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Ronald & Christina find the cluebox in Jiji, which reveals the Roadblock. There's basically no skill in this one, beyond the power to not freak out. A team member will have to ride in a truck that's being driven back and forth on a teeter-totter, than take a 17 second ride underwater in an amphibious vehicle. Ronald, afraid of heights, is apparently the natural choice for a stunt Roadblock, for some reason that I'm sure will become apparent later. At least he doesn't have to do anything. He gets through it without too much difficulty (beyond hyperventilating a little) and this team is back on the road. They're sent back to Taipei to find a teahouse, for their next clue.

The other three teams arrive after they've left at about the same time, though the Roadblock is first come, first served. Rachel, then Nathan, then Donald go in order for their teams, with TK & Rachel discovering that the Speed Bump is waiting for them at the end. They'll have to run a gauntlet of fireworks about a mile away, then be doused with water - I suppose in case they're on fire at that point.

This lets Nathan & Jennifer jump into second place and head back to Taipei, or as Nathan continually refers to it, Tahpie. At least he's not trying to get to Bangkok. Nicolas & Donald move up to third place.

TK & Rachel reach the Speed Bump site and get decked out in full fireproof gear (I'm assuming) and a motorcycle helmet and run through the Field of Doom. It's not difficult at all, though it does take some nerve. With the two teams ahead of them having missed an earlier train by minutes, there's a shot for them to make back up that time. It's hard to tell if this made a difference, but TK buying tickets from the machine appears to have gotten them a spot on the same train as the other two teams, just in time.

Jennifer once again stews impotently at the temerity of them for not rolling over and dying. She interprets that fact they don't freak out every ten seconds as "not trying", and that they're doing a bunch of hard work and sweating, so of course they deserve to win. I wonder if it ever occurred to her that a calm attitude to the race might just be a winning strategy? But hey, keep the yelling idea going. It may pay off eventually.

Ron & Christina have made their way to the tea house back in Taipei, discovering the clue written in Mandarin at the bottom. Christina deciphers it almost completely, discovering that they need to go to a nearby night market, needing help only to determine that they need to find a clown there for the next clue. The clue is the Detour, which has them choosing between setting afloat 20 "sky lanterns" by light fires under them, and traversing a rocky footpath barefoot "to reduce stress". Oh, you wacky Taiwanese!

This seems like a pretty simple choice, depending on your pain tolerance. The 20 sky lanterns look like a pretty time consuming task, while the rocky path is just about mind over matter and can be sped up at will. Although Christina complains quite a bit about the path, they get through without much trouble and receive their final clue of the day, sending them to the Pit Stop at Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Plaza. This is really never going to be shown in China.

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