Tortoise and Hair: 2nd place, Princess and "P": 6th place

Hi from Khao Lak...

This will be my last blog, and thanx to Rob for the edition!

The big winners were the McHappy team from Australia. Rob and Phyllis (Tortoise and Hair) arrived in second place and Mai-Anh and myself: 6th place....

Here is how it went:

The final race day: We took a longtail boat around the point over to Railey Beach. This was a physical day: we started with swimming competition followed by a local Thai relay game - both team members tied together at one ankle. Phyllis devoured 8 Durian cookies (did I mention that Durian stinks?) followed by a whole chili pepper, while Rob found the Menthos buried in cornstarch (no hands allowed) and skillfully skinned a pineapple that they had to then eat suspended from a rope (again no hands allowed) . Mai-Anh and I had to do the same, but I started gagging and vomited half of the cookies with the hot chillies on Tina's sandals...

We then climbed a mountain to go to the other side of the island (I felt like in "Survivor"), vomited for a second time some left over cookies, and got lost with Mai-Anh on the beach! We arrived last for lunch.

After lunch was rockclimbing on a wall (Railey is famous for this because of all the limestone cliffs) : I only reached the first target, so we only made 50 points instead of 100 points. We ended the day with a kayak race: something I should be good at but lagged a bit behind, because Mai-Anh was blindfolded and a bit tired. We paddled to the "Princess cave" to discover a cave full of phallic symbols called "linga". Mai-Anh rubbed a few of them and we were off to the final checkpoint. We arrived in 4th place at the end of the day.

Final placings:

6th: Princess and the P.

5th: Deaf SA Daredevils

4th: Strokers

3rd: Team 21

2nd: The Tortoise and the Hair

1st: McHappy

The Ronald McDonald House in Melbourne is undergoing a multi-million dollar renovation. There is a -buy a brick- campaign for $1000 a brick (you actually get a plaque). Chris and Kylie (McHappy team) will donate the $1000 prize to Ronald McDonald House: it will read "Amazing Race Across Asia 2007" plus all our names, so everyone is a winner. We completed the Race with a homemade challenge for our 2 organizers Tina and Damian: so for them to receive their tips they had to run all over the hotel taking photos of the all the teams with their mascots and even had to complete a puzzle and a food challenge thrown in by myself (I made them eat a bag a dry jackfruit).

We then sat down to a Thai Banquet where everyone shared their highlights of the trip.

Overall, theses 2 weeks have been a blast. I discovered the humour of my dear Mai-Anh, the patience of Rob, the spark of Phyllis and made a bunch of new friends.

I learned 3 main things during that race:

1- Opportunity: take it when it is there, since it may not come again

2- Fun: have fun with what you do in life

3- Experience: try new things, be adventurous, get off the beaten track and go beyond your personal boundaries

I am now on the Andaman coast at the luxury LeMeridien in Khao Lak. We have an oceanfront villa, with a private lap pool, poolside gazebo, leading to a small garden and private beachfrontchairs and hammock. The bathroom is big enough to use as a bedroom and bath, and we have an outdoor rain shower. This is my prize after the race.....

Hope you enjoyed my adventures. See you in Montreal after March 30th,

Vincent "P"