Chapter 44
Tigerstar and Scourge grab the first taxi of their group. After trying to communicate with their taxi driver and getting very frustrated that he does not understand English, they both hop out of the car and run back to the airport. Scourge remembers seeing an Information Desk sign and Tigerstar asks for him to direct them there. While this is happening, Lionblaze and Crowfeather get a taxi. Lionblaze had done some research and remembered reading that the taxi drivers do not speak much English in China. He took out his Mandarin Chinese-English dictionary and tried to explain in Mandarin that they needed a taxi to Yuyuan Gardens. Despite his broken Chinese and mispronunciation of some words, the taxi driver seemed to understand. Crowfeather whispered to Lionblaze, "What if you are wrong and he takes us to the wrong place?".
"I don't think he can understand us, so you don't have to whisper and I am confident", said Lionblaze.
"I hope so. I don't want to hear otherwise", growled Crowfeather.
When Tigerstar and Scourge arrived at the Information Desk, they found a helpful woman who told them about a taxi company that had English speaking drivers and that she would call one for them. Scourge asked for her to wait a minute and Tigerstar and Scourge went aside to talk.
Scourge whispered, "Do you think that is a good idea. We may have to wait a long time for the taxi. Maybe the lady could write directions in Chinese for us to give to a driver?"
Tigerstar said loudly, "Fine ask her for directions".
"You don't have to talk so loud, but ok", said Scourge.
He asked the lady for directions and she gave them to him. They rushed to get a cab. Shortly before this, Leafpool and Hollyleaf decided to find out if there was a subway system. They found the information desk and the lady told them about the subway and how to catch it and what stop to take. They rushed off to get the train.
Since Squirrelflight and Bramblestar found a translation button on the site for Chinese to English and vice versa, they were able to give the Mandarin version to the cab driver. It worked because they arrived at the correct destination. They found the clue box and read the clue. We see Autumnsplash saying, "Teams must go to the Shanghai Museum and complete a puzzling challenge". When Squirrelflight and Bramblestar were looking around they spotted a sign for the subway.
"Do you think we should take the train instead? It may be easier to navigate than trying to figure how to talk to the taxi drivers who don't speak English", said Squirrelflight.
"It looks like the sign says the station is just a few blocks that way", said Bramblestar. "I say we try it". As they go off to the train station, Reedwhisker and Mallownose arrive. It turns out the driver was able to figure out the directions and get them to the right place. They read the clue and was wondering how they would translate it to the taxi driver. Reedwhisker said, "Maybe we can try to pantomime that we need the phone and get directions that way?"
"Or there is a sign for the subway", said Mallownose. "What do you think we should do?"
"Let's try the train", said Reedwhisker. They go off to the train. By this time Squirrelflight and Bramblestar arrived at the train station. They notice the signs are in Chinese. They are disheartened and confused. But they see an Shanghai expat, who they believe probably speaks English.
"Hello. We are part of a race and looking for the Shanghai Museum. Would you know what train to take?", said Bramblestar.
Surprisingly the expat did not look disturbed by the idea of a talking cat. "Yes, I know where it is", said the expat. He explained what line to take and what stops they would take. They smiled and said, "Thank you". Before they left, they asked about tickets and the expat was nice enough to show them how to do that too.
Reedwhisker arrived and looked for a map and found one with an English translation. It was a little hard to decipher but they finally found that they had to go to People's Square Station and figured out what lines and transfers they needed to make and stops too. They found a machine that had an English translation and they were able to buy tickets.
Bramblestar and Squirrelflight saw a train was approaching. They quickly looked around to see if Reedwhisker and Mallownose arrived but didn't see them. They got on. The train left and still Reedwhisker and Mallownose were not around. They came downstairs about 10 minutes later and got on 2 trains after Bramblestar and Squirrelflight.
Bramblestar and Squirrelflight finally arrived at the museum. They realized they were the first ones there. They found the box with their clue, its a roadblock. We see Autumnsplash saying, "The Shanghai Museum is known for housing many beautiful historic jade pieces. You will see a number of these pieces and find out when they were created and you will both need to memorize this information to solve a puzzle". They got a brief tour of the Gallery of Ancient Chinese Jade.
"This is kind of like the art one we did in Paris", said Bramblestar. "It's time consuming I imagine, so its good we are first".
"Yes. Let's get started", said Squirreflight.
They looked at a series of jade sculptures and statues. They made sure they looked at the dates and remembered distinguishing features. Finally they came back to the other room and found a puzzle. The sign for the puzzle said, in order to open this locked box to get your next clue, you must solve this puzzle to get the code for the lock. The combination code for the lock will contain the answers for these three questions. The code may not necessarily be in this order. The three questions are:
1. How many dragon sculptures were there?
2. How many sculptures were created before the Han Dynasty
3. How many sculptures were created after the Yuan Dynasty
Bramblestar thought he knew the first answer. He wrote 5 on a piece of scrap paper and showed it to Squirreflight. She said, "I'm not sure that is right. Why don't I go back to check the amount of dragon sculptures. Can you check to see how many sculptures you see before the Han Dynasty?".
"Okay. Will do", said Bramblestar.
Finally Reedwhisker and Mallownose arrived. At this time thought they were first getting a preliminary tour of the Gallery. Squirrelflight and Bramblestar were in the process of counting sculptures when they saw Reedwhisker and Mallownose walk in for their tour. They didn't acknowledge them and they were a little distracted by the tour. Finally Squirrelflight and Bramblestar had numbers in their mind for the first two questions. Squirrelflight asked Bramblestar to remain and memorize them while she was going to solve the third question.
Squirrelflight came back and at this time Reedwhisker was talking to Mallownose quietly and she whispered the third number. The numbers they got were: 5, 8, 4. Bramblestar decided to try the combination lock but the combination did not work. They both looked kind of discouraged. They looked at Reedwhisker and Mallownose and wondered if they should work as a team, as they would get done quicker and have more minds to help with the questions. They approached Reedwhisker and he said, "Maybe that is not a bad idea". They exchanged what information they had so far and Reedwhisker decided to check number 2 again and Bramblestar decided to check number 3. Mallownose saw that the others were working together and Mallownose was a little disappointed that Reedwhisker did not ask him about this but he let it go because he thought it was a good idea too.
This time after working together, the new numbers they got were 5, 9, 7. They tried this one and it was still wrong. They had no way of knowing if any of the numbers were right either time. Reedwhisker and Bramblestar decided to check the opposite questions and see if they got the same answer or a different one. When they came back Bramblestar got 8 and Reedwhisker got 3. They tried this one and it was right. It turned out that after the first time, Squirrelflight and Bramblestar were off by one. After Squirrelflight entered the code, Reedwhisker was able to enter the code too. They saw the clue for the detour We see Autumnsplash reading the clue. The top of the clue said, "Food or Drink". The Food portion said: "Do you like soup dumplings? This challenge will require you to test how many you can eat in a time frame. The Drink portion said: "Know your Tea? This challenge will test your knowledge of tea. Hope you are thirsty".
How will the other teams find getting around Shanghai? Will they find the garden? How will they do in the first challenge. Stay tuned for the next episode of Amazing Race: Warrior Edition in Shanghai.