Back to Taiwan

When we raced over to Taiwan this leg, it was a little more special for me because this is where I pretty much started my life working in Asia.  Before that, I was all set to become a starving actor in Hollywood.  However, almost exactly ten years ago, I was offered the opportunity to move to Taiwan to learn Mandarin and become a VJ (video jockey) for MTV.  Of course, I took the offer and it's been one helluva ride since getting bitten by the Asia bug...or lion!



Now, this leg of the race was really challenging for everyone, especially the teams because they had to drive themselves in Taipei.  It's tough enough driving in Taiwan already, but it's even more difficult if you don't speak Chinese cuz not too many people there speak English.  Even though the teams found themselves driving aimlessly in all parts of Taipei city, our host team still worked quickly to pop off the shots we needed.



Along the way, we even found a small pocket of time to hit up Xi Men Ding for some grubbin Ay-Chung Mian Xian...



...and also one of my old favorites, bubble tea with "pearls" (but you can still find these outlets anywhere in Taiwan)...



After that, it was off to the pit stop to prepare for the teams' arrival.  By now, some of the teams were working on the stinky tofu, which really is some nasty stuff.  However, the task wouldn't be so difficult if the bowl wasn't so humongous.  I think the amount that the team member had to put down was enough to put anyone down...even if it did taste good!



People always ask me how long we have to wait for the teams to arrive.  If we're all lucky, the teams all come in within several hours so it isn't too bad.  In this leg, I later found out we'd all be waiting until daybreak for the final team to check in.  Our cameraman Yves was feeling the fatigue...



...I even started doing some meditation in an attempt to make the night "race" by faster.



Of course, waiting for the final team is the worst, especially when you start seeing the sun making its move up the skyline from the east...



And just as everyone is about to run out of steam, father and son team Niroo and Kapil finally arrive after a seemingly endless night and are eliminated.  Even though it's always tough to see another team go, I could still put on a smile cuz we could all now get some much-needed rest...



And with this next pit stop lasting over fifteen hours, I was definitely going to need every single minute of our short rest before our call time. 

Tell you all about that next time!