India - Amazing Race Leg 6

By the time D... and I got to the Pit Stop in Cambodia, it was lunchtime and we were POOPED! We ate a strange but tasty meal, and took a good, long nap in preparation for the next leg of the race. And it's a good thing we did! When we left at 11:34 p.m., our clue told us to fly over 2,000 miles to Delhi, India! Once there we had to travel by taxi to an area called Zamrud Pur and find Moonlight Motors.

India? We better get to ride an elephant or do some Bollywood dancing. Cuz we can't think of anything else appealing about India.

All the Teams caught up at a travel agency, where we all got tickets on the same flight to Delhi, that arrived at 4:15 p.m. We had a lot of time to sit around and do some internet research on Delhi, eat, talk about with the other Teams, and even take another little nap. I stayed awake on the flight after what D... did to me last time. That Sharpie mustache was just starting to be not-so-noticable. D... and I noticed a little flirting between Dallas and Starr - we think that's so cute! Too bad Dallas' mom was hanging around so much. She probably doesn't make the best wing-man, if you know what I'm sayin'.

When we landed in India, the first thing we noticed is it is HOT there! And CROWDED! The traffic was absolutely crazy, and it's a wonder we both didn't toss our cookies in that taxi. Between the heat and the smells.....ick. And there are cows EVERYWHERE! Since they are considered holy in India, they know they will not be harmed, so they go wherever they please!

Craziness. We were lucky to get a taxi driver who knew where he was going - I think some of the other Teams weren't so fortunate. When we found Moon Light Motors we discovered a Roadblock, a task that only one person can perform, with the question, "Who's got an artistic flair?" D... and I are both pretty artistic in our own ways....she with her photograpy, me with my writing...but this had something to do with cars, and since my Hubby is a car man, we decided I should do it.

In this Roadblock, I had to paint a black and yellow auto rickshaw, also called a tuk tuk, green to signify that they now run on natural gas. However, before I could paint, I had to mask the yellow exterior and interior with newspaper. When I finished masking and painting the rickshaw, I would receive our next clue.

This one wasn't so much hard as it was time-consuming. Some of the Teams didn't handle it so well. Terence bickered at Sarah the whole time, and Tina did the same to Ken. I was like, "Shut. Up. Already!" I had to tune them out the best I could so I could get my job done. It was hard to see because it was dark, but D... held a light for me, and I think I did a pretty good job! Yay! We finished about 3rd and got our next clue: make our way to the Ambassador Hotel and search the gardens for an Indian doorman, who would give us our next clue. Off we went!

Again with the traffic. And it's the middle of the night! This place is crazy.

The gardens of the Ambassador Hotel were lovely, and the Indian doorman easy to spot. We think he was checking out our boobies, tho. He gave us our next clue, which was a Detour, a choice between two tasks, each with its pros and cons. Our choices for this Detour were Launder Money or Launder Clothes.

In Launder Money, Teams made their way to a banquet hall and created a wedding necklace decorated with Indian money known as rupees. The necklace had to have exactly ten individual rupee notes that added up to the sum of 780. Teams would have to find ways to exchange money from their own stash of cash for the right combination of rupee notes. When the necklace was finished they had to find a waiting groom and trade it for their next clue. In Launder Clothes, Teams traveled to a laundry shop, chose an ironing station, and used a traditional charcoal heated iron to press twenty pieces of clothing. When the laundry woman determined that the clothes had been properly pressed, she would hand them their next clue.

Umm.....iron? What's that? We were confused. Having no idea what an iron was, we decided to make the wedding necklace. Besides that, weddings are fun! And would you believe that we had just the right amount of rubees in our stash that we didn't have to waste any time exchanging money! Whew!

When we got to the banquet hall we were stunned - it was CRAZY crowded with people!! Like Disney at Thanksgiving crowded. Who has a wedding reception in the middle of the dang night? Neither D... nor I do well with crowds. We're just short enough that our noses are at about armpit-level with all those crazy Indian people jumping and dancing around. It was crazy, I tell ya. Crazy. We finally got thru the crowd and to the necklace-making station. It was easy-peasy! We didn't even have to hot glue anything - it was all attached with staples! Then we had to go back into the mad crowd to find the groom. Oh, ya'll, it was bad. D... and I were being shoved left and right - we could barely hold on to each other. Someone grabbed my butt. I don't think it was D... And the smell. Oh lordie. We FINALLY found the groom and gave him the necklace, and he gave us our next clue: travel to the Pit Stop at Baha’i House, the national headquarters for the Baha’i faith.

We jumped in our tuk tuk and off we went! Nick & Starr got in ahead of us, as did Kelly & Christy (they both did that ironing thing, whatever that was). But we came in a solid 3rd place! Woot!

Ken & Tina were the last Team to arrive, but fortunately for them this was a non-elimination round, so they are still in the race. Some time during the next leg they will come up against a Speed Bump, an extra task that only they will have to complete. It may put them behind - even out of the race, but they're still in it for now. Those lucky dogs.

Well, we didn't get to ride an elephant today (altho we saw one at the wedding reception!), and we didn't see any Bollywood dancing, but we did make it thru this leg mostly unscathed. We're tired, and we need baths. And food. And sleep.

Tune in next week to see where our adventure takes us next!

Where We've Been:

Leg 5

Leg 4

Leg 3

Leg 2

Leg 1

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