Amazing Race Sunday: Snarkfest

NOTE: I leave for Mississippi in the morning and am not taking my computer. Mostly because I know I’ll be bringing a different laptop back. I’ll be totally off the grid on Monday and hope to be back online by Tuesday. Enjoy my silence! I’ll be back Thursday, worst-case scenario.

Start of Leg: Osaka, Japan • Find Umeda Sky building, then Floating Garden which is the observatory on the roof.

Ron & Christina, 7:02 am
Nate & Jen, 7:15 am, it’s Jen’s birthday
Nick & Don, 7:21 am
TK & Rachel, 10:18 am

Ron/Chris thought the garden was on street level. The observatory opens at 10! That makes a big chunk of TK and Rachel’s deficit. Hooray! Nate/Jen are snarking at each other from the first minute.

Floating Garden screwed up TK and Rachel as well. They goofed around on ground level for a while then TK figured out it was the observatory and Rachel went along even though she felt like it couldn’t be on the roof. Oh lord. They just walked by the clue box. ACK! Well, they found it before they went back down.

Travel to Taipei, Taiwan
This should even the race back out again. Assuming that TK and Rachel can make it to the airport before these other teams can get on a flight. Nick was hysterical with saying that a bunch of pansies are left in the race.

There was a 1 pm flight to Taipei Ron and Chris made it on. We’ll see if the “upgrade for free” will give them a problem with the full fare flight. Jen/Nate lost it when they got denied for the 1 pm flight Ron/Chris were the only ones to make that earliest flight.

Nick/Don made the 1:15 flight, as did Nate/Jen. The third flight had only TK and Rachel.

2:51 pm Ron/Chris landed • 3:05 pm Nate/Jen and Nick/Don landed. Nate/Jen (well, JEN) decided to exchange money first. Nick/Don went straight to immigration at a run. • No landing time given for TK/Rachel, but they wound up in the immigration line in front of Nate/Jen. This meant that three teams were all dead even in Taipei with just Ron/Chris a little bit ahead.

Travel to: Acrobatics Jeep
Ron/Chris were on the first train. Nate/Jen somehow got a cab first. TK/Rachel were pretty close behind. All three remaining teams were on the same train

TK/Rachel were second, Nick/Don third and Nate/Jen fourth leaving the train terminal. And they had a taxi driver that got lost. HAHA!!

Road Block: Take a Tricky Ride
Ron took this one. He hates heights and I thought he was going to puke on the teeter-totter. He made it through the submerged jeep ride as well. • Rachel had a blast. So happy they made it back to second • Nate also had fun • Don looked much better than Ron did, but wasn’t too psyched about it either.

Speed Bump: Run Through Fireworks
This is TK and Rachel only. Once again, their task wasn’t difficult at all, just time consuming. They had to don protective gear, run through fireworks and be doused with buckets of water. No biggie.

GK Teahouse
Train back to Taipei, go to a teahouse to drink tea in order to get your next clue. Ron/Chris were smart enough to pick up a timetable and made a considerably earlier train. The remaining teams earliest option was an 8 pm train. ALL THREE TEAMS made it onto that train. Fire up!! They were totally psyched and I don’t blame them. Jen was so pissed. Again. She has spent so much time on this race just being pissed off. Somehow, Jen thinks that TK and Rachel slack off. She thinks that mellow/laid back means they aren’t trying. Whut-Evah! Nick/Don went up and talked to TK/Rachel on the train. Nate/Jen? Sulked. Go figure.

And it’s a race to the teahouse! Lots of traffic.

Gong Guan Night Market
Clue was in Chinese and they had to not only make it to the market, but find a clown to get their next clue.

It’s all about taxi drivers for the bottom three teams. Nick/Don made it to the tea house first. TK/Rachel second (but Rachel wouldn’t drink the hot tea right away), Nate/Jen last but they found “friends” in the restaurant. Unfortunately for them, they then were convinced that they should take the subway and a bus to the Youth Park, where the “Earth” half of the detour took place. Jen totally changed her story about insisting on the subway when they got to the bus stop. She’s such a bitch.

Detour: Fire or Earth
Fire – Participate in Chinese ritual writing messages on sky lanterns. Send 20 lanterns to the Gods and get your clue • Nobody picked this one

Earth – Walk on jagged stones down 220-foot path for a 440-foot round-trip. Tradition says it relieves stress.
Ron/Chris whined about how it hurt, but made it just fine. • Nick/Don were next to the path • TK/Rachel ran the path and finished ahead of Nick/Don • Nate/Jen took the subway and a bus to the youth park.

Pit Stop: Chiang Kia-Shek Memorial
1. Ron/Chris. It’s amazing how much Ron has changed on the race. Hooray!

Taxis again. Nick/Don and TK/Rachel both had trouble getting cabs who knew where they were going.

2. TK/Rachel! Hooray! ☺

Cabs are a nightmare for the last two teams. Editing is probably making this a lot closer than it really was, but …

3. Nick/Don … and that means!

Nate/Jen are eliminated! Hooray! Jen got eliminated on her birthday. And was actually better on the mat than I would have guessed. She admitted that they killed their relationship on the race. Nate was much more upset about this than she was.

Scenes from next week!
It’s the finale, and it should be good. Looks like they have some cool stuff planned. Should be good!

Again, I’m offline for a while, possibly until Thursday or Friday. Have fun without me!