Episode 6 - Koh Phi Phi to Bukittinggi
Episode 6 saw our teams racing through Malaysia and entering Indonesia, with the biggest issues being budgets and for one team passports!
Fresh off their first place position Betty and James left keen to make an early sprint… to the nearby beach! They actually had the smallest budget left to start, and very quickly started spending it. Last week's use of a speedboat had secured them first place, but I’m not sure the cost was remotely worth it. John Hannah narrating pointed out early on, that they were now down to the final fifth of their budget, with a third of the race yet to go.
Stephen and Viv however still had a reasonable amount of money to spare, so Viv decided to take charge and start spending! Like Betty and James they took the beach route to Ko Lipe, where they worked at a beach bar, while the siblings took a job at a diving school.
Both teams were originally joined by Alfie and Owen, who travelled with them to Ko Lipe before trying to subtly move away as they took the first boat off to Langkawi.
The boys seemed to have a stronger plan this week, working in Langkawi at a nature reserve and pushing ahead further with an overnight bus to Kuala Lumpur.
The only team not to take the beachy island route, was last week's last place finishers, Isabel and Eugenie, who headed backwards to the Thai mainland to travel more overland to limit their spending on travel.
They also seemed to have a strong plan this leg, focusing on budget travel and heading to work on a rice farm in Kampong Pulau Belantik, Malaysia to experience a Malay thatched hut - something that Isabel seemed more excited by before realising the animals a jungle dwelling implied!
The duo seemed to get on a bit better this week, although I’m not sure what the real reaction was to the rice farmer missing that Eugenie was Isabel’s mum!
A much more tense atmosphere, yet somehow more mutually supportive were Betty and James who got stuck in Bagan Sungai Burong, after Betty left their passports on a bus.
As probably the most competitive racer James took it surprisingly well, although having lost his passport previously maybe he understood the emotions. They seemed stuck for a while trying to ring round the buses to find the bag, but were eventually reunited. I’ve been wondering how likely they are to make it to the final checkpoint for a while, but that was more budget based thoughts, then worrying they’d be unable to cross any borders.
Ultimately all four teams needed to get the ferry to Sumatra, with Alfie and Owen a confident first, Stephen, Viv, Eugenie and Isabel reluctantly meeting on the boat, and Betty and James travelling across four hours behind.
Steven and Viv and Eugenie and Isabel set off strong, but seemed to hit the world's slowest bus station, while the boys' day-long lead and enthusiastic racing meant they took a clear win being the only team to get to the Jam Gadang clock tower and sign into checkpoint 6 before the episode ended!
As such there’s no charts or position table this week as really the only data we have is “Alfie and Owen - 1st” 🤣
Still, think you can predict who’ll take episode 7? Get your prediction in here
