The Amazing Race Recap: Chennai, India
I Covered His Mouth, Oh My Gosh!
Departing Ha Long Bay, Vietnam, it became apparent that the producers of the race have tried to make things a bit tighter this time around, and they have been fairly successful at it. While the top teams are close, only about two hours separate first place from last. Very impressive indeed.
First-place team Rob and Kimberly quickly discovered that once again the lead really didn't mean much as all the teams boarded a train bound for Hanoi.
Due to Vietnamese regulations, once in Hanoi, teams had to stop at a travel agency to purchase their tickets to fly to Chennai, India - they apparently cannot be purchased directly (or so we were told). On the train ride, those jokesters Erwin and Godwin pulled out their fake cell phone in order to put the fear into other teams, but it only stirred the other teams into action, and potentially caused a delay - but in reality it didn't seem to hurt much, as all the teams scrambled a bit getting to the travel agents, and there didn't appear to be any advantage by getting on the phone, as you still had to get there and pick up the tickets.
Once in India, there was a mad scramble for tickets, and James and Tyler seemed to have a moment where they had found an early flight, but then had to sweat a bit while the tickets were delivered by messenger. In the end, they made their flight.
But it ended up being those who were on the later flight who got the best deal, because during their connection they found an even faster route and bested the others by perhaps two hours to Chennai. David and Mary fared worst of all because they took the earlier flight on a gamble, without guaranteed seats, and ended up missing the connection, getting in later than everyone else.
Once in Chennai, teams head for the village of Mamallapuram and Vallavar Arts & Crafts for their next clue. Here they encounter a Detour, where they can choose either Wild Things or Wild Rice.
In Wild Things, the team has to go nine miles to the Madras Crocodile Bank, locate pit 16 and help two wranglers secure one large marsh crocodile and transport it to a new pit. In Wild Rice, the team has to go only 200 yards to the Sri Sthala Sayana Perumal Temple, where they choose an outline of a traditional design that was drawn on the temple floor. Using a picture for reference, they have to gather specially colored powder made from rice and fill in the pattern so that it matches the picture.
While Wild Things is nine miles away, Wild Rice was insanely hard - or at least very time consuming. There is no way I would have had the patience for it. I think if I had to walk the nine miles, it would have been a better choice to take Wild Things - but then, I wasn't in the middle of it, either.
Once done with the task, teams take a bus back into Chennai and find the Karthik Driving School - the site of a Roadblock, where one team member has to learn Indian drving rules rules well enough to pass a driving test. Perhaps they ran out of time, but this didn't look that bad. I am glad I didn't have to drive it, however.
After completing the Roadblock, teams must then use their new license to drive themselves to the
- Peter and Sarah
- Dustin and Kandice
- Rob and Kimberly
- Erwin and Godwin
- Lyn and Karlyn
- Tyler and James
- David and Mary
Dustin and Kandice were a surprising second place, and Peter and Sarah somewhat surprising in that they seem on the verge of a meltdown. Also a bit interesting was that Tyler and James fell to almost last place, but that could mostly be because of the Wild Rice task they chose.
David and Mary aren't out yet, but the new rule for non-elminiation rounds is that they must finish first in the next leg or they will be assessed a 30 minute time penalty. Frankly, that seems unlikely. They have finished no higher than 5th thus far, so it seems likely that we'll see them out next time. Too bad, but it just seems likely to happen that way.
It's also interesting that they aren't losing their money. Couple that with the "no begging" rule outlined earlier in the race and it seems that perhaps they got in trouble for that somehow. I wonder what happened.
