In July 2007, The Amazing Race came to Taiwan for the first time. It can be seen in Episode 10 of Season 12.
The first thing they did was take taxis to the Taipei Train Station, where they found the clue box by the east entrance.
From the show:
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Then they had to take the High Speed Rail to Taichung, then another taxi to Jiji (a ride of about an hour and a half!) where they had to take a harrowing ride on an acrobatics jeep. I'd never heard of this place before, but some online Googling shows that it's a place called 集集特技村 (Jiji Stunt Village), run by a stunt driver named 吉普阿諾 (Jeep Arnold). How the producers of The Amazing Race found this strange place is beyond me. But the producers have a penchant for the bizarre when it comes to challenges.
Then they taxied back to Taichung and took the HSR back to Taipei for their next task. The next place they had to visit was a teahouse that just happens to be around the corner from where I practice kung fu with Nick. Unfortunately I wasn't there to witness it myself, but I know the location.
The place is the GK Teahouse, right in the National Taiwan University/Gongguan area of Taipei, behind the big Baptist church on Xinsheng S. Road.
From the show:
My photo:
Their task there is to drink a cup of very hot tea, and at the bottom of the cup, printed in Chinese, is their next instruction, which is to go to the Gongguan Night Market (which is very close by - essentially across the street once they get out of the alley).
Asking the way:
Location:
I noticed that the tea they drank was roselle tea. Roselle is a flower, a kind of hibiscus, that imparts a strong, plum-like flavor to tea.
From the show:
What I ordered today:
Now, there's no way anyone in Taipei could hop in a taxi, tell the driver "GK Teahouse", and even hope to be brought to the right place. They wouldn't know what hell you're blabbering about. First, few drivers speak English. Second, the teahouse is not well known. Third, it's a chain with about 10 locations around the city. But all four teams managed to find cabs where the driver knew exactly where to go. Their clue cards must have had the address printed on them in Chinese.
Anyway, at the bottom of the teacups are printed, in Chinese, the words 走到公館夜市找小丑 ("Walk to the Gongguan Night Market and find a clown"). Gongguan is the area on Roosevelt Road opposite National Taiwan University, and the night market occupies the alleys along and behind Roosevelt Road for about a block or two. They find the clown here, in Lane 108:
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Their next task is to go to Youth Park and walk barefoot along a stone path. These paths are notoriously painful for the uninitiated.
From the show:
My photo:
Nate & Jen are given bad advice by a bystander. She tells them to take the MRT because the traffic is heavy. But the MRT doesn't go to anywhere near Youth Park. They are told by the information desk that they have to go to Ximen Station and take a bus from there. This should have been a clue for them to rethink their strategy. Had they asked at the information counter if a cab would have been faster, as Nate suggested doing, the answer would have been a resounding Yes. But Jen's insistence on taking the subway cost them the game. Ronald & Christina, on the other hand, did the optimal thing, which was to hop in a cab heading the right direction along Tingzhou Rd. That is the quickest way to get to Youth Park from Gongguan.
The street corner in Ximending where Nate & Jen have a rip-roaring fight:
My photo:
They then hop on the No. 212 bus to Youth Park. Even in light traffic, the ride is about 20 minutes. What a waste of time!
After cutting their feet up on the stone path, they take a taxi to the pit stop, Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall. Of course every taxi driver knows where it is, but few know what it's called in English, so most teams have little luck at first, since the Chinese is Zhongzheng Jinian Tang, which sounds nothing like the English. Thankfully, with the help of some bystanders, the taxi drivers find out where to go.
At the plaza, the teams meet up with Phil Keoghan, the host of the show, to find out if they've been eliminated or not. The last team to arrive, the ones who took the subway to Youth Park, is eliminated.
