This leg in Shanghai is continuing here..
Chapter 46
Finally Tigerheart and Dawnpelt and Jayfeather and Willowshine's flight arrived. They both went for the taxis. Tigerheart and Dawnpelt were frustrated when they found out that their taxi driver did not speak English. They hopped out of their taxi and went to the Information Desk and asked for the person at the desk to write in Chinese the words, how to get to the Yuyuan Gardens. Jayfeather and Willowshine ran to a taxi and they were happy to find out their taxi driver spoke English. They told him that they needed to go to the Yuyuan Gardens.
Squirrelflight, Bramblestar, Reedwhisker and Mallownose had went back to the train station and found someone who was either a tourist or expat. "Hello", said Squirrelflight.
"Hello", said the woman. She looked wide eyed at the cats. "You guys talk? Am I hearing it right?"
"Shocking right?", said Bramblestar. "We were wondering if you could help us with directions on how to get someplace. They showed the lady the name of the tea house. She explained that she is an expat and was familiar with the tea house. She said its one of the most famous in Shanghai. She told them what subway to take and what line and what stops. They were so appreciative.
A little while later they got to the tea house. There was a lady there and she explained to them that there were different types of teas. She showed them the teas and the names in Chinese. They were to taste the teas while seeing the names in Chinese. Then they had to memorize the names and figure out which tea was which. There were 12 teas and they had to get 8 right. Reedwhisker seemed a bit apprehensive and Mallownose agreed. "Do you guys want to try this or do the soup dumpling one?" said Reedwhisker.
"I think we are here already, so we should at least try it", said Squirrelflight. "Right?" she said to Bramblestar.
"Yes I agree", said Bramblestar.
Reedwhisker and Mallownose looked at each other and shrugged and Reedwhisker said, "I really think we should go to the soup dumpling place".
"Okay, I understand", said Bramblestar. "Good luck".
They left. Squirrelflight and Bramblestar listened carefully and read each label carefully as they drank the teas. Squirrelflight got nervous and said, "They are all starting to taste alike. I hope we get this right.
They decided to try it and got 4 right. Then they went back to check some of them and went again and got 5 right. They were trying not to be discouraged. They looked at the teas again and looked specifically at a few they got incorrect or at least the ones they thought they got incorrect as they were not told. Finally they tried again and got 7. "So close", said Bramblestar. "One more".
About 10 minutes later they tried again and got it right. They hugged and got the last clue. They were told to go to the pit stop, The Oriental Pearl TV Tower across from the Bund.
About 15 after Bramblestar and Squirrelflight started the tea challenge, Reedwhisker and Mallownose finally arrived at the soup dumpling place. They discovered that the challenge was to eat as many as bowls of soup dumplings as possible in 30 minutes. The team with the highest amount got immunity for the next leg. Reedwhisker smiled at Mallownose and said, "Hope you are hungry".
"I am hungry. And they do look good at least. Are they pork dumplings or something else?", said Mallownose.
"Let's just assume they are. I don't want to think it could be something else like well, let's not go there", said Reedwhisker.
They got started eating and about 15 minutes later, Reedwhisker ate 3 bowls and Mallownose had 4. "Are you getting full yet?" said Reedwhisker.
"I'm okay, at least for one or two more bowls", said Mallownose.
"Really? Wish I was young like you again", said Reedwhisker. Finally it was 30 minutes later and Reedwhisker ate 2 more bowls but barfed the second one, but it still counted. And Mallownose had 3. So their grand total was 12. "Let's hope that holds up", said Reedwhisker. "At least we are done". He started to feel a little bit better and they got the clue and found out about the pit stop.
About 40 minutes later Hollyleaf and Leafpool arrived at the soup dumpling place. They were the first ones of their group to arrive. About 15 minutes later Tigerstar and Scourge arrived at the soup dumpling place. Tigerstar smiled when he heard about the detour. He was a voracious eater. Scourge was one as well. They got set to eating and about 15 minutes later, Hollyleaf, Leafpool, Lionblaze and Crowfeather arrived at the soup dumpling place and saw Tigerstar and Scourge devouring soup dumplings. "That's so not attractive", said Hollyleaf. Hollyleaf was worried because both Leafpool and her were not big eaters. They had a quiet discussion between themselves to see if they should go to the other detour and Leafpool agreed they should try the tea one. Lionblaze and Crowfeather noticed they left and they got started on the challenge. Tigerstar and Scourge finished the challenge with 15 bowls between the both of them. So far they were in first. They grabbed their clue and found out where was the pit stop.
Leafpool and Hollyleaf finally arrived at the tea place. They wondered why they did not do this challenge first. They were familiar with working with a lot of type of herbs, so this was actually up their alley. They got to work trying the teas and remembering the names. Then the names were put aside and they set off to guessing. They got 6 right the first time. Then after studying and trying some more teas, they got 2 more right. Then they got their clue for the pitstop. They got it after Tigerstar and Scourge finished but before Lionblaze and Crowfeather.
After 30 minutes, Lionblaze and Crowfeather had 11 bowls of soup dumplings. They were disappointed they were not in first but they got their clue and discovered the location of the pit stop.
Finally the last two teams got to the garden. Tigerheart and Dawnpelt opted for the subway and used the directions from the maps and signs to try to find the museum but they were having trouble. Meanwhile Jayfeather and Willowshine made good time to the museum with their taxi driver and it took them 45 minutes to do the challenge because Jayfeather really needed to count on Willowshine for this one. However Tigerheart and Dawnpelt only just arrived about 40 minutes into the time that Jayfeather and Willowshine were working on the task. Jayfeather and Willowshine opted to go the tea task and they did well too like Leafpool and Hollyleaf and finished quickly. Tigerheart and Dawnpelt took a long time at the museum task and did the soup dumpling task and did 11 bowls.
Squirrelflight and Bramblestar went to the subway and asked for help again. They made it first to the pit stop. Reedwhisker and Mallownose were got directions too and were 2nd. Hollyleaf and Leafpool were 3rd. Tigerstar and Scourge were 4th, Lionblaze and Crowfeather were 5th. Jayfeather and Willowshine were 6th and Tigerheart and Dawnpelt who were last got eliminated. Tigerstar and Scourge had the most soup dumplings so they have immunity the next leg.
"I'm so sorry that you guys are eliminated", said Autumnsplash.
"It is disappointing but I had a good time with my sister, Dawnpelt and we became closer", said Tigerheart.
"I agree. It was fun and I am glad I did it with Tigerheart", said Dawnpelt.
Stay tuned for next time to see where is the next leg.