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I Know Phil, Little Ol' Gorgeous Thing!

As the racers departed, it became clear that the finish to Hanoi, Vietnam was indeed very close - less than fifty minutes separated first place from last. Each team had to take a taxi to their next destination, and unfortunately leaders Erwin and Godwin quickly faded as their driver went, well, somewhere, and they rapidly neared the back of the pack.

The first stop was the Ly Thai To Garden, back in Hanoi proper. Once there, they were instructed to listen for their next clue. Beauty queens Dustin and Kandice thought they had it licked when they heard a small patch of crickets, but then their auditory skills failed them when they couldn't figure out what they were saying, so they pressed on. Good thing, as the actual clue was a bit more obvious - a loudspeaker told the racers just where they needed to go.

Unfortunately it was not exactly an easy place name to remember, and writing down a foreign name in such a manner as to be able to relay it to your driver isn't the easiest thing to do. Tyler and James and Peter and Sarah seized upon a novel idea by bringing their drivers back to listen to the message, which gave them a good jump. Rob andKimberly liked the idea so much that they simply had their driver follow Tyler and James - but they didn't get the details for themselves. This proved to be an issue when their driver couldn't keep up and they had to go back for the directions. It was even worse when the second driver didn't get the directions right and just went around the block. Luckily the third driver seemed to get the directions just fine.

Since the next step was to take a bus that didn't leave until the morning, it didn't make much of a difference. The producers seem to have done a better job this time around of making sure teams stay closer to one another. There isn't anything wrong with that, but it does take some of the wind out of the sails of teams that do well.

The bus took teams to beautiful Ha Long Bay - one of the few places on the race that I'd really love to visit. The place is just beautiful. Once there, the teams faced a Roadblock, this one similar to the one seen in the first leg of the race, where they needed to climb a section of the Great Wall of China. Teams here did a lot better than they did that first time around, which is to be expected since they've already had some practice. It's also interesting to note that there is still such a physical component to the race - while there is certainly a physical aspect to the race, the challenges aren't always so physical.

Once one team member climbs to the top, then comes down the other side, they get a clue that instructs them to head to Sung Sot Cave, which seemed to be really busy for what appeared at first to be a bit of a peaceful setting. Inside the cave, teams found their next clue, which led them to the Detour, and a choice of Over or Under. In each choice, the teams ride large boat known as a junk to a marked buoy, then row a smaller boat known as a sampan.

In Over, they row the sampan to a supply boat, load provisions, and row the sampan to a floating village and deliver the goods to the two addresses on the invoice. When finished, the team must row back to the supply boat and present their signed invoice to the captain to retrieve their clue. In Under, the team rows the sampan to a pearl farm, chooses a line of buoys and harvests thirty oyster baskets by hauling them out of the sea and onto their boat. Finally, they have to deliver the baskets to a pearl farmer to receive their clue.

Everyone except for Lyn and Karlyn chose Under, and they may have been better off with Under as well. The wind and swells of the waves in that direction just seemed to buffet their small sampan every which way, and though they appeared to make good progress, the teams harvesting the oysters seemed to do better moving to and from their task.

Once all teams had completed the Detour, the next clue led to the Pit Stop at Soi Sim Island. With a strong rowing performance and a quick harvesting job, Rob and Kimberly were the first team at the mat, and they collected a Jet Ski for their efforts. While Tyler and James seemed on their way to a solid second place finish, their captain's negligence (he forgot to pull up the anchor) meant their speed was less than it could be, and Peter and Sarah finished in second instead. Tom and Terry were eliminated as their physical strength simply gave out.

• Rob and Kimberly
• Peter and Sarah
• Tyler and James
• Erwin and Godwin
• David and Mary
• Lyn and Karlyn
• Dustin and Kandice
• Tom and Terry

While the teams are staying relatively bunched up, the top of the pack seems to be settling in quite a bit. Rob and Kimberly have made a strong move to the front, and if they can quite arguing for long enough to stay focused, they may do well. Peter and Sarah are in danger of a complete meltdown, but have the physical strength to do well if they can pull it together. Tyler and James and Erwin and Godwin have the mental capacity and emotional stability to do well if they can hang in there. The other teams are holding on, but I suspect they will be falling by the wayside in the coming weeks.