Amazing Race 13

Episode Five:
Summerhill, New Zealand to
Bayon Temple, Cambodia.

As he typically does, Phil reminds us that eight teams set off from La Paz, Bolivia…fast forward…tower climbing; while the other teams go tattoo matching…gnome spotting…kiwi-juice stomping or blo-karting…sheep farm finding. The sheep farm is the fourth pit stop in a race…seven teams remain, who will be eliminated next?

Let’s dismiss a couple of items that are left over from the last summary: first, Starr did not break her arm; and second, the sheep farm is actually pretty close to where I thought it was.

As this episode begins, Phil tells us the pit stop was actually at a recreational playground and sheep farm, near Tauranga, New Zealand. So, assuming that the helicopter flew a straight line—as the crow flies—from Auckland to Summerhill, then Ken and Tina travelled a shorter distance than the rest of the teams. I am going to use the straight-line distance from Google maps to estimate that Ken and Tina travelled 7,383 miles from La Paz, Bolivia to the pit stop. The other teams, which had to drive from place to place to complete their tasks, travelled an estimated 7,448 miles.

Teams arrived at the pit stop where they could literally count sheep for 12 hours, approximately 41 hours after leaving the pit stop in La Paz. The race is now a week old. Technically the racer's have been at it for eight days, but one of the elapsed days was due to crossing the international date line. Nonetheless, we will stick with this being day eight.

I was expecting that with a Fast Forward, Ken and Tina would arrive at the pit stop about mid-day; after all, the teams arrived in Auckland at about four in the morning. Even with the helicopter flight from Auckland to the pit stop at Summerhill, it was 6:03 PM when they arrived. Terrence and Sarah, who performed the normal race route with road blocks and detours, arrived at 8:19 PM, a mere 2:16 later. Climbing up and down the tower must have been fairly slow and tedious, with all the safety harnesses, ropes, and procedures.

Kelly and Christie were third, arriving at 9:32 PM; Toni and Dallas arrived at 10:15 PM; with Nick and Starr arriving at 11:34 PM. It was the next day when the Frat Boys (12:44 AM); and Aja and Ty (3:04 AM) arrive. Which explains why Phil and his dad looked so tired—we have the longest time gap between the first and last teams in the race at 9:01.

Route Info: Siem Reap, Cambodia

Phil tells us that the teams must now fly 5,600 Phil miles to Siem Reap, Cambodia, and once there, find a roadside gas filling station. This can get a bit confusing, because it appears an alternate spelling of the city (on Google maps) may be Siem Reab. Or it may just be a spelling mistake.

So to start, the teams have to drive from Summerhill back to Auckland, a distance of approximately 135 miles, which takes an estimated 3:15, unless like Terrence, you speed.


View Larger Map

Which gives us this week’s why Terrence is Jonathan quote. As they pull away from the side of the road after the police officer stopped the team for speeding, Sarah says: “I always thought you were a slow driver,” to which Terrence responds, “You’re such an ass, that’s the way you comfort somebody who just got a speeding ticket?”


View Larger Map

The route from New Zealand takes us in a northwest direction from Auckland over Australia to the city-state of Singapore. It is a little disturbing that two people who appear to have had the opportunity to go to school—Dallas and one of the Frat Boys—admit that they have no idea where Cambodia is. I wasn't clear exactly where Siem Reap was within Cambodia, but at least I could find Cambodia on a map.

I will use the flight that Ken and Tina, and Terrence and Sarah caught from Auckland to Singapore to measure this part of the trip. For a mere $1,626 you can catch Singapore Airlines flight 286 which now leaves Auckland (AKL) at 1:25 PM, and arrives in Singapore (SIN) at 6:50 PM. Don’t be deceived by these arrival and departure times, the trip takes 10:25, and the distance travelled on this leg is 5,227 miles.

The Divorcees, Toni and Dallas (whom the divorcees try to nick name ‘Teen Wolf’, but I don’t think the name works), Nick and Starr, and the Frat Boys, all take a later flight, but end up catching up with the the other two teams in Singapore. The Frat Boys make their first, and quite possibly only smart move on the race when after the travel agents tell them the flight is already closed they go to the Emirates Airlines counter and get on the flight.

Aja and Ty take yet a third flight, and I have to assume that they also went via Singapore, although they arrive in Siem Reap not that much later because if the time line of the show is correct, some teams were still finishing the task of pumping the fuel into the trucks while their plane was landing.

The flight from Singapore to Siem Reap is harder to find. I know from the program that the teams flew JetStar (Asia), but it appears to be a discount airline out of Australia, but their flights don’t show up on Expedia, or Travelocity. They have a flight, and the travel agents said Ken and Tina would be on a JetStar flight that appears to leave Singapore (SIN) at 6:00 AM and arrives in Siem Reap at 7:05 AM. I suspect the time for this flight is 2:05 (assuming it crosses a time zone), and the distance (according to Google maps) is about 866 miles. This flight could be as inexpensive as $199 Singapore Dollars (or US$135.00).

So what about Siem Reap? The Wikipedia entry is here, and the best non-Wikipedia guide appears to be here. Good maps of the area are located here.

Route Info: Gas Pumping Station

Teams have to take a cab to a fuel pumping station on Phlau Ben Lane, where they will get their next clue. I was not able to locate a map with sufficient detail to find this location.

Once they find the station, the clue tells them to use the pump to transfer 25 liters of diesel fuel from the barrel into the truck’s tank. Once the team has completed this task, the station attendant will give them their next clue.

It appears the clue tells them they have to close one valve until the glass reservoir is full, and then open the valve to let the diesel flow into the truck. The Frat Boys continue to show total ineptitude as they seem to be the only team unable to figure out how the pump works. Let’s even give them the benefit of the doubt and say that the clue didn’t explain how to do it, the other teams all still managed to figure it out or get someone to explain it to them. It is amazing that these two got this far, but they did give us this week’s episode title: You've got to ‘Do it Like a Madman’.

Route Info: Siem Reap Harbor

Teams must now have their truck driver take them to Siem Reap Harbor, on Tonle Sap Lake and then take a specially marked boat to Kho Andeth, a floating restaurant on the lake, where they will find their next clue. There is a pretty good description of the lake, which Phil says is the largest lake in Southeast Asia, and a description of life on the lake. Another description of life on the lake is located here. A map further down in this summary attempts to put all of these locations in perspective.

Nick and Starr are in the lead on the way to the lake, until Starr gets nervous and stops to try to get directions. But this only wastes time and shows why you just have to either stay in second or third place so you can follow the others, or have faith that you are far enough in the lead to correct any problem. Rarely does stopping help unless you are absolutely certain that you or your driver is completely lost.

Terrence and Sarah have the bad luck to pick a boat that broke down, but you have to give Terrence a begrudging credit on this one, as he immediately takes a long pole and at works to manually push the boat to the restaurant.

Detour: Village Life or Village Work

A detour is a choice between…

In ‘Village Life’ teams will use the boat to visit a floating dental office where they will pick up a set of toy chattering teeth; a floating tailor shop, where they will pick up a rag doll; and a floating gymnasium, where each team member must sink a basketball, and then take the basketball with them to a person on shore, who will exchange the three items for the next clue.

In ‘Village Work’ teams will use the boat to go to an area where the locals have fish traps set, and search for two traps filled with fish. Working in the water, they will take the fish to shore and dump them into a basket to get their next clue.

I have to say that I would have done ‘Village Life’—even before I got a wacky immune system I don't think I would have liked to have gotten in that water.

Route Info: Angkor Wat

Teams must now travel by Tuk-tuk, a motorized tricycle scooter to Angkor Wat where they will receive their next clue. Because Angkor Wat shows up better on the maps then Siem Reap, I was able to put this map together to show approximate locations of the race stops. It works best if you zoom in and then reposition the map.


View Larger Map

Now for a little temple history. Sacred Sites of Asia has what appears to be a good description. Another good description is here.

Roadblock: Who has the Better Sense of Direction

A roadblock is a task only one team member…

Once inside Angkor Wat the team member must locate a small room called Prassat Kok Troung, which is also known as the Chamber of Echoes. Once they find this very small room, and thump their chest to hear the echo, they will get there next clue. Kudos to Nick for stopping for a brief second to acknowledge to Starr that the temple is one of the world’s wonders.

The only thing about this task is that it confirms that you have to ask several people for assistance before you will find someone who can help you. And the title in this case is misleading, if it really involved a sense of direction, then the clue would have a set of instructions, like go east (some distance) then go north…

Route Info: Bayon Temple

Once the team member has heard the echo, they can take one of the tablets that has the final route to the pit stop. On the back of a sculpture relief in the Chamber of Echos the instructions read:

TAKE THIS SCULPTURE RELIEF
TO THE BAYON TEMPLE AND
SEARCH THE GROUNDS FOR
THE NEXT PIT STOP.
WARNING!
THE LAST TEAM TO CHECK-IN
MAY BE ELIMINATED!

So the teams have to travel a short distance to the Bayon temple; there is a good description and photos of this temple here.

Nick and Starr arrive at the pit stop first, followed by Toni and Dallas, Terrence and Sarah, Kim and Tina, the Divorcees, and the final non-eliminated team: the Frat Boys. Aja and Ty were eliminated, which was a bit of a surprise, because I kind of expected an non-elimination pit stop by this point.

It was also interesting to note that Terrence and Sarah are being assessed a 30-minute penalty, which the producers say did not affect the outcome of this episode, and therefore will be added to the time they have to stay at the pit stop.

Coming attractions: Dallas and Starr? Ken and Tina fight? India?