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Welcome to Leg Three of The Amazing Race, now a little less cheery. The teams are in Outer Mongolia, eating, sleeping and mingling. Sarah and Ass (that's my name for her partner, who has become Voldemort to me - He Who Shall Not Be Named) are the first to leave the pit stop at 6:54 a.m. They read the clue, which tells them they are heading to Hanoi, Vietnam – more specifically to the infamous prison, better known as the Hanoi Hilton. Sarah informs us that the teams have no money for this leg of the race. HARSH! Later, she reads that the teams cannot beg or sell anything to make money. Double HARSH!! But it's a twist I really like as it penalizes those who weren't careful with their cash. The clue also indicates that the teams can only book their flights through a travel agency at the Genghis Khan Hotel in the downtown area. The other teams leave in fairly short order. As to the reaction of Vietnam as a destination, Duke mentions that many of his friends died there. Duke also later states that he and Lauren only have $11 to their names. Mmmm...I sense editorial foreboding.

The travel agency at the Genghis Khan Hotel (which a number of teams mispronounce – who hasn't heard of Genghis Khan?) does not open until to 9:00 a.m., which results in a bit of bunching at the beginning of this leg. On the way to the Hotel, a weird little scene plays out; David mentions that he became emotional when he realized he was going to Vietnam as his father served there. He is in the middle – literally – of discussing the impact on his dad when Mary berates him about not driving fast enough. Sure it's a race, but I think she could have let him finish the sentence. Anyway, most of the teams get to the hotel prior to its 9 a.m. opening time, so they form a line for the agents and wait. When the office opens, there a minor kerfuffle between the beauty queens and Tom and Terry, but it is so minor that it's better to just move on. In the end all the teams are on the same flight to Vietnam.

The plane disembarks in Hanoi at close to 11 p.m. and of course the prison is closed until morning. On the plane Duke hooks up with a local woman (eww...not that way) who is going to help them with the language. Duke decides to WAIT for her before they leave in their cab, allowing all the other teams to get in front of them. Lauren is not in favor of this arrangement. And her instincts are right. Little Miss Helpful instructs the cab driver to take her to her destination first, which means Duke and Lauren go 30 minutes out of their way. They are lucky there is bunching given the prison's opening hours. They are also lucky that the taxi driver accepts $11 for his fare, which was much higher.

When the prison opens, all the teams rush in. This is one of the aspects of The Amazing Race I have mixed feelings about. As a viewer, I'm fascinated by the fact that the Vietnamese government has turned a place as controversial as the Hanoi Hilton into a museum. I was really interested in the little I got to see of the place. But I'm also really put off by the fact that there are these people scurrying around a place, playing this game, in the very place where so many people suffered. Anyway, the teams are instructed to look for Senator John McCain's flight suit (McCain, Phil informs us, was the most famous of the prisoners tortured here). After running through many of the torture rooms and cells, the teams all seem to find the flight suit at the same time. And here is where it really gets a bit uncomfortable for me. Tom and Terry, who enter the room with the flight suit first, decide to take a "moment" and it seems as if they are praying over the display. They are broken from this moment by the sounds of the other teams approaching. Everyone else rushes in and leave just as quickly, barely pausing to look at the suit. All, that is, except the Cho brothers, who decide to go back into the room and pay their respects to McCain and other soldiers fighting for freedom. They seem genuine and I'm sure they are, but the cynical viewer in me is left to wonder if Tom and Terry or the Cho brothers reacted this way for cameras. Then again, the teams that didn't react at all and just ignore the significance of the place seem really selfish. This is why the "serious" stops of the Race don't work for me.

Back to the Race. The clue instructs the teams to travel to a marketplace a kilometer away. All the teams take a cab, except Duke and Lauren, who, due to their money woes, walk. At a flower stand at the market, the teams get their next clue, which is a roadblock. The team member who takes the task is required to select a bicycle and sell the flowers in the basket. The teams must collect at least 80,000 Vietnemese dong (so many Sixteen Candle jokes, so little space).before they can get their next clue. Any money they make, they can keep. The clue did not indicate that the team member who takes the task must actually ride the bicycle. Ass takes the task for his team and this is the third straight roadblock he does. I'm assuming that the rule about evenly dividing roadblocks is still in place; given this, Sarah really needs to start doing some of these. All three of the roadblocks were things she could have accomplished easily (eating, archery – she has a really strong upper body, and selling flowers). If the tasks get more physical or require speed via running, they may be in trouble.

All the teams are in the market place at the same time, including Duke and Lauren who, while last to arrive, begin the task while the other teams are still selling. Ass and Sarah are the first to finish and get a clue that tells them to take a public bus to the village of Vac where they are to find a temple. Editorial foreboding indicates that they will get on the wrong bus, as they discuss making sure they get on the right bus on the way to the bus station. The other teams finish the road block and are off to bus station shortly thereafter.

Ta-ta...Ass and Sarah are on the wrong bus. They realize it while en route and get off while still in Hanoi. They now must wait for the right bus at a bus stop. The Cho brothers are on the first bus actually going to Vac by themselves; Tom and Terry are on the second bus on their own. After Kimberly nearly gets run over crossing a street, the rest of the teams get on the third bus. Ass and Sarah are still waiting at the bus stop.

The Wins (short for Edwin and Godwin) get to Vac and Phil's foreboding voice over tells us that for safety reasons, the teams are prohibited from riding on a motorbike in Vietnam. This is a Race where they require teams to bungee jump, eat large quantities of local delicacies, and play goalie against Russian hockey pros. If they are prohibiting something, you know it's dangerous. Anyway, the Wins turn down an offer for a ride and walk to the temple. Ass and Sarah finally get on the bus, while the Wins get their clue at the temple. It is a detour – Fuel or Fowl. In Fuel, the teams must walk to a courtyard where they will make 30 coal bricks from wet coal. In Fowl, the teams must walk to another courtyard to build a birdcage. The Cho brothers chose fuel. Tom and Terry get off their bus and, you guessed it, take a motorbike to the temple. In the meantime, the brothers finish the task, or so they think. It turns out that all of their bricks are too short and they must start again. The third bus arrives and the bunched teams all proceed to the temple. Each of these teams chose fuel, but then navigation problems begin. David and Mary actually find the fuel courtyard first, as they get separated from the main pack who are lost. David is thrilled with the coal task as he rightly points out, he is a coal miner. Tom and Terry have the same problem as the Wins, and are required to re-do many of their bricks for height reasons. The brothers finally finish and they get their clue which tells them to proceed by foot to a rice patty where they will find the pit stop.

Ass and Sarah finally make it to Vac. The bulk of the teams are still wandering around the village, lost. Duke and Lauren manage to get separated from the pack, as do the models. The models, however, find a police officer who directs them to the courtyard. In the meantime, the Wins check in as Team #1.

Duke and Lauren "stumble" upon the birdcage task and they decide to do it. Finally, the Lyns, the beauty queens, and Rob and Kimberly get to the fuel courtyard. By the time Ass and Sarah get to the fuel courtyard, five other teams are still there. Finally, Tom and Terry finish, get their clue and leave. When they get to the pit stop, Phil informs them that because they took the motorcycles, they have a thirty minute penalty. They are sent to the side to wait out their penalty. Duke and Lauren are hard at work with their cage, and the other teams are busy making coal bricks. The models finish and leave and check in as Team #2. David and Mary leave, but are passed by a number of teams due to (a) leaving a bag behind at the courtyard, which requires David to double back and get the bag and (b) Mary's ankle problems. Dustin and Kandice finish making the bricks, get the clue and check in as Team # 4, despite the fact that Rob and Kimberly left the courtyard after them. Ass and Sarah leave the courtyard next and in a truly disturbing scene, Ass rah rahs about the teamwork it took to come from behind, while he ignores Sarah's difficulties navigating the rice patties. He's seriously 20 feet in front of her walking straight ahead, while she is stumbling, crawling and losing her balance. Nice teamwork there. Ass is now completely dead to me. They check in as Team #5. Tom and Terry continue to wait. In what can only be described as deliciously rubbing it in, Phil says to them "Guys, this has got to suck." You think?

On their way to the pit stop, the Lyns pass Mary and David. Mary stumbles again due to her ankle and Karlyn and Lyn stop to see if they can help. These women are showing more compassion for a competitor than Ass showed for his partner. Anyway, the Lyns check in as Team #6, while Tom and Terry still wait. David and Mary are Team #7, as Tom and Terry still wait. Mary interviews that she's made great friends already – mentioning the Cho brothers, Karlyn and Lyn and Tom and Terry. As she and David walk away from the pit stop, Mary shouts encouragement to T&T as she calls them, leading Terry to yell back "We love you Mary." These are so not the teams I saw bonding in the beginning, but that's what's so great about the Race. Finally, T&T are checked in by Phil. (As an aside, most of the teams are really close – in the span of one half hour, Tom and Terry fell from second to eighth). That leaves Lauren and Duke in last place and indeed they are eliminated. Their exit interview is an big "aww" moment, with Duke comforting Lauren, and a really nice interview with Duke wishing all parents the experience he had with his daughter. It's a redeeming wrap up to something that started off not so positively.