We’re half way through the fifth season of The Amazing Race Asia. Going to Ho Chi Minh City put us all on the same level as no one had a language advantage here. That being said, this was the first leg that even the most skilful person would have trouble with. Language barrier or not. I think that’s the thing with the Amazing race though, it really is a race for anyone, and everyone should stand an equal chance. The fifth leg was based on a lot of luck… first challenge was to fish 4 prawns from a pond which had everyone scratch their heads in agony.
Slow and steady, but totes stressing out.
The worst luck based challenge was the fast forward. We had decided beforehand that there was no way we were going for a fast forward, it was just too risky. But, when we got there, we somehow decided to go for it anyway as no other team was going for it. The clue said that you needed to eat yourself through bowls of rice to find a lucky coin hidden in one of the bowls. Little did we know that there was 200 of them. We went there determined to finish the task, but after 4 bowls of rice and Alex and Will from team Malaysia arriving we decided we didn’t trust in our luck and went fishing instead.
You had to crush these clay pots and eat the rice one by one- and you had to eat them in turn.
Tom caught the first two prawns in the speed of lightning and it didn’t take long until we had caught up with the 3 teams that were still at the challenge. The third prawn didn’t come long after. Teams were leaving and there were only us and JK and Mike left towards the end. It felt like all the prawns were gone, and soon it felt like hope was fading away. We were both catching and loosing prawns one by one. Of course JK and Mike manages to get their fourth prawn and are on their way. It takes around 15 minutes before I catch the next prawn and we are on to our next clue. I think at this point that we are HOURS behind the first teams.
People are pointing out that I was carrying the flowers in the market… first of all it wasn’t that heavy and second of all I’d run around the market carrying this for at least 10 times instead of eating the exotic foods.
We were starting to feel like we were out, and that Will and Alex must have found that coin as they never showed up at the prawn pond. (We were there for hours). Traffic in HCM was terrible and it took ages for us to get to the next clue. We finally got to Mr. Loc and decided to go for the flower power detour. Luckily we spot JK and Mike still strolling around trying to collect the flowers. Luckily they weren’t able to spot the marked vendors as fast as us, and we also had our physical advantage meaning we sprinted past them. Finally we could stand a chance to no get eliminated. We finished the task with at least a 10-15 minute lead. The next clue was to head to Quan Bui. It was a roadblock! It was initially my turn to take the roadblock but we both knew we would not be able to maintain the lead if I was going for an exotic snack.
It was going well in the beginning until we found out that the whole animal needed to be eaten. We’re talking chewing them down, bones included. There were five courses, rat, bats, centipedes, scorpions and a gigantic lizard. It was sick as you had to see the whole animal, skin and all in a natural position. Luckily you were allowed to twist of the head and tale and leave it on the plate.
JK and mike arrives while Tom is on dish number two… he did not seem to have any troubles eating the stuff he was getting served, and managed to beat us to it. Of any challenge we had to go head to head with JK, it was typical that it was an eating one!
This guys is my hero!
We were out of luck and saw them run right before us to get a taxi, the pit stop wasn’t far away, and when we came to the roundabout we saw JK and Mike run up. It was a horrible feeling, thinking that you’re last and the only team you’re competing with beats you by seconds.
Love you bae, wherever this race takes us it will still be another tick on the list of doing the unimaginable together!
We were so happy when Allan said we were the 6th team to arrive on the mat, but also sad as it meant Will and Alex didn’t complete the fast forward and ended up being eliminated.
How will it go in the next episode? Tune in on AXN 8pm Bangkok time!
No Comments