Amazing Race

[cassiesmom]

Wow, interesting elimination last night. Karen called it!

There are Vietnamese restaurants in Chicago and I've read that Vietnamese food is different from Chinese or Japanese. I'm curious about the soup they made with rice noodles, bean sprouts, peppers and herbs. The Vietnam War was going on when I was little but I don't remember it well.

[RICHARD]

Wow, interesting elimination last night. Karen called it!

There are Vietnamese restaurants in Chicago and I've read that Vietnamese food is different from Chinese or Japanese. I'm curious about the soup they made with rice noodles, bean sprouts, peppers and herbs. The Vietnam War was going on when I was little but I don't remember it well.

The soup is called pho.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pho

Good stuff, especially when you get it just made.

[Karen]

Wow, interesting elimination last night. Karen called it!

There are Vietnamese restaurants in Chicago and I've read that Vietnamese food is different from Chinese or Japanese. I'm curious about the soup they made with rice noodles, bean sprouts, peppers and herbs. The Vietnam War was going on when I was little but I don't remember it well.

I know Vietnam was a French colony for a while, so their food is not only based on their own local ingredients, but also influenced by the French colonials, too. We have Vietnamese restaurants around here, I have not tried one yet, but may someday!

[cassiesmom]

Interesting outcome tonight. I thought the comment made by one of the teams about an "off" odor in their vehicle was so not appropriate! Hello, there's a camera on you - and you're the guest in Botswana - so perhaps you should watch what you say.

I don't remember exactly how the song used in last week's segment in Vietnam was described. I thought Phil Keoghan referred to it simply as a "national song" but I could be wrong. Were the racers even told what the lyrics meant, or did they just have to get the lyrics right in Vietnamese? It struck me as odd that they would use a memorial featuring a downed B-52 as a clue site. But the Vietnam conflict ended in 1975 and I think most of the racers were born after that. So they can't even relate to it as something that happened during their lifetime. I don't think CBS was being insensitive, but I can see how older people (who remember more of the Vietnam conflict and are more likely to have been personally affected by it) might.

So now that the father and son team are out, I am not sure who to root for! Guess I'm rooting for Alabama, the hockey brothers and the roller derby moms. I want Mark and Bopper back!

[Karen]

I am sure it was one of the national propaganda songs for the socialist party, and the Vietnamese were thrilled to get it aired on American television, though I do not see any mass political conversions happening because of it.

I also thought that racer's comments about the odor were overplayed, I "get" we're not supposed to like her. And while I was disappointed there were no actual guinea fowl involved, I was surprised not many teams chose the "fowl" related task first, making fire by hand is notoriously tricky, as anyone who has ever been a scout, or watched any "reality tv" at all should know!

[Karen]

Well, now after we posted about this, CBS has apologized for the Amazing Race Hanoi episode, and are taking it seriously:

http://marquee.blogs.cnn.com/2013/03...tnam-war-vets/

[cassiesmom]

Surprising elimination this week. Didn't see it coming. I'm glad none of the teams tipped over their canoes with the baby goats (or even without!). I thought the second team to get a speeding ticket showed some "ugly American" behavior in how they handled that process.

[Karen]

I am always glad when an eliminated team handles it graciously, which they did. And I was particularly happy about the teams that actually showed some appreciation for the amazing surroundings they were in in Botswana!