The Amazing Beijing Adventure Race Round 1 – April 2011

(Round 2 to be held in 16 July 2011 – if you are interested in playing please contact us!)

Molldrew have both had a growing fascination with the Amazing Race adventure series. The prospect of dashing around the world solving clues seems an amazing challenge, considering all the logistical issues and strange challenges that you need to take part in.

From this idea, Molldrew and the Guihots decided to get together and create the Amazing Beijing Adventure Race, an event held on April 9, 2011. The rules of the event were based on the Polaris series in Australia, where teams would have six hours to go to various checkpoints around the city and complete tasks worth varying levels of points. Taxis were not allowed, but biking or using public transport was.

Three teams took part in the inaugural race, Molldrew, the Guihots, and Kristen and Cait.

Ready to go!

A recount of how the Guihots went is available at http://guihots-in-beijing.blogspot.com/2011/04/amazing-beijing-adventure-race.html

Molldrew had enormous fun using public transport to race across all points of the city, it was really fun trying to deal with all the transportation issues. While the Beijing subway system is large and growing enormously, there are gaps in the system where we needed to work out buses and where to walk, which was a wonderful way to explore!

Highlights of our race included:

• Rushing to secure our final checkpoint. We didn’t think we were going to make it in time as we dashed across the city, using subway, running and buses to make it back in time. As we dashed from the bus back home we arrived with just three minutes left. Only to later see the Guihot arrive with less than 30 seconds to spare!
• Hearing the stories of the other teams. The best involved a team arriving five minutes before closing time of the Police Museum and insisting that as Australians, they had to be allowed in to see the gifts the Australian Federal Police gave the Beijing Police. The team managed to brush aside Police Museum officials requests to come back tomorrow, using sheer determination and wonderful Chinese skills to get allowed inside.
• While waiting for the subway train, Molldrew were animatedly talking about how to get to the next checkpoint. Suddenly, a Chinese woman appears out of nowhere, interrupts our conversation, and starts listing random facts in English about Chinese transportation. While on the subway, the Chinese woman turned her topic from transportation to general Chinese propaganda, while Molly half-listened and Andrew didn’t listen at all. Our way of thanking her for her story was to rush off the train quickly, desperately seeking to reach our final checkpoint! One wonders what she was doing, or what she thought of us!
• Getting to see different places around the city. Molly had never been to the Beijing Zoo, and was given the opportunity to see pandas up close for the first time. We spent an extra five minutes allowing Molly to get to know the pandas before we headed on.

Overall we completed the following checkpoints in our six hour period:

1. Yaxiu Markets - Buy a tacky birthday present for Andrew. Maximum spend RMB25. Tackiest present gets 40 bonus points, 2nd 20 bonus points.
2. Chaoyang Park, South Gate - Take a picture of a team member in front of the picturesque South Gate.
3. CCTV Building - Take a picture of a team member with both the CCTV building and the burnt out building next door.
4. Glasses Market - Find the most interesting pair of glasses and take a picture. Winning picture gets 20 bonus points.

5. Toy Market - What is the name of one of the brands of tennis rackets sold at the Toy Market?
6. Temple of Heaven - Take pictures of a team member performing three activities alongside the locals. For example: playing tennis, tai chi, dancing, etc.

7. Wangfujing Snack Street - Take a picture of a team member trying one of the local delicacies available from the Snack Street

8. Beijing Police Museum - The Australian Police Force gave three gifts to the Beijing Police: a plaque, a police hat and a what?
9. Tiananmen Square - Ask a Chinese tourist to have a picture with them and a team member.
10. Beijing Zoo - Find and take pictures of a team member with five different animals: 1. An animal with four legs, 2. An animal with two legs. 3. An animal native to Africa. 4. An animal with a tail. 5. An animal that is black and white.

11. Joy City - Ride the longest escalator in China in Joy City. How long does it take to go up?
12. Repelling Demons Stone - Find the Repelling Demons Stone on the wall with the following inscription 石敢当止煞 “This Stone Repels Demons" (No English) . What is the animal on the stone?

Here’s a map and description of how we got around town.

Mode	From	To	Distance
WALK	Start / Finish (S)	Yaxiu Market (1)	0.7	km
BUS	Yaxiu Market (1)	Chaoyang Park (2)	1.8	km
BUS	Chaoyang Park	Tuanjiehu	1.4	km
SUBWAY	Tuanjiehu	Jintaixizhao (3)	1.5	km
SUBWAY	Jintaixizhao (3)	Jinsong	2.5	km
WALK	Jinsong	Glasses Market (4)	0.4	km
WALK	Glasses Market (4)	West Jinsong Lunch (L)	0.9	km
BUS	West Jinsong Lunch (L)	Toy Market (5)	1.5	km
WALK	Toy Market (5)	Temple of Heaven (6)	0.1	km
SUBWAY	Temple of Heaven (6)	Wangfujing (7)	3.6	km
WALK	Wangfujing (7)	Police Museum (8)	1.1	km
WALK	Police Museum (8)	Tiannamen Square (9)	0.5	km
SUBWAY	Tiannamen Square (9)	Beijing Zoo (10)	7.9	km
SUBWAY	Beijing Zoo (10)	Lingjing Hutong	4.6	km
WALK	Lingjing Hutong	Joy City (11)	0.4	km
WALK	Joy City (11)	Xidan	0.4	km
SUBWAY	Xidan	Dongsi	4.6	km
WALK	Dongsi	Repel Demons Stone (12)	0.3	km
WALK	Repel Demons Stone (12)	Zhangzizhonglu	0.6	km
BUS	Zhangzizhonglu	Worker's Gynasium	1.6	km
WALK	Worker's Gynasium	Start / Finish (S)	0.4	km
		Total Distance	36.8	km
		Walk	5.8	km
		Bus	6.3	km
		Subway	24.7	km

Aftermath – teams tell the tales of their day