If you’re ever on The Amazing Race, the number one thing you never do is say that you have a good feeling about things or proclaim a Positive Mental Attitude day. Just ask Kent & Vyxsin. Not more than five minutes after proclaiming their own PMA Day, they couldn’t find their car to begin the next leg of the race. The day only went downhill from there as all teams arrived at the airport for a required flight except for Kent & Vyxsin, who had been driving in the wrong direction … for hours! Vyxsin, who was navigating, had a total freak-out moment, but recovered once they turned around and saw the signs for the airport. After booking another flight, Vyxsin left her passport at the counter but realized it before she got too far away. Still, this turned out to be a harbinger of things to come.
While all the teams had arrived in China, they then had to take a marked shuttle bus to the next location. Ron & Christina arrived first but discovered the bus didn’t leave for several hours, so all the teams caught up. Except for Kent & Vyxsin, who had arrived in China so late that nothing was running that could take them to the shuttle. All of the teams arrived at a road block that required one of them to ride a yak across a river to retrieve the next clue and this task, while really not major, really demonstrated why The Amazing Race needed to be shot in high definition. The view of the river and the mountains was simply spectacular.
Teams next had to take a gondola ride up a mountain three miles above sea level and the altitude slowed them all down at first. They then had to find the twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac amongst thousands of little charms, then put them in the proper order to receive the next clue. Most teams accomplished the task fairly easily, but Luke had a problem understanding how things were supposed to go in order. Mallory finished first and showed him how she had hers arranged, which I thought was a pretty nice thing for her to do. No one knew where Kent & Vyxsin were, but as teams were finishing the task Zev was having a difficult time understanding how to arrange the charms. Suddenly Kent & Vyxsin showed up and got pretty close to passing the guys, but Zev finally realized he had two goats when he needed a goat and a horse. The poor guy with the clue really seemed to be getting fed up with Zev’s failed attempts and lack of patience, but he finally got it and they took off. Meanwhile, Vyxsin had another emotional meltdown when she couldn’t find the last charm. You’d think after her earlier breakdown, Kent would have been the better choice for this task.
The detour required teams to either beat some candy with a hammer, then slice it and bag it to receive the clue or to take a large horn and a crowd of people with them to a nearby palace. Most everyone chose the candy except for the Globetrotters and Zev & Justin. Flight Time & Big Easy finished in no time, but Zev & Justin really had no idea what they were doing and just hoped they were still far enough ahead of Kent & Vyxsin. Kent & Vyxsin, however, were close on their heels as they hopped on the marked bus to the Detour location, then realized they had left their fanny pack with the passports and money back on the gondola so they had to ask the bus driver to turn around. Oddly enough, earlier Ron & Christina had gotten on a cab instead of a bus, saw the Globetrotters’ bus pass them and Christina jumped out of the moving cab to try to get the bus to stop. The Globetrotters were gentlemen and allowed Ron & Christina to ride along with them. This is the part where I again remind all potential racers to read the clues!
While Kent & Vyxsin tried to turn around and Zev & Justin wandered around, the other teams were checking in at the Pit Stop. Margie & Luke arrived first … then found out they were still racing (although they still got a prize). Margie was less than thrilled and nearly cussed out Phil. The rest of the teams were a bit surprised as well and then … To Be Continued. Since we know there won’t be an elimination (unless Kent & Vyxsin can’t find their passports), the big question hanging over Zev & Justin is will Kent & Vyxsin receive a time penalty for not taking the required flight from Tokyo to China or will they catch up to and pass them? We’ll find out next week.
Clacked by Chuck Duncan 
on Mar 14, 2011 @ 04:32 EST5EDT
I was surprised (in a good way) to see the Globetrotters hold the bus for Ron & Christina.
*POST AUTHOR*
Yeah, especially after Ron was throwing rocks at the bus to make them stop!