Introduction → Meet the Teams → Race Tracker → Leg 1A → Leg 1B → Leg 2 → Leg 3 → Leg 4 → Leg 5 → Leg 6 → Leg 7 → Leg 8 → Leg 9 → Leg 10 → Leg 11 → Leg 12 → Leg 13
Leg 20.02 – “I’m absolutely terrified… and I love it!”
The Race continues as teams depart Pokhara on an overnight bus back to Kathmandu, arriving in the capital at 6am.
Upon arrival in Kathmandu, teams must make their way to Druk Gawa Khilwa Buddhist Nunnery.
Outside the nunnery, teams must check-in at the very first Double U-Turn Vote Board!
Then, teams will go through self-defense training from the world renowned Kung Fu Nuns, an order of Buddhist nuns of the Drukpa Lineage.
When teams are able to perform the moves and a kung fu routine, they will receive their next clue.
The Kung Fu Nuns are also known for their great humanitarian work around the world, especially in their home country after the 2015 earthquake. Teams will help in relief efforts in homes in villages outside of Kathmandu before continuing on the Race.
Teams will make their way to this village where they will find the Double U-Turn Reveal Board:
And the Detour: Before It Dries or After It Dries.
For both Detours, teams will get first-hand experience with making the hardest cheese in the world, chhurpi. Before each Detour, teams must first lead two chauri to their special grazing areas.
In Before It Dries, teams will learn how to and then prepare the milk needed to be boiled, remove the fat and then pour in sour yogurt. After properly mixing them together, they must then fill sacks into which the mixture will be left for 24 hours.
In After It Dries, teams will take already dried blocks of chhurpi and learn how to properly slice them and tie them to be hung.
This is also the Trigger Point for this Leg of the Race. If three or more teams are U-Turned, the U-Turn or Yield will be activated on the next Leg. After the Detour, teams will be given a serving of chhurpi which they must finish before receiving the next clue.
And that clue tells teams they will be flying to Lukla, Nepal!
Upon arrival at one of the most dangerous airports in the world, teams will find their next clue, the Road Block: Who cares?
For this Road Block, teams must sort through the cargo of goods from the plane they just arrived on to fill four care boxes and another box bound for Everest Base Camp.
After approved, teams must now take the four care boxes, tie them to their backs and hike up the hill to deliver them to a local school and hospital in the way a porter would to Everest Base Camp.
Once they’ve made their deliveries, teams will retrieve their Everest Base Camp supplies and now take a helicopter to Namche Bazaar.
The clue waiting at the helipad will direct teams to make their way on foot to the Pit Stop:
The Sherpa Culture Museum.
The first team to check-in here will win P200,000 courtesy of Shell V-Power Nitro+.
The last team to check-in here WILL NOT be eliminated as this is a Non-Elimination Leg. That team must Self Yield on the next Leg of the Race:
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Episode Thoughts
There is definitely a breathlessly (literally!) stunning Leg in Lukla and Namche Bazaar. But for our Google scouting purposes, this is the Leg we have. Really, this could be split up into two Legs again. One Leg in Kathmandu and the nearby villages. And then another full Leg in the mountains. Obviously it would be impossible to get teams to Everest Base camp in a meaningful way.
But for now, we have this Leg that actually looks more like a normal, contemporary TAR Leg. Not the loooong Legs TARPHDME is known for. Lol
I definitely wanted teams to meet the Kung Fu Nuns. I’m sure there’s also a different task that can be done with them, but any interaction with them is great.
The Detour is based on this Great Big Story video about chhurpi. It’s definitely a great task and something that gets teams out into rural Nepal more as well.
In looking for other places in Nepal we could visit other than Kathmandu and Pokhara again, I was reminded of the airport in Lukla. So getting teams to experience this would be very fun.
Again, there are definitely lots of better tasks that can be done in Lukla and Namche Bazaar.
But the main point with these tasks was to get teams to experience the high altitude with what would be a very physical task.
Originally, the Pit Stop was in Lukla as well, but I saw one could take a helicopter to Namche Bazaar for a fancy day tour to Everest Basecamp. So why not make the most of our visit to Nepal and include that trip here. It will definitely be an exhausting walk to the Pit Stop. (Don’t worry, we’ll take care of our teams.) But it should be wonderful to see teams walking through town.
I didn’t really want to have a Non-Elimination Leg on this Leg 2. But since I don’t like having plane rides in the middle of Legs, I just made this one Non-Elim. Perhaps this would be a better Leg in the middle of the Race. Especially as we have so many teams here (11!), it might be a logistical nightmare.
Overall, another solid Leg in stunning Nepal.