The Diary of Henry Reed: TARA 2 Episode 6 (LATEST)

MAD MONKS IN MONASTARY



Hey Guys,

Whew! Another leg down and closer to the prize. But after 6 weeks, I know this race can turn upside down in a heartbeat so the key is to not get too, too excited about 3rd place but to try and stay focused for the rest of the race .... but I have to admit, not being last does feel good.

I gotta go OT for a bit first to catch up on some stuff last nite. My Bacoor tennis club was invited to a dual meet in Manila in Mandaluyong. Appropriately, it's a mental institution 'cause the tennis was nutz! It was so much fun. The club is actually inside (sa loob) the institution gates but the players are all 100% sane and great people. I ended up playing 4 sets of doubles and finished off ... at about 2:00 am with a set of singles. Lost about 8 pounds of water weight and my tank was M-T!! It was one of the best times I've had playing tennis ... great people, great food ... just a great experience. But I paid for it later ....

About 5:30 this morning the cramps started. Apparently, I'm not 25 anymore! heh, heh, heh. I had huge thigh crunching cramps in both legs that moved down to my shins each time I breathed. Tried to "walk 'em off" but ended up just laying on the floor in a mass of moaning agony! Right now, every muscle in my body aches. My walk would make Fred Sanford proud. But would I do it again, hell yea!!!

Now on with the show ....

I sorta realized a very important fact by watching the show. First I gotta say that Terri is usually not a happy camper if she misses meals. Her "monster" comes out and it's not pretty. I knew this from the time we got married 13 years ago. But the race is so hectic, most days we really 'forgot' to eat and now, I think that may have had something to do with our fighting ... Her Monster broke out of it's cage in Singapore and ... well, he's still blasting me with a flame throwers breath at every turn ... but we're also still in the race.

I've also got to explain the "yield." We were the only team that yielded anyone. And as it turned out, Magnum PI was already ahead of us at the yield so it was really 'wasted.' But here's the deal. The producers told us before the race that when you got to a yield, you wouldn't know what position you were in with respect to the other teams. Kinda stupid to me. As each team got to the yield, if they decided not to yield anyone, they should have taken their picture out of the box. We decided to yield Magnum PI not for malicious reasons. We really thought they could absorb 30 minutes ... they've been kickin'' ass this entire race AND I really wanted to see what they would do in that crowded Korean market as far as entertainment went. Those dudes are very creative and easy on the eyes ... or so I'm told. I thought they'd draw a crowd, have some fun and still not be eliminated. It would also give another team a better chance to be first on the mat.

And finally, what good is a yield after the race? Can't use it to buy a burger at Jolibee. This competition is not like Survivor where you need a person's vote at the end. If Marc and Rovilson would have been upset by the yield .. and I don't think they would have been, well, they'd just have to get over it ...

When we left the faux Pit Stop in Japan and made it to the ferry terminal, we found that we had Cabin #38. Ooo... man I was excited. 6 hours to just chill in a cabin, unwind from the race and be all fresh and fired up when we got to S. Korea .... NOT!!! Seems EVERYBODY had Cabin #38!! Ay Naku!!! And inside the cabin they had all these little 2ft x 2ft x 2 ft boxes along the wall with pillows. That's where you stuck you head it to get a little sleep while the rest of your body hung out in the middle of the cabin commons .... oh, the joy.

The tasks on this leg were surprisingly easy ... finding clues was a pain in the ass. Usually, if the clues say, "take a cab" to such and such a place, you were golden but not here. most of those taxi drivers were pretty clueless. Lots of cell phone calls in Korean as they tried to figure out where things in Busan were. Crazy!

The last clue before the pit stop said something about "patience is the key." I figured the it must be that crazy task where you have 100's of locks and one key and you have to find the right one. As it turns out, I'm kinda a Zen master at figuring out the tasks from the clue. "Take the Plunge" in NZ. I figured bungee jump but I also thought it'd be long enough so that you got to dunk in the water. I wanted to do that so bad!!! I was VERY disappointed that I missed that opportunity but Terri did great so .... water under the bridge

Scooping fish in Japan, I was all over the rice paper. Breaking boards in S. Korea ... while they showed a lot of teams working on their karate chop technique, you hear me say ... "Kick like a mule."

For me, that was also part of the fun of the adventure .. just trying to figure out what you had to do before you got there ... it was just fun.

When we got to the key and locks Road Block, I was really impressed that Terri got it on only the 12th try. Incredible!!! or so I thought. When we talked to some of the other teams at the Pit Stop, 2 got it on the first try, one got it on 3 and another on 5. Again, my knowledge of probability says that's not likely so I still think that each key opened more than one of the locks. I think they did that 'cause they knew that it would be late when all the teams got to the locks since it was expected we'd all make the ferry. So they really didn't want teams to be dickin' around with those locks all night because trust me, we had a helluva day comin' up!!

The additional info in the clue for the Pit Stop said that at the monastery you had to be quiet and the women had to cover their arms. Well, monks don't have much of a sense of humor 'cause as all the racers gathered for our post leg meal, we tried to be quiet but in the dynamics of a group, we laughed and joked about all the craziness of the day. Those monks were ready to kick us all outa that place so we figured the best thing to do was just go to bed ... well, we would've gone to bed if in fact, those monks had 'beds."

They separated the men and women and we had to sleep on hard wood floors. They had these little 2ft x 2ft x 1 inch pads stacked in the corner of the room where all the guys slept and as we grabbed them to try and make beds, well, the monks informed us that the pads were not to be used for sleeping. That's what the floor was for!! Man! What a night. A few of the guys grabbed pads anyway ... me included. I decided to take the risk of a monk cursing my karma later on. That night, I needed some rest cause remember, the night before we all had slept on the tiles in the Tokyo train station.

The one thing I think I will always remember from that monastery is not the ornate beauty and detail of the woodcarvings on all the buildings but the ants! Yep the ants. That place had some of the biggest, strongest, meanest ants I have ever seen! Leave a crumb on the floor from your sandwich and within minutes, it was covered by the black mob with at trail leading back to their hideaway. Take your hand and smash the trail .... Haw, they just laughed!! No mass strikes against those guys. You had to grab them individually by the throat and give a Bruce Lee twist to get those guys to fall. Never seen anything like it.

Oh, Sawaka and Daichi got eliminated at the monastery. It was VERY emotional cause they really are great people. I think everybody really liked them. Lots and lots of tears .... but the race goes on.

Finally, the pics are from the Forum-ers XMAS party in Manila last week. #176 is Travis. He's the Korean boarder I was telling you about earlier. Paula (Team Thailand) also flew in for the party. They really, Really, REALLY like Paula ... heh, heh, heh.

Holla,

Henry