Amazing Race 10 update – Row, row, row your boat

The remaining eight teams started out from a farm outside Hanoi, Vietnam and needed to find the Ly Thai To Garden. There, an audio clue directed teams to take a taxi across the river, to a bus, and then find the Hydrofoil Harbor. Bear in mind that it’s well-past midnight and all the teams are struggling to make their taxi drivers understand the directions. Some teams drag their drivers to the garden so they can hear the destination. This seems to work for some teams, but Rob & Kimberly are just totally freaking out as their taxi seems to make circles around the garden. No matter: all teams end up at the bus station which doesn’t open until 5am the following morning.

The bunched teams start out on a two-hour ride across Vietnam to Ha Long Bay. There they find a clue box and a Roadblock: “Who has strong arms and strong legs?” As we find out in a moment, one team member must climb up the side of a cliff. Stupidly, Team Leg Up decides that Sarah – with one leg – should perform this Roadblock. What is the rationale for this? Is it that Sarah must constantly prove that she can accomplish what everybody else can? Or is Peter just a major tool? (I’m leaning towards the latter).

After this task, teams must head to the Sang Sot Cave nearby and find the next clue. This is a Detour: Over or Under. Teams may either row a boat (over the water) and deliver fruit, or find a pearl farm and harvest thirty baskets. Some teams get nervous about the “under” part although there isn't any need to dive into the ocean. Mary reminds David about every four seconds that her ankle hurts – this is not an exaggeration. For either choice, teams must row a sampan and you’d think Americans had never seen a rowboat before. Here’s a tip: you should pull both oars together to move. Team Bicker stays true to their name and Peter snipes at Sarah that he doesn’t need encouragement, just directions. Everybody does the pearl farm except Team Alabama who end up doing a lot of rowing.

After completing the Detour, teams must row back to a junk which will take them to Soi Sum Island and the Pit Stop. Rob & Kimberly are at each other’s throats until the step on the mat as Team #1; Rob admits that he needs to learn to “chill out.” (He also needs to stop calling everyone – including Kimberly – “dude.”) Tyler & James arrive some time later after the crew of their junk discover they didn’t pull up the anchor – d’oh! Mary’s ankle hurts. Team Blonde stays true to their namesake by deciding to row their sampan to find Phil because their clue disintegrated in the water. This is sheer madness and eventually they figure out they need to take a junk. Tom & Terry give up on rowing and Tom decides to swim to the junk instead. Naturally, this eats up a lot of time and Team Stonewall is eliminated.

Final standings:

#1 – Team Bicker – Rob & Kimberly – Prize: jet skis
#2 – Team Leg Up – Peter & Sarah
#3 – Team Rehab – Tyler & James
#4 – Team Ergo – Erwin & Godwin
#5 – Team 16 Tons – David & Mary
#6 – Team Alabama – Lyn & Karlyn
#7 – Team Blonde – Dustin & Kandace
#8 – Team Stonewall – Tom & Terry – PHILIMATED

Next week: Snappy alligators and Peter is an ass.

Extra – This space reserved for reviews from Kris & Pat. Update: Kris used the same title for her post that I did and astutely notes that this has become the "Amazing Rock Climbing Race."