PHNOM PENH GETS THE PACE OF THE AMAZING RACE

In a climate of resentment towards foreigner intervention in Cambodia the Amazing Race USA pays a visit to the country and its capitol city Phnom Penh in this weeks episode. The 15th cycle of the program that started out with 12 teams of two is now down to nine as three teams have been eliminated.

The trip to Phnom Penh follows two episodes in Vietnam. This week will be interesting to tourists that plan to visit Khmer land. For starters it will be revealed on this week's program how they travel from Saigon, Vietnam to Phnom Penh. Also it will be interesting to see what the show feels are interesting tasks to do while in Cambodia and what sites they feel are interesting enough to televise for their large international audience. This will be an exercise in travel tips in motion.

Another point of interest will be where the contestants will be bedded down. In previous episodes the show has used temples and watts for the purpose.

Two of the interesting surviving teams include two basketball players Herbert Lang (32); Nathaniel Lofton (28) who are members of the famed international professional basketball team the Harlem Globetrotters. The 6'9," Nathaniel is referred to as & The Big Easy and the 6'3"Herbert goes by the tag Flight Time. The duo finished first in the last leg of the race.

The Globetrotters are well known for their tricks with the basketball as well as being accomplished players. In the past they have defeated the Los Angeles Lakers (then Minneapolis) and the USA's college All-Stars.

Another interesting duo is Ericka Dunlap (27) who was Miss America 2004 and her husband Brian Kleinschmidt (27). They are the first married interracial team on The Amazing Race. They have finished 6th, 10th and 4th for the first three legs of the race. Ericka says her life's goal is to become a country music recording artist.

After teams were eliminated they were sequestered at a villa in Phú Qu?c, Vietnam to await the finale, with the exception of Eric & Lisa, who were eliminated at the Starting Line and chose to leave the show. CBS posted short videos on its website after each episode aired in the Pacific time zone to show the eliminated teams interacting at the villa.

* Leg 1 was a non-elimination leg, hence no new teams were sent to the villa and no episode was shown as no teams had arrived at the villa.

* After Leg 2, Garrett & Jessica were the first team eliminated and sent to the villa. They both expressed their disappointment after having been in second place earlier in the leg and then being the first eliminated. Garrett believed that either Maria & Tiffany or Mika & Canaan would be the next team eliminated but both agreed that any of the teams could be eliminated next because of the animal challenges that presented them in the leg prior. Garrett noticed that Jessica was extremely bummed since being eliminated and Garrett wanted to ask her to marry him at the Finish Line. Garrett proposed to Jessica at the beach and she said yes, after which her mood was significantly raised.

* After Leg 3, Marcy & Ron were the second team eliminated and sent to the villa. Ron told Garrett & Jessica that the intensity has gone up a notch between the remaining racers in the last leg. The eliminated teams did a Vietnamese Martial Arts Exercise, then went out to a luxurious restaurant called "vi?t xua." They took different views as to who would be the next team eliminated; Marcy believed that Flight Time & Big Easy would be eliminated next, Garrett, Jessica and Ron went with Meghan & Cheyne, Sam & Dan and Mika & Canaan respectively.

The race is on to see what team will win the $ 1 million first place prize. For this week the question is who will be eliminated in the land of Angkor Wat?

AMAZING RACE SCHEDULE

Leg 1 (United States ? Japan) The Los Angeles River's wider channel near the mouth was the starting line * Los Angeles, California, Los Angeles River Basin (Starting Line) * Flight: Los Angeles (Los Angeles International Airport) to Tokyo, Japan (Narita International Airport) * Tokyo (Konno Hachiman Shrine) - Pit Stop (Leg 1) - COMPLETED

Leg 2 (Japan ? Vietnam) * Flight: Tokyo (Narita International Airport) to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (Tan Son Nhat International Airport) * Cái Bè - COMPLETED

Leg 3 (Vietnam) * Ho Chi Minh City - COMPLETED

FUTURE LEGS

Leg 4 (Vietnam ? Cambodia) * Phnom Penh, Cambodia Flag of Cambodia

Leg 5 (Cambodia ? United Arab Emirates) * Flight: Phnom Penh (Phnom Penh International Airport) to Dubai, United Arab Emirates (Dubai International Airport)

Leg 6 (United Arab Emirates) * Dubai

Leg 7 (United Arab Emirates ? Netherlands) * Flight: Dubai (Dubai International Airport) to Amsterdam, Netherlands (Amsterdam Airport Schiphol) * Groningen

Leg 8 (Netherlands ? Sweden) * Flight: Amsterdam (Amsterdam Airport Schiphol) to Stockholm, Sweden (Stockholm-Arlanda Airport)

Leg 9 (Sweden ? Estonia) * Ferry: Stockholm (Port of Stockholm) to Tallinn, Estonia Flag of Estonia (Port of Tallinn)

Leg 10 (Estonia ? Czech Republic) * Flight: Tallinn (Lennart Meri Tallinn Airport) to Prague, Czech Republic (Ruzyne Airport)

Leg 11 (Czech Republic) * Prague

Leg 12 (Czech Republic ? United States) * Flight: Prague (Ruzyne Airport) to Las Vegas, Nevada, USA Flag of the United States (McCarran International Airport)

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AMERICAN IDOL RERUNS TRANSLATED IN KHMER LANGUAGE

It seems that American Idols licensing partner Freemantle Media is doing business in Cambodia as Cambodia's My TV is airing reruns of the show with Khmer translations on Sunday afternoons. My TV is positioned in the channel previously designated for the CTN (Cambodian Television Network) International channel. That channel has been moved to a less favorable position from 51 to 68 which is at the end of the channel spectrum on many of the older TV sets in Cambodia.

8 PM Cambodia/Thailand =

9 PM Hong Kong/Singapore =

10 PM Malaysia

 

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MONDAY

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