Explorace Episode 5: Taiping

it's the time of the week again... Don't forget to watch it tonight at 9.30pm on TV3!!!!

Excerpt from the official website:

Taiping, meaning town of everlasting peace provided Explorace with many exciting destinations to explore. Heritage and historic buildings, beautiful landscaping and friendly, smiling locals who were always more than happy to support the crew of Explorace. The fourth race of round one saw two teams very excited about experiencing their extreme journey of a lifetime. The two teams competing were Reezman & Azhari and Naresh & Guna. At the starting point in the Taiping Lake Gardens, the teams were nervous, excited and die hard determined to execute their best physical and mental performance ever! The Grand Prize of RM100,000 plus the Malaysia Airlines Golden Holiday Package was firmly engraved in their minds. After the horn was blown by Explorace’s host Sasha Bashir, the teams split up with Azhari and Naresh taking Route 1 and Reezman and Guna taking Route 2. After opening their first clue envelope, all of them realized that half of their clue was missing! Where was it?! A quick paddle boat ride to the middle of the Taiping Lake Gardens water fountain enabled them to collect the missing portion of their clue and proceed to take on the challenges waiting for them. This task gave all of them a wet start to Explorace Taiping!

On Route 1, Azhari and Naresh first went to Bukit Gantang where they experienced first hand what it was like to be involved in agricultural activities. Herding chickens for transportation proved to be unexpectedly difficult! They won’t forget this experience everytime they eat chicken now! The next task point on Route 2 was Tekah Airstrip. The task? A 10,000 feet tandem sky dive! AAAAARGH! For anyone afraid of heights, this task would have been extremely traumatic! Azhari and Naresh looked nervous and excited as they listened carefully to the instructors. Safety is a number one priority here on Explorace….. Final instruction were received from the sky diver the contestants were strapped to for their dive. Successful completion of the sky dive and refolding the parachute entitled the contestants to receive the Golden Key. They both put on a brave face and made themselves very proud when they accomplished this ambitious task. The certificate they received at the end will serve as a constant reminder of their escapade!

On Route 2, Reezman and Guna had to learn very quickly how to work on a palm oil plantation. It proved to be a very tiring task for both of them. Their next task point at the zoo tested their mental ability to memorise correctly the scientific names of various animals in the zoo. Reezman got every one right! To retrieve the Golden Box, they had to brave any fears they may have of reptiles because it was in the easily agitated Mangrove Snake’s cage. Reezman embraced the opportunity to enter a snake’s sanctuary, but Guna took a while to enter into the unknown.

The contestants met their respective partners at the Matang Mangrove Forest, recognized as the most well managed mangrove swamp in the world. After completing their task of planting seeds, they had to row a boat to a charcoal factory to perform various stages of the process of producing charcoal. It was a really hot, sweaty and burning task. The final dash to the ending point at the Taiping Golf and Country Resort really sucked any remaining energy out of the teams. The teams were struggling with crippling cramps and sunset was approaching and they had been on the move since sunrise. Hard feat for anyone….

Competition was tight from the very start. But only one team can walk away as winners. Was it Reezman and Azhari or Naresh and Guna?