Episode Report Card M. Giant: A | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Thai'ed Up
By M. Giant | Season 19 | Episode 5 | Aired on 10.23.2011
The snowboarders have arrived at the Phuket bus terminal, and their driver is apparently shaking them down for 5,000 baht. They say that converts to about 150 of their 186 dollars for the leg (it's actually $163.72, going by today's exchange rate), and although Tommy has doubts about whether they're actually supposed to pay that much, they hand over the cash and head into the station. At this station, the women behind the ticket window apparently yell out "Hello, where you go?" to you. They learn that there's a bus for Bangkok leaving soon, at 4:30, which is scheduled to arrive at 6:00 AM. Dude, that is a long bus ride. Justin and Jennifer catch up with them at the window and buy the same tickets. Jeremy is unhappy to learn that their driver wants 4,500 baht (or, $147.35), but hands it over. "We have money from our last leg," Sandy reminds him. And it's not even Indonesian, probably. Laurence and Zac show up right behind them. Jeremy and Sandy also get tickets for the 4:30 bus to Bangkok. Zac and Laurence, who go to a different window, wisely ask for not the next bus, but the fastest bus, which is an important distinction, and are told that a first-class bus leaves at 4:30. They buy tickets on that one, and as they're led across the terminal to their bus, they spot the snowboarders, the siblings, and Team Pre-Owned getting on a bus ahead of them, which they assume will also be theirs. But instead, they get on a different company's bus, while the snowboarders watch out their window and wonder if Team Adventure got a better route. On board, Zac wonders if it'll be an issue that they're on the first-class bus. "No, not at all," Laurence says uncertainly. "Hope not," Zac says in a "you've been wrong today before" tone of voice that makes Laurence give him another one of those looks. In any case, both buses are soon on the move. "Sweet dreams," Andy says, which is a polite way of saying, "We're going to be wearing the same clothes for two days in a row."
After getting some more nos, Ernie decides he has to go back like Zac did. Which is embarrassing to have to admit to Cindy on his way back to the truck. "You should have written it down! Argh!" Cindy says. On the ride back, Ernie tells us, "It's a bad day for Team Cindy and Ernie. Got a lot of bad ones here. They all seem to be my fault." Ernie's feeling like an F student, and not even the Asian F.
Suddenly the soundtrack goes eerily quiet as Amani asks for a judge to check her work, only to burst back into triumphant life as she gets a yes. So she and Marcus are off to the bus terminal, leaving Cindy behind on the sidelines to tell us, "We should have just written it down earlier." Well, if you were a real control freak, you would have insisted.