Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Farewell Episode...Our Truly Amazing Journey!!

For those who've watched the latest episode (EP8) of The Amazing Race China Rush 3, you guys would have found out that EP8 was our 'farewell' episode. Unfortunately, our Amazing Race journey has come to an end after 8 episodes. It was kinda sad and tough watching this episode but we're glad it turned out great. It was fun to see how it all went down and it definitely marked a good ending to our Amazing journey. =) 

Taiwan leg was just not our day...it was such a close leg from the beginning till the end. We did our best throughout this entire leg and a bad cab luck just threw us off. From the beginning of the race, we already knew that taxi luck is a huge part of the race...cab drivers can make or break you. And at the most crucial part of the race, we had a lost driver, no map, no GPS, no home-ground advantage, and the only thing we could rely on was road signs. Definitely the most frustrating cab ride ever...lol!!

When we arrived at Danshui Fisherman's Wharf, we were gonna take the ferry back and forth coz we thought that there would be a direct ferry from Fisherman's Wharf to Bali but it was LOW TIDE when we got there so there was no more direct ferry! =.= After knowing the fact that we'll have to take 4-ferries, the whole journey would take at least 1 hour and we may even risk missing the last boat back, we decided to take our chances and made the final strategic decision. Being in that situation, that was the best and probably the only thing we could have done at that point of time. Some people may think that it was a suicide move but as a matter of fact, we didn't give up or take any short-cut, we just decided to make the best strategic move we had. If you put yourself in our shoes under that circumstances (especially after being bummed by a bad cab luck and low tide), you would understand why we made that last decision. Of course we were hoping for a non-elimination but we knew it was over when Allan said "You've been eliminated".

淡水藍色公路...where were you when we needed you most???

How I wished we had google map on that day...haha!! Oh well...it just wasn't our day. Since the last part was such a complicated route, I've decided to make an illustration of the 3 possible routes. =P (P.S. According to google map, there was another faster way to get from Yeliu to Bali but all our cabs took the coastal route instead.) Blue route: Take cab all the way to Bali Pier but may be caught in rush hour traffic (Harvard & Trainers) Green route: Take ferry from Old Street-Bali-Old Street-Fisherman's Wharf (Models, Fiancés, Girls). Red route: Direct ferry from Fisherman's Wharf-Bali-Fisherman's Wharf (the route we planned to take but there was no ferry due to low tide)

Anyway, we've raced hard for 8 legs, and what we've been doing only works this far. It would have been great to be able to continue racing and complete the entire race but anything could happen in this race, it's anybody's game. That's what makes this race so interesting to watch! There were so many things that could have taken us out earlier in the race especially in the first 2 legs, and we just felt really blessed to have gone this far (2/3) in the race. The wonderful places that we've travelled to, the fun things that we've experienced, the people that we've met in the race, this entire journey had been absolutely AMAZING and we've enjoyed every single moment of it!!

I think the big lesson in this is that you're not gonna win it every time but whatever you do, give it your all and go for it. I think that us running the race and making it as far as we did is already winning. That explains why we were able to leave the race smiling. Of course it's sad and disappointing to be eliminated but we would rather count our blessings for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity than to dwell on the fact that we've been eliminated. That's life...you win some, you lose some. 

We started off this race as a mediocre team but as we moved on further into it leg-by-leg, we learned from our mistakes and managed to be one of the front-runners for 5 consecutive legs...quite a good feat for a co-ed team huh! =P This is a reality show and the intensity of the race brings out the best and worst of people, that's what makes it interesting to watch! As for us, the race showcased a lot of our funny moments and me bullying bro all the time...lol!! I guess what people liked about us is the unique chemistry between us, the way we interact (especially seeing me bullying bro), and basically us just being ourselves!!! =P Big thank you to everyone who have rooted for us and we're absolutely overwhelmed by your love and support!! Sorry to disappoint y'all!

Since we didn't have a 'flashback' for our elimination, I'll do a quick recap of our journey on The Amazing Race China Rush 3. =) 

Leg 1: We started the race as this blur & not-so-interesting team and was pretty much invisible in the 1st episode. Thanks to Hennifer, we made it through the starting line elimination but were at the back of the pack most of the time.  

Leg 2: We were still trying to keep up with the pace of the race and almost screwed up our detour. This episode also revealed bro's natural comedian potential...frantically looking outside the building and asking "Where's the doll? Where's the doll?" Being crazy asking me to "Wait! Listen! Listen! What's that sound? and after 3 secs of silence, he answered himself "Nothing". =.= Digging and shovelling dirt on me...lol!! Moved up one place and finished the leg number 6...still staying in the race so it's all good. 

Leg 3: Our breakthrough episode for being the only team that successfully completed the pot-balancing detour using our human-windblocker tactic. =) Started to reveal my bossy-sister character with my "Just go away!" and "Can you please shut your mouth up?"...lol!! Our pot-balancing detour brought us up to number 2 in this leg...pretty awesome!! 

Leg 4: Still portraying my bully image and this basketball scene was classic...lol!! Thanks to bro's basketball fail, I made a few more funny comments..."The 3 boys in our team have all played basketball before, but they are not good, just like him (bro). He thinks he's good at basketball, but I don't think so." Lol!! Despite our lousy basketball intersection, we still managed to catch up and finished number 2 again in this leg. =)

Leg 5: We had 2 number 2 in a row and still going strong this leg. Good taxi luck in this leg gave us a comfortable lead from the beginning till the end. Bro continued his natural comedian stint with his epic fail in searching for a pocket to throw the trash, awkward dive into the pool, and me wiping the sword with his pants...lol!! We chose a harder detour got ourselves injured doing that detour but it somehow provided a lot of entertainment for the show with our "I hit my balls" and "Oh my ass". This leg was quite a tough leg for us with a lot of physical challenges and injuries but we managed to overcome all the challenges and won our first ever number 1 in the race! =D

Leg 6: I fell sick after completing the last leg and I think I caught a cold in Moganshan. I was having fever, coughing, and my whole body was aching, so I had to push through this leg by popping aspirins to reduce my fever. I was definitely not in my best form to race but I'm glad we still managed to come in 2nd in this leg. 

Leg 7: The highlight of this entire episode was our sibling bickering...lol!! Hahaha...I'm such a big bully!! I was definitely pushing bro's limits and successfully provoked his 'hair explosion'...lol!! Even though bro was angry, he still cracks us up with his ridiculous hairstyle..."怒发冲冠" is the perfect word to describe him...lol!! We could have done better if he was faster but number 3 ain't too bad! =P

Leg 8: For the first time in China Rush history, we had the opportunity to venture out of mainland China and raced in Taiwan. Even though we've both been to Taipei before, being able to race in Taiwan was very exciting. This was a bitter-sweet leg, we had the opportunity to do fun stuffs like making a sky lantern and paragliding, but the pit stop at Danshui Fisherman's Wharf also marked the end of our Amazing Race journey. China Rush had really been an AMAZING journey for the both of us and it was definitely a dream come true for us.

Last but not least, here comes our 'oscar speech'. First of all, big thank you to ICS for giving us this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be part of cast of The Amazing Race China Rush 3. Thanks bro for joining this race with me, I can't think of any better person to run this race with. Throughout this month-long journey, we've had the opportunity to work with a lot of awesome peeps behind-the-scenes for China Rush. Trust me, it really ain't easy producing a race of this scale and this team of people really deserve more credits. There are so much going on behind-the-scenes that's so amazing and it's not a controlled environment at all, yet they're able to pull everything together and make this Race an Amazing one. The Amazing Race China Rush 3 that we're watching on TV today is months of hard work by a team of people who loves this race as much as we do. Kudos to the CR team for another Amazing season!! =) Thanks Chad, XiaJing, Steffano, Luis, Allan, Yating, David Xie, David Fu, Solo, Jonas, Bruce, Sam, HeMeng, Rachel, Yvonne, Betsy, Zoe, Ronnie, Jesse, XiaoFei, Josh, Claire, Yi YangTian, Ukachi, Paul, Lou, Ding Ding, Selena, Willa, Erik, etc. And of course, thanks to all our supporters for your love & support!


很可惜我们的冲刺之旅走到第八集终于结束了. 真心感谢所有支持和喜欢我们的人, 不好意思让你们失望了。比赛总有输赢...对我们来说, 能从马来西亚来到中国参加这个比赛,而且走得这么远, 已经非常满足了. 台湾这一个赛段的确是很可惜, 不过我们已经尽力了, 就少了一点运气.

感谢冲刺中国让我们两兄妹有机会见识了中国的山水好河, 有了很多难忘的经历, 也认识了一群很棒的朋友! 衷心感谢所有幕前幕后为冲刺中国努里的每一个人, 冲刺中国制作组真的是非常棒,背后的汗泪水可能很多人没看到,电视一分钟,后一年工! 谢谢二哥陪我参加这个比赛, 你绝对是我的最佳拍档! 虽然我好像一直都在欺负哥哥, 不过这就是我们的沟通方式. 兄妹那会有隔夜愁, 回想我们在比赛中吵吵闹闹也是挺有乐趣的, 也通过这次经验让大家知道我有一个好哥哥...哈哈!

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Amazing Journey - Taipei, Taiwan

Leg 8: Nanjing, Jiangsu (江苏南京) → Taipei, Taiwan (台湾台北)



Nanjing → Taipei


Detour: 'Take Flight' @ Shihfen Train Station

Shihfen Train Station

Roadblock: Paragliding @ Fei Cui Wan

Yeliu Geopark


Pit Stop @ Danshui Fisherman's Wharf

Result for Leg 8...our farewell episode

Ximending

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Amazing Journey - Nanjing, Jiangsu

Leg 7: Huangshan, Anhui (安徽黄山) → Nanjing, Jiangsu (江苏南京)


Huangshan → Nanjing

 
Roadblock: 'Dishing It Out' @ Hilton Nanjing Riverside


Detour: 'Screw This' @ China Railway Baoji Bridge Group

72nd floor of Zifeng Tower

'In a Tailspin' memory challenge @ Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics

Pit Stop @ Nanjing Olympic Sports Stadium


Results for Leg 7




Farewell Dinner with Henry & Jenn


Tuesday, October 9, 2012

AXN Big Challenge vs Amazing Race China Rush??

Bro & I have been getting a lot of similar questions lately and confusing a lot of people around us over the past month...mainly because of 2 things that start with the alphabet "A" - Amazing Race China Rush & AXN Big Challenge. Well, AXN & Amazing Race is somehow related (especially now that TAR21 is airing on AXN) so I'm not surprised why people got confused...lol!! 

As for us, these 2 things are absolutely unrelated...just so happen that the AXN Big Challenge commercial was aired on Astro for the whole month of September and The Amazing Race China Rush 3 is also airing now in China...lol!! To clear up the confusions...here are the answers to all the FAQs that we've been getting lately. =P

Q: "Oh I saw your commercial on TV! You must have made a lot of money from it huh?"
A: Nope, we didn't get paid anything from doing this commercial. Instead, I travelled down to KL on my own expense for this...just for fun. We were invited to do this commercial coz we were the winners for last year's AXN Big Challenge. 

Q: "Oh I saw you on TV! Congratulations on winning the Amazing Race!!"
A: Crap we confused people again...I knew this was coming! No the Race is not over yet and we were just promoting this year's AXN Big Challenge as last year's winners.

Q: "Oh I saw you on TV! When's your Amazing Race airing on AXN?"
A: Erm...that commercial was not for the Amazing Race. We haven't heard anything about the Amazing Race China Rush 3 being aired in Malaysia yet so maybe you can watch it on Youtube for the moment.
Q: "Never mind, I'll just wait for it to be aired on Astro. Let me know when it's aired."
A: [Sweat!!] Erm...slow slow wait har...I doubt it will be aired on Astro...lol!!

Q: "Oh when did you come back? I thought you're still in China?"
Q: "Where are you now by the way? Are you still in China or Malaysia?"
Q: "Ei why are you here? Aren't you supposed to be racing in China?"
Q: "Is your Race over already? When are you going back to China to continue racing?"
A: Ladies & gentlemen, we were done with the filming for the Amazing Race China Rush 3 back in April and we've been back for 6 months already. The Race is only aired in China now coz they need time to do the post-production...this is not 'live' la. =P

Q: "How much did you spend for the Race? Do you have to pay for your own travelling and accommodation cost?"
A: We only paid for our flights to Shanghai. Everything else (flights, hotels, meals) was paid for by the production during the race.

Q: "How did you find out about this Race and how did you apply? Was it easy?"
A: If there's a will, there's a way. =P If you're really interested to know, here's the link.

Q: "Where are the Youtube links? Can you please PM me?"
A: Here you go.

Q: "So did you win the Race?"
A: That's for me to know, for you to find out when the show is aired. =P

Hahaha...hope I've cleared all of your confusion...lol!! By the way, we're almost 2/3 through the Amazing Race China Rush 3. Check out the first 7 episodes in the playlist below and stay tuned as the Top 6 teams continue to experience the RUSH of a lifetime!!

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Red Hot Redang!!

8-11 Sept 2012 (Sat-Mon) ~ "Red Hot Redang" Annual Teambuilding Trip
It has been almost a month since our 4D3N annual trip to Redang Island. I shall put my Amazing Race related posts on hold and start blogging about this trip before I forget too much details. =P Last year, we travelled a long way to Phuket last year so we decided to go somewhere nearer and cuti-cuti Malaysia this year. We ended up choosing Redang mainly bcoz there's really not much choice of interesting places within our budget. =P This was also my first time in Redang and I absolutely loved it...beautiful white sandy beach, blue skies and clear waters!!!

Being part of the organizing committee, this trip was our final project before we 'retire' and we decided to handle everything ourselves without engaging any tour agent. Lotsa work but we're glad everything turned out great and everyone enjoyed themselves.  =)

Started our journey eastbound from Penang at 10pm in 3 buses and arrived Merang Jetty at 6am the next morning. Everyone looked sleepy after spending a night in the bus but having comfortable buses this time around definitely made the long journey less painful. 

The energetic brainy bunch started playing chess while waiting for our 9am ferry.

These people really know how to entertain themselves...lol!!

Finally arrived our hotel, Laguna Redang Island Resort!

Went for a stroll on the white sandy beach while waiting to check-in. We thought our afternoon would be ruined by the rain.

Our accommodation for 2 nights. P.S. Laguna is one of the best hotels on the island.

Yummy-licious buffet lunch. 

The team-building games was supposed to be scheduled on Sunday morning but we made a last minute decision to switch it up to Saturday afternoon coz it looked like it was gonna rain and it wouldn't be nice to snorkel. With only 2 hours to get things ready, all 12 committees worked together to help trial-run and set-up the games...total teamwork. =) 

As we were busy setting up the games, the energetic bunch can't wait to get soaked and tanned in a frisbee game. I guess the nice blue sea was too hard to resist...haha!!


A group photo in our brand new t-shirt before the teambuilding session. Great photo!!! Thanks to XinYi for this awesome pic!!! =)

Lucky us the dark clouds cleared and we had clear blue skies for the rest of the afternoon. Perfect weather with a stunning sea view for our teambuilding games...what more can we ask for? =) Good decision for us to do the last minute change in schedule.

Speaking about good view...these Europeans provided us with another 'good view'...lol!!

Game 1: Closer!! Just like the name of this game, team members have to stay close to each other to squeeze a bread between them and go through an obstacles course without dropping the bread. Awkward position --> bottom right pic...lol!!

Game 2: Spin It!! Basically team members have to take turns to pass on a 5 meters velcro strip by spinning in opposite directions. I realized 5 meters wasn't long enough to make them giddy...lol!!


Game 3: Volley-balloon. One team member have to catch as many water balloons as they could with a basket tied to them. The remaining team members take turns to bounce the water balloons with a rubbish bag over the net to the catcher on the other side.


Game 4: Caterpillar. 2 teams will have to fight/cooperate with each other to move the whole team from one side of the box to the other side of the box going though a common box in the middle. Teams that don't work well together will tumble and fall. 

Game 5: Water Relay. Our main objective of this game is to get everyone soaked...lol!! We gave each person something to fill the water on their head and they'll have to pass enough water to fill up 1 liter of water at the end. Our game masters were being very helpful in sabotaging the players...lol!!


10 awesome teams!! (which team is missing here?) We were surprised that EVERYONE turned up for the teambuilding games...this is very unusual based on historical trends...lol!! Anyway, thanks to everyone for being so participative and sporting!! Hope y'all enjoyed all the games!! 


SRC 2011/2012 Committee...Mission Accomplished!! =D A big thank you to all the committees for helping out with the games and planning this entire trip. It's been a great year being part of this awesome team!! 


Now that we're done with our work...it's time to partayyy and start dumping people into the sea!! That was our 'reward' for being the committees...lol!!

Good times @ Red Hot Redang 2012


Time to reward ourselves with a good BBQ dinner.

Beautiful Sunday morning for snorkelling!


The water is so clear at the Marine Park!! 


So many fishes around but there were also lotsa jellyfish in the sea. Few of our people got stung by jellyfish. =.=

Thanks to XinYi for all these colorful pictures!! =D


B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L!!


Great place to escape from the hustle and bustle of the city. 


More More Tea Inn...one of the most famous landmark on the island because of the movie 'Summer Holiday'.


Last stroll on the white sandy beach...


Jumping everywhere again...haha!!


The theme for this year's annual dinner...'Where Movies Come to Life'. Thank you to the sub-committees for making the annual dinner a big success!! Well done guys!! 


Some entertaining games for the promotees...lol!! =P


"It was a great team building trip! Thanks to the organisers and to each and everyone of you for being so sporting and participative...Great!" - CCM
"Just a note to thank you all for having me at Red Hot Redang. What I saw was a red hot PwC spirit still burning brightly, the spirit that encapsulated work hard, play harder. The organisation has the pure PwC DNA lineage...A testament to hard work and creativity of the organisation committee. Kudos, keep up the good work peeps :)" - TEC


Spotted this cutie pie at the hotel's lobby...so chu bi!! 


Goodbye Redang!!