The thrilling first leg of the race - Competing like Vietnamese Showbiz

After an extensive filming period, the second season of 'The Amazing Race' aired its debut episode on the evening of June 21st. The initial destination for the teams to explore was Ha Long Bay.

Suspicions of 'throwing stones and hiding hands' in The Amazing Race

All 9 racing teams appeared quite comfortable, cheerful, and ready for the upcoming challenges. However, right after Huy Khanh's 'race' command, tension began to manifest on the faces of the teams as the first challenge proved to be anything but easy.

The racing teams had to kayak to the marked bridge of the program to retrieve 5 balls with individual letters, to spell out the phrase: 'The Amazing Race 2014.' Team Lan Trinh seemed delighted as kayaking was known to be a favorite sport of MC Hoang Nam, her companion.

And after two members took turns kayaking 5 rounds each to assemble the 5 balls into the phrase: 'The Amazing Race 2014,' the leading position in this challenge belonged to Team Green of Miko Lan Trinh and Hoang Nam. Following them were the Red Team of Long Dien, Kim Dung in 2nd place, and the Purple Team of Kim Thanh – Khai Anh in 3rd place.

Hiếu Nguyễn, Trang Trần, Trang Khiếu, Sơn Việt, Minh Long faced significant challenges as it took them an extensive amount of time to find the remaining balls. Some balls were hidden, while others had torn markings. Trang Khiếu panicked and couldn't stop crying, while Trang Trần comforted her and expressed great dissatisfaction with the situation.

Earlier, Hiếu Nguyễn's team also encountered a similar situation. Hiếu Nguyễn (the orange team) was frustrated when they couldn't find the ball with the required letter. 'It's very sad when they hide all the balls with the letters we need. For example, when they come first and get the letter 'Kỳ,' they stuff all the 'Kỳ' letters here (pointing to the slot on the boat). Playing like this is not fair.'

Tensions escalated further when Kim Thanh of the Purple Team spoke sarcastically while sitting in a taxi on the way to the hotel to proceed to the next challenge: 'Before the race, it was all smiles and friendly chatter, 'don't kill each other, okay?' But when it comes to the competition, they play the game of hiding their faces.' Meanwhile, the Kiwi couple Ngô Mai Trang singled out the Purple Team: 'Some teams may not seem like experts, but they are. Like the Purple Team for example, looking innocent and naive, but... wrong, 'the great heroes' indeed.'

Watching the race, viewers saw Ngô Mai Trang expressing dissatisfaction because her boat was tied in a good position, but when they finished finding the ball and got on the boat to paddle to the finish line, they discovered that the boat had been taken by someone else, causing her team to waste time finding another boat, which was not in a favorable position like the initial one.

Overcoming the fear of heights

The second task took place at Bãi Cháy Bridge, being in the lead, Team Green of Miko Lan Trinh and Hoàng Nam received the next clue earliest. Bãi Cháy Bridge is located on National Highway 18 connecting two parts of Ha Long city: Hòn Gai and Bãi Cháy.

With a height of approximately 60m, this challenge is indeed quite daunting as contestants have to rappel down from the middle point of the bridge. However, most members of the teams showed bravery, even when Hoàng Nam was the one performing the task, singer Miko Lan Trinh stood watching and burst into tears.

The remaining part of the Obstacle Crossing challenge requires finding a way to Muong Thanh Quang Ninh Hotel and finding the remaining team member in one of the many rooms on the 18th, 19th, and 20th floors of this hotel.

Although not a difficult challenge, it drained a lot of energy from the teams. This game brought together many elements, including patience, persuasion skills, calmness,... but luck was also essential. The final result is that the Green Team still maintains the lead, while the Red Team dropped to 3rd place after the Blue Team of Kiwi Ngô Mai Trang.

This is still considered the gentlest challenge of the first leg of the race. Because the next clue will take them to Hoa Yen Pagoda, located on Yen Tu Mountain, a 1,068m-high mountain in the Dong Trieu mountain range, northeastern Vietnam. The summit of the mountain is often shrouded in clouds, hence its former name Bạch Vân Mountain.

According to Huy Bân

***

Reference: Travel Handbook from Mytour