The Amazing Race 19 Episode 5 – I Feel Like I’m in the Circus
The Leg
  
The fifth leg begins as teams take a local taxi known as a songthaew to the Ton Pariwat Wildlife Conservation Area where they will take local transport, an Asian elephant, up the river to their clue waiting for them in a bucket.
Andy & Tommy keep their (one hour!) lead and find the first clue is a Road Block.
In this Road Block, teams must follow the sound of music coming from a man playing a traditional Thai flute leading them to a waterfall where they must search underwater for their next clue,
Andy does the Road Block and dives in to find a ceramic Koi fish wrapped in a cloth. He takes it back to Tommy and they break it open. The clue tells teams to head to a local shop to disassemble a Thai Spirit House, load it into their songthaew and deliver it to the Wat Chalong temple where they’ll find their next clue.
  
The other teams arrive one by one to complete the first Road Block, but before being able to do all of that, Liz & Marie have their Speed Bump.
For their Speed Bump, Liz & Marie have to clean up elephant dung before washing one of the elephants in the river. They have a lot of fun with it.
Andy & Tommy arrive at the temple and find their next clue… is a Road Block.
For the 2nd Road Block, teams must now reassemble the Spirit House exactly as it was when they disassembled it. And the team member that did not complete the first Road Block, MUST complete this one.
Tommy puts his together, but it isn’t correct. They hadn’t taken notes, so Tommy has to go back to the store. He draws a diagram this time and they get their next clue and something wrapped in a cloth. Teams must now take a bus to Bangkok and head to the Bangkok Noi Canal where they will feed the fish with the food given to them by the monk.
  
For the other teams, Justin & Jennifer use their driver’s cameraphone to snap a picture of the setup while Jeremy & Sandy, Amani & Marcus, Bill & Cathi and Liz & Marie take notes. But Laurence shoots down Zac’s suggestion to take notes (and gets pissed off) as does Ernie to Cindy.
Andy & Tommy, Justin & Jennifer, and Jeremy & Sandy all get onto one 4:30pm bus, while Zac & Laurence buy tickets for another 4:30pm bus. They worry about it being a “first class” bus and later get off it fearing a penalty.
Meanwhile, Ernie & Cindy have a big problem when their songthaew driver doesn’t want to accept their $100 for payment. The other teams had also balked at the $150/4500 baht fare. A woman (maybe a ticket agent or dispatcher?) comes up and threatens to call the police. Ernie & Cindy are all WTF?! but end up giving the guy $150 anyway after telling him he was a horrible driver.
 
They get on a 5:30pm bus by themselves while Amani & Marcus and Bill & Cathi are on another 5:30pm bus. Zac & Laurence go back to the station and now have to wait for an 8:00pm bus that isn’t “first class.”
Liz & Marie encounter a problem of their own. Low on funds, they go buy their bus tickets and then give the rest of their money to their songthaew driver. But some guy (similar in purpose as the threatening lady from earlier) says it’s not enough. As they take care of their songthaew fare, the bus that they’ve already bought tickets for is leaving. The songthaew driver accepts the rest of their money and then offers to drive them to catch up to the bus at the next stop.
  
It’s the next morning and the first team to arrive in Bangkok… Ernie & Cindy. They head to the water to feed the fish. Next bus to arrive carries Andy & Tommy, Justin & Jennifer, and Jeremy & Sandy followed by the bus carrying Amani & Marcus and Bill & Cathi and finally the buses of Zac & Laurence and Liz & Marie.
After feeding the fish, teams can head to the Pit Stop, the M.R. Kukrit Heritage Home. Ernie & Cindy head out, but they get stuck in traffic so they decide to get out and go the rest of the way on foot. The teams of Bus #2 get stuck in traffic on the way to the fish, allowing Amani & Marus and Bill & Cathi to surge ahead and eventually arrive at the Mat as Teams #1 and #2 respectively.
Ernie & Cindy have to settle for 3rd.
  
Liz & Marie have to walk everywhere since they have zero money, until they muster up the courage to ask a taxi driver if he can drive them for free and he does.
Andy & Tommy go to some school to ask for directions having taken off running from the fish. But the lady takes their clue and disappears to teach a class with it or something. She eventually returns, but the delay lets Justin & Jennifer check-in as Team #4., much to their disappointment (?!).
Andy & Tommy end up as Team #5 with Zac & Laurence right behind them in 6th Phil asks them about getting off the bus and he gives them a dumbfounded look as Laurence explains why. Phil then tells them that, nope, there is no rule against taking “first class” bus rides.
Jeremy & Sandy get lost, but still finish 7th leaving twins Liz & Marie last and eliminated.
Episode Thoughts
A very interesting episode. First off, the double Road Block was definitely a surprise. But it did make for probably the strangest leg design yet. Two Road Blocks then an overnight bus ride to the Pit Stop?
The majority of the episode actually was devoted to buses and taxi troubles more than the tasks. It sucks there was no Detour, but the first Road Block was so simple. While the elephants were awesome, I guess it played to the effect of the 2nd Road Block where the other team member HAD to do it. And with the non-direct clue, it would throw teams off even more.
For the 2nd Road Block, the cameraphone was a bit much, but I think the task was designed mainly to get teams to regret not having the foresight to take notes and creating the drama of having to go back to the store they had picked up the Spirit Houses.
And Zac & Laurence’s bus blunder. I knew the “first class” rule only applied to planes. If only they’d watched TAR3’s final three and know how beneficial it is to have first class seats on an Asian bus or train!
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