Girls like to have fun

Ida Nerina and Tania Khan embraced the motto of having fun and enjoying the race, which they really did.

It was the case of second-time lucky for friends and self-confessed The Amazing Race (TAR) fans Ida Nerina and Tania Khan.

“This was not the first time we applied. We actually tried out before but we did not make the cut,” says Ida, 44.

Tania, 36, adds: “Yes, the first time we applied, I was pregnant and I thought it would be OK because I would have delivered by the time the race started. But obviously the producers did not think so.”

Tania who is in property development is profiled as “the heiress” in the race while Ida is, naturally, “the actress” .

When they found out they made the cut this time, the duo were thrilled.

“We were completely stoked and really excited,” says Ida.

But they soon found out that the challenges of The Amazing Race Asia (TARA) begin way before the actual chase kicks off.

“We were anxious about everything ... even about filling in the application forms. That proved to be a challenge too,” says Ida.

The next challenge they faced was cooking up stories to tell their families and friends to explain their month-long disappearance – one of the conditions of being on TARA is that you have to keep your participation a secret until the entire Race has been run.

“That was really hard ... maybe even harder than the race. I told everyone that I was going away for a property convention in London for a month,” says Tania.

“And I went to Europe,” interjects Ida.

Another challenge? Packing light especially since neither of the ladies have been backpacking, ever.

“Figuring out what to take with us was a challenge. For us, travelling means checked in luggage. We usually have people carrying our bags,” laughs Ida.

“Actually, I think we did pretty good. We got together (before leaving) and had our lists and ...,” says Tania.

“Yes, we were quite proud of ourselves ... until we saw the other teams’ bags! Some of them had such small bags!” exclaims Ida.

(Bernie Chan, from the other Malaysian team joked that when she opened Tania’s bag she found “a huge bag of sweets, a story book and a Hello magazine”!)

Nevertheless, as nonplussed as they may have been preparing for the Race, the duo feel they ran a good race and did themselves proud.

No, try as I did, they would not divulge any details about their performance on the Race, having signed an indemnity disclosure that would cost them millions of dollars if breached. Sigh.

“Really, our motto was to have fun and enjoy the race and we really did. We are quite funny actually and we had our moments. I think people will enjoy the Race with us,” says Tania.

“Of course we wanted to win ... otherwise why join, right? I don’t think there is a team who joins thinking they don’t want to win,” says Ida.

“Yeah, we wanted at least to be in the final three. And to finish all the challenges. But it was always one step at a time,” continues Tania.

Did they have a strategy on how they would run the race or attack the challenges?

“We had no strategy whatsoever,” says Tania.

“Well, we pretended to have a strategy. And then we would wait for the others and then we would figure it out,” says Ida with a laugh.

Adds Tania: “We were always in the deep end. We’d go like, ‘What? We’re supposed to be doing what?’ ”

It is hard to tell if they are being totally serious. Having followed past seasons of both TAR and TARA (The Amazing Race Asia) closely, the two were more or less prepared to do the tough challenges that have become synonymous with TAR.

“We were very gung-ho. We were kind of ‘bring it on’, you know?” says Ida.

“I think if you are a fan of the Race you would vaguely know what to expect and we were ready for anything. But you don’t really know how tiring it is when you watch it on TV,

“If you ask me to name five places we went to ... I think I won’t be able to remember. On the race, we had no idea what day it was or what time it was or even what realm we were in. The only thing on our minds was finishing the challenges,” says Tania.

Though they are glad to be back (“I missed my bed and my pillow,” says Tania), the girls miss the “high” they got from being on the race.

“I miss the adrenaline rush and I miss the other racers and the whole experience, really,” says Ida.

“I miss starving and scrimping on a tight budget,” jokes Tania. “And I miss not having to reply e-mail and SMS-es. Actually, that was very liberating. It was a bit strange at first but it was nice.”

Girls like to have fun