The Amazing Race: 3.29.09

Well, drat. I was out of town last night and Amazing Race started late because of some sport or another... so I missed the end. Drat. I'll blog what I've got.

Starting out, the teams have to get to Pukhet, Thailand, and find a statue of a giant gorilla. Their only clue to find the gorilla is a picture, but it is at the zoo.

Margie mentioned that sometimes she just feels like resting her arms, but Luke needs to communicate somehow. So, she deals with it. Jamie and Cara said they are hoping for someplace quieter, because the noise in India bothers them. Hmmm.

Kisha and Jen got bombarded by hungry children when they were in the taxi, and it was really sad.

All people book an 8:50 AM flight and are off.

In Thailand, the race is on for the gorilla, and people get cabs. Most people are off and have no idea where they are going. Cara and Jamie are not very kind about talking to the cabbie. Several teams hopped out in a crowd to ask people where the gorilla is. Most people are told to go to the zoo.

But Mel and Mike's cabbie is sending them to the beach. Ruh-roh.

Roadblock
Teams have pictures taken with a tiger, and they have to lie on the ground and have an elephant squat over them. Interesting. And then they have to go back to the tiger to get their next clue.

Michael and Mark noted that one of the handlers only has one arm. Ooooh. That's scary.

Not really a strenuous roadblock, is it?

Michael and Mark finish first and head to an herb shop. They have to ask the proprieter to open up one of 99 herb drawers, and hope to reveal a clue. If there is no clue, they have to try another drawer.

Jamie and Cara came up with a nickname for Michael and Mark - The Tweedles (as in Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee). I can totally see it. They certainly have a high opinion of themselves.

Jamie and Cara and The Tweedles arrive at the Herb Shop first, and Jamie and Cara did a lot of yelling. They need to calm down. Michael and Mark got lucky and got their clue first.

Mel and Mike finally found their way to the zoo after a detour to the beach.

Detour

100 Barrells - Teams prepare a fishing trip for 10 days at sea, with 47 barrells full of water and 53 fish barrells needing to be arranged properly on the boat.

2 Miles - Teams have to use rickshaws (and tire pumps in the case of flats), and one member has to pull the other 2 miles.

Michael and Mark pick the rickshaws.

Kisha and Jen got their clue next and picked the barrells.

Margie and Luke (on a pick of Luke's) got the next one.

Tammy and Victor got the next one. Jamie and Cara were really annoyed. They finally got their clue after much annoyance. They chose the barrells.

Michael and Mark pumped up their tires, and then put all the pumps in a box near the rickshaws instead of leaving them lying there. And then he didn't keep the pump. That could be a bad idea. They did ask their cabbie to lead them there, which could have be clever, but it smacks of cheating.

Tammy and Victor also did the rickshaws but did not pump up their tires.

Jamie and Cara also did the rickshaws.

Michael and Mark made up a lot of time, heading off to the pit stop first. I'm impressed. However... they incurred two 30 minute penalties. First, they were not allowed to put the pumps in the box (that was considered tampering), and second, they were not allowed to hire help to get their taxi to lead them on the rickshaw route. Oops.

I would totally have chosen the rickshaws.

Kisha and Jen started the 100 barrells and it looked unpleasant.

Margie and Luke chose the rickshaws, too. I think that was a good plan. The team members were allowed to switch on and off. (And Tammy and Victor dropped the rickshaw before getting their next clue... will that give them a penalty? Nope - but they saw a parking spot for the rickshaws and had to go a) Margie and Luke had a trouble because Luke couldn't hear Margie when he was pulling, so she couldn't get his attention.

Cara and Jamie got their clue for the pit stop and... my dvr cut out. boo. I'll have to pick up what happened later.