The Amazing Race: Ep 2!

Are you ready for our next stop in this Trip Around The World?! I know you are! 10 teams remain, who will be eliminated next?

We started on the Bassac 3 Riverboat was the last pitstop – and it was moving. They leave the boat to make their way to Ho Chi Minh City, where they need to search for the Golden Dragon Water Puppet Theater – where they’ll garb the next clue from the mouth of a water dragon. They leave in the order they arrived: Gary and Matt, Sam and Dan, Globetrotters, Lance and Keri, Zev and Justin, Meg and Cheyne, Maria and Tiffany, Mika and Canaan, Marcy and Ron, Brian and Erika. Sam and Dan are already bickering with each other, butting heads on the way they’re going. Lance is urging Keri to lead but not waste time. He’s of course selling himself as a “lion” who will cut down the rest of the pack of gazelles or zebras. Heh.

One by one, the teams get into cabs and head on their way. Marcy talks a bit about it being such an emotional thing for her to be in Vietnam – her father was shot and killed there during the war. She feels it makes her stronger. Marcy and Ron are very zen about their cab ride, the people and how much she appreciates being in the city, with the people waving and smiling.

Lance says he feels like they’ve been dropped on the planet Mars, they don’t know where they’re at, where they’re going. Gary and Matt are shocked at how many scooters there are, and declare the traffic organized chaos.

Turns out that grabbing the clues out of the water dragon’s mouths is trickier than it seemed – they’re quick and good timing is a must. The clue they find is a bullet, which they unscrew to find a stamp inside. They have to figure out that they need to find the building shown on the stamp – Globetrotters are in the lead, with Gary and Matt not too far behind – though they decide to run the Kilometer to the building instead of taking a cab to save their cash. Dad is worried, but they press on. Everyone figures out the clue quickly – except for Lance and Keri. They didn’t realize there was anything inside the bullet – and when they finally figured it out, they were still confused for a while, falling behind.

Globe Trotters get to the Detour first – the choice is Child Play or Word Play. Child’s play – they choose a concrete animal in a children’s park, put it on a rolling board, and manuever it through the paths, collecting five colored balloons and delivering them to receive their next clue. In Word Play, they go to the rooftop observatory deck, and search for letters in the intersection below. When they have all 6 letters, they have to go downstairs, and unscramble the Vietnamese word Doc Lap – which means independence.

Ron and Marcy are the only team that chooses to do Word Play – everyone else maneuvers through the children’s park, some better than others. Zev and Justin drop their Giraffe, and they had to pick up all the pieces to make sure they got to the other end of their task. It slowed them down, for sure.

Next up, the Road Block, and the Globe Trotters are still in the lead. At Dien Co 008 @ intersection Durong Vinh Vien and Durong Ly Thurong Kiet. When they arrive, one team member takes apart 2 VCRs and puts the parts into the correct piles. Flight, Cheyne, Matt, Brian, Sam, Tiffany, Justin, Canaan, Lance and Ron do the dismantling. Lance, of course, being uber macho (..gag) used his hands instead of the tools. I know I was impressed. Not.

After leaving the detour – the next clue sends them to the pit stop at the Reunification Palace, where the Vietnam war ended after a tank crashed down the gates. It comes down to a foot race, and no one can beat the long legs of Team Globetrotter – and they win a trip to Aruba. The rest of the teams hit the mat in this order:

Meg and Cheyne
Gary and Matt
Bri and Erika
Sam and Dan
Poker Girls
Mika and Canaan
Zev and Justin
Lance and Keri

…and Marcy and Ron. Unfortunately, they were eliminated from the race.