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"

Bangkok over...now Krabi

He oui,

Bangkok is now over:

Yesterday was a challenge day in Bangkok: we lost 2 hours finding a stupid sign (in the picture) that we had to take a picture of. After that, we went to the Grand Palace to answer some questions and then to the famous Wat Po (where is the reclining Buddha) to count how many elephants are on his feet and why there are 108 jars to put money in!

Then, we realized that we had forgotten to do our bonus challenge: either to wax my chest or paint our mascot on all my fingernails. We found a beauty salon and I opted for....the fingernails! So I spent the whole day with funny red, white and yellow nails!!!

We took a river boat on the Chao Phraya river to go to the Temple of Dawn (Wat Arun) and discovered that we did not necessary had to go there, since we only had to answer a question about that temple (we lost another 45 minutes). Then, up the Skytrain downtown Bangkok to a Shrine, where we had to give a garland of flowers to over 200 wooden elephants (picture of Mai-Ahn) and try to count how many elephants are there.

Final destination: find an alien in a big building in Bangkok. We jumped in a taxi and here we are, stuck in a traffic jam for 25 minutes!!! I am sweating (as usual) and almost lost it! We finally made it : last team to arrive... However, we had almost all our questions right and tonight, we should know where we are in the "classement".

So last night, we took a night train to southern Thailand in a second class wagon with air con (it was quite an adventure, since the train stopped every 30 minutes from 19h30 til 7h00 am). I can tell you I did not sleep much. After arriving to our train final destination, we had to find a way to go to Krabi on our own: we share a little van with 2 other teams and 2 hours later, reached the town of Ao Nang. It was not over yet: we ran to the beach, covered Mai-Anh with sand to the waist and yes, final checkpoint was here! We had the rest of the day off....

Tonite is a nice dinner with the group and we will make whiskie sour from the prize (Thai Whiskie) that Rob and Phyllis won for beeing in first place for the Cambodia part of the race.

Tomorrow is our last race day in Krabi...we are tired but excited! Who will finish first????

Cheers,

Vincent

Tortoise and the "Hair": first in Cambodia!

He oui,

Rob and Phyllis (Tortoise and then "Hair") finished first for the Cambodia leg of the race and are in the lead!

Yesterday were the Angkor Wat challenges. This was not a timed day (meaning we had 2 full days to complete all the challenges). We woke up at 4h45 to go for sunrise at Angkor Wat temple: it was magnificent. Then, a full day of challenges was waiting for us. We started at 6h00 am with a temperature of 30c, finding clues around Angor Wat main temple. We had to take pictures of the worse dressed tourist, us part of another tour group, us with 3 monkeys, etc... We hired a private taxi who spent the whole day with us for 25$, driving us from temples to temples.

We visited 6 different temples, doing more challenges: how many lions head in that temple? find Brahma on a goose on the West wall, find the mine amputees orchestra and play one of their instrument, etc... It was really fun, but at 13h00, the outside temperature reached at least 43c! We stopped for lunch, and continue our day for "Bonus points" to the "Mine Museum" where we had to find the name of the owner's children, find when he built that museum, etc... We finished our day 12 hrs later at 16h30, exhausted. Another "bonus"challenge was waiting for us the next day....

Today was a rest day: we shopped in Siem Reap, got foot massage but here was the other "Bonus": donate blood for the children hospital. Since I always get vasovagal and since Mai-Anh was not feeling well, we had to skip that challenge, but we did not loose any points. Only Rob and Phyllis (and a few other teams) did it.

Good for them since tonite, we had the results for the Cambodia part: Rob and Phyllis arrived in first place! They had taken their "Wild card "yesterday, so their points got doubled: which means they are now in the lead !!! Princess and the P (us) are now in 5th place...dont worry, the princess knows many tricks!

Tomorrow, we are going to Thailand and we know it is going to be a "physical day"but no other clues so far...

I forgot: we went to Le Meridien for Afternoon tea today. Their version of Cambodian scones looked like little penises...very interesting !

C'est a suivre.....

Siem Reap here we are!

Yes, we made it to Siem Reap!

We took a nice air con bus called "Mekong Express"with a hostess, TV, meals onboard... We had to take several pictures during our 6 hour ride: our mascot making out with an insect, an elephant, a political party sign, a community health sign, etc... Then, we had to find a monk and have our picture taken with him and our mascot in his hand!
We arrived last, but our 2 canadian teams still scored the highest marks 130 points each. So, Princess and the "P" are still in first place.
Before dinner, we went for sunset in Angkor Wat: it was really nice.

By the way, you can also go and see Mai-Anh 's blog for more pictures at: http://galad-epars.blogspot.com

Tomorrow : sunrise at Angkor Wat at 5h15 with a day full of new challenges!

Cheers,

Vincent

Princess & the P still in first place

Hi to all,

2 days ago, our team used our "Wild Card" and this doubled our points we made that day. So, we finished first for the Vietnam part of the race (for the first 3 days) and won a bottle a sparkling wine for that. We were really happy (and made 1 Australian team really jealous!).

Yesterday, we had a rest day. We travelled by boat on the Mekong River to the Cambodia border (3 hours). We then past customs and entered Cambodia. We had to take another "speed boat" that was so slow (and sinking slowly, really! Our pilot was scared and told us to stay seated and not to move to balance the weight) it took us 4 hours to Phnom Penh. Arriving in this pseudo-port, we took a bus for an hour drive and finally reached our hotel: old Chinese hotel from 1970... It is ok. Not the luxe that Princess and the P were looking for!!!

Today, race: had to find clues in Phnom Penh. First, we had to set a bird free from its cage, count the stairs climbing up to the famous Wat and find a lotus seller. Then, up to the central market where our next interesting challenge was waiting for us: we had to eat fried grasshoppers (10 points each) or tarantula (30 pts each). If you never saw me sweat, here I was: removing the crunchy legs of my grasshoppers and the wings to finally eat these bugs! I had 10 grasshoppers and so did Mai-Anh. Tarantula, no way... However, Rob ate 5 tarantulas and 10 grasshoppers, and Phyllis 10 grasshoppers, so they beat us for that challenge. We then shared a taxi to “The Killing Fields", where thousands of thousands of Cambodians were killed by the Pol Pot regime. It was really something to see.....

We finally completed our day and arrived in 3 rd place. But we are still leading the game with 961 points. However, the next team has 930 points (they ate 20 tarantulas) and they haven't taken their wild card yet...So, we have to plan better for the next days. Rob and Phyllis are in 5th place for now... Tomorrow, we will take a bus to Siem Reap and will have to do a "bonus challenge" on the way, but we don’t have a clue for now what this will be!

We are having lots of fun though!

Cheers,

Vincent (and Mai-Anh)

Princess & the P mascot

We want to introduce you to our team mascot: our princess (with a "P" enscribed on the bottom) - she follows us for all the challenges. She doesn't talk much but never complains. With her we will "kick ass".

Day #1 : Princess and the "P" arrived in first place !

Hi to all,
Yes, Mai-Anh and I (team: Princess and the "P"), won the first leg of the race yesterday in Ho Chi Minh City! We finished first and Rob and Phyllis (team: tortoise and the "hair"), arrived in second place. The first day took us thru the vibrant downtown of Saigon: we had to take pictures of different persons, had to eat some "Durian", had to manoeuvre chopsticks and find clues in the "War Museum". It was a lot of fun.

Today, day #2, we had a difficult start: we left in the 4th place (decided yesterday after a food challenge, where Mai-Anh had to eat hard mango, cuttlefish, birdnest drink...). We got lost in the floating market in Can Tho this morning, then went on motobike (with my big packsac between the legs of my driver) and took a bus to the city of Chau Doc (this bus ride was a real nightmare: there was a vietnamese girl vomitting the whole ride, there was a 80 year old lady almost seating on my laps for 3 hours and telling me I have a big nose and how she loved it..and the air con was not working!) . In Chau Doc, we went to the famous pagoda (but our driver brought us to the wrong one first, and we lost 30 mins...) at the bottom on the Sam mountain. We had to climb up the pilgrim staircase for 1 hour, while finding clues on our way. It was 37c and yes, I must have lost 2 liters of water! We arrived to the top and were in 4th place. However, we decided to take a "wild card" today, and we will make double points: so we wont know our final score until tonite.
Rob and Phyllis: bad hair day....they really got lost in the Mekong Delta, missed the bus to Chau Doc and arrived last at the mountain top. However, they were in a great spirit and had a lot of fun. We were really proud of them !!!

Tomorrow, a rest day on a boat floating to Cambodia...
Now, dinner time!
Cheers!!!

What a start !!!

What an adventure!
Here Vincent (and Rob and Phyllis):
Our flight to New-York got cancelled because of strong winds, so the only way to make it and not miss our flight to Bangkok was to drive to the Big Apple.
We started in a blizzard on route 15 and saw 4 cars (and an 18 wheeler truck) in the ditch...It took us 8 hours to get there. On the way, we stopped at McDonald's (see the picture of Rob and Phyllis: Phyllis is holding a happy face!) and it was -30c with the windchill factor.
Got to NY, missed 1 hour of our Broadway show "Wicked" (that we had booked month ago), and slept like babies...
The next morning, snowstorm in NY! We drove to JFK and made it on time, except for our plane, which got delayed by 1.5 hour for de-icing. Then, all onboard for a 18 hour flight non-stop to Bangkok: it was long and uncomfortable. Of course, we had a tight connection to Ho Chi Minh city: 1.5 hours... So we were the first to get off the plane and then, a nice Thai lady with her long dress was holding a sign with our 3 names on it: we ran onto the runway, jumped into a van, got to our plane, and where is my passport? I had misplaced my passport in my bag: so here I am, on the runway, with my daybag opened, papers flying everywhere and me sweating like hell (33c) trying to find my passport...Finally, I found it near my M&Ms bag and we were the last to board.
Luggage? No way they would make it!
After 10 minutes taxiing to our runway, the plane turned around and went back to the gate. I was praying that we turned back for our luggage, but NO! There was this Mr. Happy (from Dubai) who had to be onboard (VIP person). The captain then made an announcement: "let's applaude when he gets onboard!" What the hell! I felt like I was in the movie "Airplane". So here we are, clapping our hands for this Mr. Happy with now, a 2 hour delay to our final destination. If we would have been onboard Air Canada, we would have killed this guy and thrown tomatoes at him (or my M&Ms !).
Luggage? My prayers did not do much...
So, I am writing you with the same clothes I have been wearing for 2 days (but I washed my underwear and I had an extra shirt). Our luggage should arrive today from Bangkok (with the one for Mr. Happy!)

As for Mai-Anh, her flight got delayed in Vancouver (9 hour delay due to a mechanical problem), she missed her connection to Hong-Kong, then missed her connection to Vietnam, so instead of arriving a day earlier, we were on the same flight last evening. As for her luggage: they are lost! No where to be found yet...She only has a bikini and a pair of thongs in the daybag. Will that help our team???

This was our first ROADBLOCK and the race has even not started yet!

We know we will be meeting 4 other teams tomorrow: there are only 6 teams racing. So, c'est a suivre!

Vincent

Team #1

A vos marques, prêts, partez !

Team #1 :

M.A.L : Our own “Miss Saigon” is the baby of the two teams. Her love of diving has taken her all over the world, and to depths where few dare to venture. She will be an asset to Team 1, being of Vietnamese descent, and therefore the only one with any hope of blending in with the locals during the race. The question is: Will she dive the Mekong Delta???

V.P.: An eternal traveler, Vincent lives out of his suitcase. His first challenge on this trip will be to survive without his usual electronic travel gadgetry. A frequent visitor to South-East Asia, he knows his way around well. River-guiding around the floating market­-no problem. But will he be able to drive a tuk-tuk through the crazy streets of Bangkok?

For those who wants to know more about this race, visit the website: http://www.intrepidtravel.com/trips/vca

You can also write some comments by clicking on the "Commentaires" link below:

Team #2

Team #2:

P.V.: With a dedicated love of animals, PV will undoubtedly succeed in all challenges involving chickens, pigeons, monkeys and rats…But what about eating a fried grasshopper? Will her vegetarianism stop her? Or will her greatest challenge be wearing unflattering footwear and the same three outfits for two weeks? C’est à suivre!

R.P.: Rob is the most experienced traveler of the two teams, and it’s his influence that convinced the others to join this race! An “Amazing Race” disciple, he has learned all the tricks of outsmarting the other teams. Will he be the one to do the first “Road Block” or will he be stuck in a “Detour”?

Follow us in the Challenging Race Across Asia and send us an email, we all need your support !

Mai-Anh Levan: galadryel17@gmail.com

Vincent Poirier: vpoirier333@hotmail.com

Robert Primavesi : robert.primavesi@mcgill.ca