no excuse pretty!!!

Amazing Race Episode 3

As cited in our last entry, there is no excuse for losing in this gruelling competition. Whether you look like a goddess or teach for a profession, you will lose fair and square if you don't make it to the pit stop...

Vietnam is a beautiful country and I was set to go there late in January until last minute plans were made which sidetracked me back to Singapore.

Our race teams start from the Museum of Vietnamese History in Hoh Chi Minh. They must catch a bus to their next destination Hue, in Central Vietnam. The deal is Hue is 1000 km away from Ho Chi Minh and the bus will take 25 hours to get there. In the confusion that was the purchasing of tickets, some teams misunderstood the bus cashiers saying 25 minutes or an hour and a half instead of the whole day journey ahead of them. Well they were just shell-shocked to find out how far it was.

The team's next task when they reached Hue was to change the tires and oil of the truck they were going to use while setting on about in their tasks while within Hue. Some of the teams set about doing the task like one two three as far as vehicle mechanical repair and maintenance are concerned while others lumbered in a flurry of grease, rust and heat from the metal tools due to exposure from the overhead sun.

As far as I'm concerned Natalie and Pailin seemed to be the teams on the losing end because Natalie expressed her exhaustion and discouragement at what the competition had thrown her way so far. Even while Pailin was asking her to help with replacing one tire, Natalie was like dropping her shoulders and showing her lack of motivation. Pailin even had to tell her to at least try in a really disconcerted tone.

The teams then drove to Khai Dhin tomb where their next task was found. The next task, a Road Block, where only one teammate can operate while the other stands by does not prove helpful for the two beauty queens again. The task to be completed is to look for seven coins from a neighboring tomb called Minh Mang tomb. The coins represent each of the seven emperors that ruled the Nguyen dynasty. The catch is they have to arrange the coins in chronological order in the Khai Dhin tomb with respect to the reign of each emperor. Natalie wanted to uplift her team's mood so she volunteered for the task but it took her another trip to the other tomb to try and finish what she was doing and eventually the fact that she gave up gave their team a penalty of four hours!!!

In the end of course because of this penalty their team lost. I guess so many of the Natalie and Pailin fans were distressed at their loss but even half-way across the show Natalie's attitude sucked big time and her lack of motivation almost delayed the inevitable anyway....Pailin did not hide her discouragement at their loss. She said it takes two to make a team float so she could never quite understand why Natalie did not even try...and it's sad too because of course their superstar looks make the show more interesting although I'm sure the competition will continue to thrive without them...

Onwards to the next episode and good luck to team Singapore, Philippines and Mai and Oliver LOLOLOL !!!!

(Thank you AXN asia official website for the photos!!!)