They have zip lines here too?" Nothing notable happened at the zip lines, except for an obligatory bunching because everyone started the leg in the middle of the night.
* Next stop, some banana plantation. At this point, there was mostly cab racing. My mommy criticized the cab racing and complained about how dangerous it was. I'd agree. At the banana plantation, a Roadblock asking for the sneaky contestant: Basically, avoid getting shot by paintball snipers to get your next clue... Seriously? Oh, whatever.
* Next stop, some opera house in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam, and this is where the trouble began for the former Miss Universe. Most teams elected to travel via Siem Reap (Angkor Wat), while others (both Thai teams, and William/Isaac from Korea) went via Bangkok. Result: Bangkok bound teams had to wait until morning to connect to HCM, by which time the Siem Reap teams were already semi-bunched for the next morning's tasks, but we're getting ahead of ourselves. Nat complained about how bad it was to sleep in the airport. Seriously?
* The clue at the Opera House called for contestants to head over to some cafe... to play a racing game on a Nokia cell phone. Yeah, gotta get that product placement in there somehow. Basically each contestant had to finish the race in some time limit to get the next clue, directing them to some flower shop in some market. It was closed for the evening, and we got ourselves some confusion as some contestants were told by the locals that the market would open at 7... but the Hours of Operation sign at the flower shop said it opened at 6.
* Next stop, Cai Be via bus, for the Detour. Choice: Sampan (load fruit on to a boat) or Some Walk (catch chickens, put them into a cage, deliver them to some market). Most took the chickens. And around this point, the Bangkok stragglers were only now getting to HCM.
* Meanwhile, the leading teams were heading back to HCM via bus again to some church for a charity task. Always got to have a charity task, huh? After a short bit of Henry and Bernie (Malaysia, 2nd last week) getting sentimental at the church, we had lots of footage of contestants buying stuff with the US$500 provided by Singha Corporation for their respective charities. They weren't buying things willy-nilly mind you, they were told what they would like to get. Like veggies, cartoons, games, even a music keyboard in one case.
* After the charity, they got to the post office to get a clue directing them to the pitstop: The Museum of Vietnamese History. With no Mai/Oliver (Thailand, 1st last week) in the way this week, Henry and Bernie got first place, and free gas. Nice. AD/Fuzzie (Singapore) finished 2nd, and kissed the mat. Ew...
* The stragglers were so far behind, they did chicken carrying in the middle of the night (too dark to row, see), and Pailin and Natalie simply gave their US$500 to the charity. Hey, I found it surprising that there was actually a laptop store open that late for one of the teams to buy one. (Note: Natalie was a brand ambassador for Singha for a while. Probably still is now.) In fact, by the time William/Isaac got the clue at the Post Office, the clock on the post office clearly said 12:30am, before William/Isaac were eliminated.
Episode 3:
* Right off the bat, more transportation hell, as all the teams were to take buses to Hue. We're talking a 25 hour bus ride. And we're talking really terrible buses here. One set of teams lucked out and got an air-con bus. Another set of teams got a flat tire and had to wait while it was getting fixed. Yeah, wake me up where they're in Hue okay?
* And we're FINALLY in Hue, and of course the first team to get there finally got to say, "Good Morning, Vietnam." Would you believe it, ANOTHER Caltex-mandated task? I found that surprising since none of the gas stations I saw in Vietnam (yeah, I went there) were Caltex. Then again, they were performing this task at what the host described as a Caltex "service facility", rather than a gas station, so whatever. The long bus ride screwed some teams real good, because they took a while to find the facility, and Natalie complained that she didn't sign up for this. Yeesh. More screwy effects later.
* Right now, though, everyone got down to changing tires and oil on a jeep. And after they were done they got a clue to go to Khai Dinh tomb, prompting an "Ooh, ooh! I was there!" from me... and a "Pipe down" from mom. Heh. Meanwhile, hilarity as Henry/Bernie had to push-start their jeep over and over, and one of the teams did the Rocky Balboa at the steps of the tomb.
* Khai Dinh tomb, and it's a Roadblock asking "Who's up for a king's ransom?" In this case, head to Minh Mang tomb, find coins representing former emperors of Vietnam, and bring them back to Khai Dinh for a later task. Some teams went to the trouble of taking notes on the history of each emperor, which paid off when the later task was to arrange the coins in the order to each emperor's reign (contestants could go back to the other tomb to get the info they needed).
* While contestants struggled with the task, those contestants who weren't doing the Roadblock talked about how bad Geoff was to Tisha (Phillipines). Yeah, drama, drama, drama. Back to the task, and while other teams pretty much helped each other finish the Roadblock, Natalie was so frustrated at not being able to do the same (and that's after she'd already visited the other tomb for extra info once), she elected to take the 4-hour penalty. Not that it would matter since they were already last anyway, so the rest of the tasks were essentially just laboring the point.
* Okay, next task is a Detour, with either Sticks (roll 10 incense sticks, which allowed for the host to insert a lame pun about "getting incensed") or Stalks (thresh rice the old fashioned way). Everyone except Geoff/Tish picked Sticks, and not much getting incensed to be seen in the task, just another Henry/Bernie push start.
* Next stop, some square in the middle of Hue with cyclos, and more screwyness, when everyone was looking for a clue box before finding that the clue was on the cyclo. I guess a 25 hour bus ride and other stressful tasks will do that to you.
* Clue called for teams to ride their cyclos to the Hue Citadel, the next pitstop. So, more hilarity with people having problems riding their cyclos, crashing and spilling. Ouch. I repeat my comment above. And yet, despite the jeep problems AND the spilling (yep, that's them in the spilling pic), Henry/Bernie still finished first. Go figure! Meanwhile, Pailin/Natalie predictably finished last, and were eliminated. Given the penalty, even if this week were an NEL, their chances for the next leg wouldn't have looked very good, bar serious bunching.
And since TAR US starts again this week, keeping up with the events of two TARs won't be easy (especially with a qualifying exam coming up). So, might be a few weeks between TAR posts.
