Original subtitles

Narrator: Singapore... the furthest point from the u.K. By road and rail.

Normally a 12-hour plane journey,

but could you get there for just the price of the airfare

without taking a single flight?

- What am I doing? - Holy moley,

that's going to be tough.

Felix: Every second counts!

Narrator: Four pairs of ordinary brits...

Beep-beep!

Are attempting just that...

Darron: Most people would go from "a" to "b" on a plane,

but then they'd miss all this.

Oh, man!

Narrator: In an extraordinary race.

Come on, come on. At ground level,

they'll cover over 12,000 miles.

- Look at that! - Amazing.

♪ Everybody wants to get to Azerbaijan ♪

Narrator: Who will finish first...

Alex: We do not have time to mess about!

As they leave behind the trappings

of modern-day life?

It's 34 hours on one bus.

Without their bank cards...

We're going to run out of money at some point.

And their smartphones.

I don't want to argue about it. Time's ticking on.

You can't finish the race if you're dead.

Shameema: It's almost like I'm questioning my purpose.

What is it that I want?

[ Sniffles ] It's just a bit much.

Narrator: The reward is great...

This is where you get to find out about yourself.

Narrator: As the first team to Singapore

will claim the prize of £20,000...

Aah!

In a race across the world.

Shift your butt. Come on.

50 days. Blood, sweat, tears.

Captions by vitac... www.Vitac.Com

captions paid for by discovery communications

the teams raced from delphi to the second checkpoint...

Baku! Okay.

With each pair fighting

for its place in the competition.

The sword of doom hanging over our heads now

with the elimination.

A slow train across Turkey...

Not so much express. I'd call it the eastern trundle.

Cost Josh and Felix their lead.

No euro. Pound.

Oh, it's problem.

While a new friend helped Natalie and shameema...

Do you have any Euros?

Out of a tight spot.

♪ We've got tickets to thessaloniki ♪

Tony and Elaine...

Alexandroupoli?

Platform 18!

I'm gonna start playing dirty. Tony: Are you?

Rocketed to Baku...

This is it! Come on! Come on!

Leapfrogging from last to first place.

[ Laughs ]

Alex, Alex! Come with me!

Bloody hell. Why me?

A wake-up call...

Are you mad? Yes, yes.

For father and son darron and Alex.

So close to being lost.

But lifelong buddies sue and Claire...

Somebody has to go out.

It's just a shame it's us.

Were eliminated from the race.

It's been brilliant. It's brought us closer together.

Yeah. Yeah.

♪♪

The four remaining teams are at the second checkpoint

of the race to Singapore...

I never in a million years thought I would ever be in Baku,

in Azerbaijan.

I didn't even know where Azerbaijan was, if I'm honest.

No.

Making the most of some downtime

before the next leg begins.

- [ Imitates engine revving ] - [ Laughs ]

Darron: On this trip, Alex and I,

we haven't quite found our dynamic yet.

We're getting better.

I think we've still got a long way to go.

But I believe we will have the time to try

and get that balance right and stop and enjoy things together.

Come on, lazy boy!

Shut up.

It's 8:24 P.M.

The teams can leave the checkpoint

in the order they arrived,

carrying forward their relative time differences.

Hello. Checking out?

Checking out.

Narrator: First into Baku, with a three-hour lead

over their closest rivals,

retired schoolteachers Tony and Elaine

are the first to depart.

Yes, sir, would you like us to assist you with your luggage?

No, we're good.

We've got to stay strong for the rest of our journey.

In the three, four years we've been retired,

it has just absolutely flown by,

and we are both desperate to prove to ourselves

that there's a lot more to come in life.

Elaine: And be together, just the two of us.

Which is, you know, when you got a family,

that's not easy, is it? Yeah, yeah.

Hopefully not our swan song.

I have here a letter for you.

They're about to discover where they're heading next.

Come on, then. Tashkent.

I know where Kent is. Where is Tashkent?

The third checkpoint in the race across the world... Tashkent.

The ancient capital of Uzbekistan preserves

a mixture of islamic, czarist, and Soviet influences.

Locked in the heart of Central Asia,

it's 1,575 miles from Baku.

To reach it, the teams will need to negotiate

hundreds of miles of uninhabited arid landscape

in a region still unknown to most western travelers.

How do we get across to Kazakhstan?

But first, there is one immediate obstacle in their way.

I would recommend you to cross the caspian sea.

- Yes. - Yes.

It's very simple, the ferry port, it is south from Baku.

Do you know what time the ferries go?

There is no fixed timetable for this ferry.

The best thing is to be there on the spot

and wait for the next ferry.

Yeah.

Come on.

To the ferry port. To the boat.

Driver: The sea? Yeah.

50 manat.

- No, he said inside the hotel... - Yes.

He said 40 manat.

- 40 manat? - Yes.

Yeah. No problem.

- Okay. - Thank you.

Elaine: Thank you.

We just need to get a move on.

Quite keen to keep that lead.

Narrator: While it's possible to get from Baku to Tashkent by land,

since shaking off Soviet rule,

Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan have flung open their doors

to foreign visitors, and today, heading across the caspian sea

could shave as much as 24 hours off the journey.

South of Baku lies the port of alat,

from where the teams can cross to Kazakhstan.

When we get there, we need to see

if there is a boat there, if we can get on it,

and then if not, we need to find somewhere to stay for the night.

Tony: It will certainly be a good leveler...

[ Laughs ]

if there's no ferry.

The freight ferries that operate this route

only leave when fully loaded

and can be delayed by the unpredictable weather.

[ Bell ringing ]

If one of the teams misses a ferry,

they could wait days for the next one.

Totally, 238.

Tony: 238 manat? Yes.

Is there a boat leaving?

Yeah, leaving tomorrow morning.

Oh!

So, we've got until tomorrow morning to wait.

So, do we stay here?

Right here, the waiting.

Okay. and we can sleep?

Yes. Yeah.

A bed for the night.

Which bench are you having?

It's not the hotel, is it?

And we have to sit here all night.

I bet we all finish up on the same boat.

Narrator: Tony and Elaine can only wait it out

as the other teams depart Baku...

And eat into their lead.

What is the quickest way to get there?

Of course by the airplane.

[ Scoffs ]That is not an option.

We can't take a flight, unfortunately.

Narrator: Second to set off, friends since childhood, Natalie and shameema.

[ Groans ]

Natalie: I never thought I would be in this part of the world.

The further away you are from the u.K.,

you think about all the different types of culture

and the massive differences that you would have.

I'm a black girl.

Shameema's a tiny Asian girl.

We look different, so I'm excited one minute

and then really scared the next minute.

But we'll be there for each other regardless.

Josh: Tashkent.

Narrator: Six hours behind the current leaders

and already planning to head off the beaten track,

business partners Josh and Felix.

I feel incredibly excited about the next leg

because it promises adventure.

It's just stepping into the unknown, isn't it, really?

It really is, Josh.

Josh: I think the richest experience for us, that's winning,

and although the race, obviously,

is a primary motivation, it's got to also be balanced

with soaking up an incredible journey.

That's not to say we're going to turn down £20,000.

We are much more relaxed now there is no elimination.

Yeah.

It's time to really dive into it and have some of the experiences

that will really define this as a once-in-a-lifetime trip.

Jesus, something's crawling on me.

[ Gasps ] There is!

Oh, my god!

There was a beast on me.

Swear to god.

Did you see it? Yeah.

It's about as big as me hand.

It's there, look.

It's just gone under the silver thing.

- Hi! - I wondered where you were.

I don't think I'm ready for Tony's pants.

Right, let's work out where we are off to.

Narrator: 5:00 A.M.

Three teams have reached the port.

Okay. Thank you!

Sorry your lead has been evaporated.

Due to depart at any time, the aging ex-Soviet cargo ship,

the merkuri-1, transports Ukrainian truckers

and their cargo between Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan.

[ Chuckling ] Oh, wow!

It's definitely seen better days.

It's the sort of thing that sinks.

[ Foghorn blows ]

All cargo has been loaded, and the ferry is preparing to leave.

But one team is nowhere to be seen.

Alex: So, you don't know how often the ferries are?

You don't know if there's one today for definite?

Narrator: Still in Baku, father and son, darron and Alex.

Let's go.

Darron: We rushed the first leg and finished second,

we took our time for the second leg and finished fourth.

Was it worth it? No.

Everything has a consequence.

We messed up.

We've got no sign of Alex and his dad yet.

And the engine's kicked up.

I do fear that they may not make it.

Darron: The ferries can be very hit and miss.

It could be a case of a couple have already gone,

or everybody's still waiting.

I feel like they are not getting the bloody boat.

[ Foghorn blows ]

Still got time.

They still have time.

[ Foghorn blows ]

♪♪

Is that them?

Hey! Yeah!

Whoo-hoo-hoo!

- Hello! - Alex!

Everyone is here![ Laughs ]

Oh, my god!

Skin of your teeth!

We caught up.

And we had a lie-in, as well.

Day 1 again.

Struggling and finishing fourth means nothing.

We're all starting again. Clean slate.

Everybody gets off this ferry exactly the same time.

♪♪

Narrator: The caspian sea,

the largest inland body of water on earth.

Covering an area the size of Japan,

it is a remnant of a much larger sea,

left stranded after ancient continents collided.

Next stop, the port of kuryk in Kazakhstan.

With fair weather, 30 hours of plain sailing away.

Josh: It's stepping into the unknown.

This next stage, the wild is approaching.

Four, three, two, one.

[ Both humming ]

I'm going for a run with a truck driver

on a ferry crossing the caspian sea.

That's a sentence I never thought I'd say.

Coming to join us, Alex?

No.

♪♪

Narrator: But just hours into their 300-mile voyage...

The storm is coming!

A Gale that could spell trouble.

17 years ago, the merkuri's sister ship capsized after

being caught in winds that reached 65 miles per hour.

Vessels are now advised to sit out bad weather,

so the anchor is forced to drop.

- I'm glad the lifeboat is close. - [ Laughs ]

Narrator: The teams hunker down to see out the storm.

The food on here, I think you'd be polite to call it edible.

Oh, god.

And it comes in this soup,

but it's more like flavored lard.

It's not that great at all.

Here, we have people's urine. The smell, the smell.

I stink of urine.

You need a six. Yeah!

I miss my Xbox so much.

Don't say that, Alex.

Come on, you don't miss your Xbox.

What's an Xbox?

The weather's just been pants.

I think it's just a matter of batten down the hatches

and try to keep an even keel on things.

♪♪

"Day three on the caspian sea.

Still on the boat.

The boat has not moved."

[ Laughs ]

I've started my diary for today.

Actually, no, this is yesterday's

is it Friday today?

[ Water running ]

That tap's running. I know.

Eh? I know.

Tony: The wind's really kicking in. It is cold.

I think everybody is getting a little bit of cabin fever.

Josh: Ha!

[ Sighs ]

It's not even boring. It's just absolutely nothing.

It's complete nothingness.

There's only so many times you can wash your pants.

My teeth are getting loose. I think it's

the onset of scurvy.

Is this what claustrophobia feels like?

♪♪

Alex: I'm just sick of the boat, being stuck on here for so long,

I feel like I'm having a bit of a mental breakdown.

I want to go home, kind of.

Missing home a lot.

Feeling very homesick.

It's just a bit much.

Darron: I remember I were in Norway caught in a storm.

It were minus-15. My tent Poles had snapped.

I had no fuel, I had no water.

I just sat down at the side of the road and cried.

And then I realized that I just had to pull myself together,

get on with it.

If you can survive this, you can survive anything.

Do you think sometimes when I've told you to suck it up

and get on with it, do you understand what I mean now?

A bit, but you also frustrate me, as well.

Stiff upper lip approach, you know, tough love.

It's not because I'm being mean, it's because sometimes you sink

and wallow in your own self-pity.

Alex is my son and I would do anything for him.

But he needs to grow up.

I may come across as a grumpy, strict, miserable father.

I'm sure some'll even think I'm a bit of an arsehole.

But my job as a parent is to make him

the best person he can be.

And I know he can be a fantastic individual

who can achieve anything he wants.

So I don't care what people think of me.

As long as he becomes the man I know he can be.

Narrator: Four days and two hours stuck at sea.

Look at the smoke, Tony.

That's promising.

Lots of activity down at the other end.

Clearly preparing for the big set-off.

♪♪

With the boat back on its way...

We need to get racing, we need to be on the move.

Attentions turn to hitting dry land.

We'd need to get to Tashkent.

Train, choo-choo!

[ Imitates train ]

[ Laughter ]

To get to Tashkent,

the teams could choose to follow the ancient silk road

through the historical cities of Uzbekistan...

Khiva, Bukhara, and samarkand.

Bukhara, samarkand, Tashkent.

We've got a potential route. I knew of samarkand

from "the golden journey to samarkand."

It's a poem I liked as a kid, so definitely go there.

Narrator: Alternatively, the more intrepid among them

can venture into the wild open desert plains of Kazakhstan.

The Kazakhstan route seems to be the one

which offers the most adventure and freedom.

Do some walking and some hiking,

and then we dash down on a train

to make up some time. Yeah.

This is where you get to step outside of your comfort zone

and discover,

"I can do this," or "whoa, that's too much."

So, bring it on.

Narrator: A deck below, Natalie and shameema

tap up their own source of local knowledge.

- This is dao. - Hello.

And dao is a stuntman.

Really?[ Laughs ]

Wow.

Our next checkpoint is here.Tashkent.

Where do you live?

Are you going that way?

So, I was wondering, if you didn't have anybody in your car,

that maybe you could drop us

when you get to the first place you stop?

Yeah. Yeah!

A stuntman from Kazakhstan on my boat!

What are the fricking chances of that?

He was just in Azerbaijan doing a bollywood movie.

Narrator: It's possible their new-found friend

could take them all the way to the checkpoint in Tashkent,

a journey of over 1,200 miles,

on the way to his home in almaty,

saving them time and money.

Natalie: I was really apprehensive and scared,

but now we're going to be with somebody who's a native speaker.

Shameema: That's a massive asset.

Yeah.

That's taken a lot of that apprehension away.

Look at that.

Dry land! Dry land!

It's been a long journey, it's been a long journey.

Well done, mate.

You made it.

Narrator: The teams have arrived in Kazakhstan,

a country of outstanding natural beauty,

with big skies, vast deserts and very, very few tourists.

I didn't think Kazakhstan was going to be like this.

What, desert?

I'm waiting for the tough part of the journey,

and I expect this may well be it.

Narrator: The teams land at the port of kuryk.

Natalie: Off into Kazakhstan!

The nearest town, aktau, is 40 miles away

and surrounded by desert...

Come on.

See you in checkpoint!

So public transport links are non-existent.

Yes. How much?

3,000 for one?

Yeah. yeah, good.

Let's get in. Let's go.

Excellent.

Alex: Here we are, we're in Kazakhstan now.

There's a big camel.

Oh, that's great. I do like camels.

I know they might be smelly, dirty, and grumpy...

[ chuckling ] It reminds me of you.

Narrator: Back at the port...

All the other teams have left and are on their onward journey.

We're still waiting for dao.

♪♪

[ Cheering ]

♪♪

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

[ Cheers ]

You think it's not bad news, right?

No, it's not bad news!

Yay!

Narrator: Banking on a free lift being worth the wait,

the girls settle down in aktau.

See you later.

At the moment, I feel like my journey is dependent

on one person's actions,

and it feels like we're in no-man's-land, which is weird,

because we've been stuck in the middle of the sea

and it hadn't felt like we were in no-man's-land.

♪♪

Narrator: While the girls sit tight...

Alex: Express train.

I don't think it were a lot of money.

We are getting good distance

and we're seeing some amazing things.

Darron: Most people would go from "a" to "b" on a plane,

but then they'd miss all this.

Narrator: Darron and Alex have crossed the border into Uzbekistan

on a 22-hour train heading to nukus.

The first time on Uzbekistan soil for me.

Ever.

That's pretty cool.

Narrator: Uzbekistan's blue-domed mosques and incredible mosaics

hark back to the 7th century when trade along the silk road,

the ancient network of roads connecting east to west,

made this one of the busiest and most wealthy places on earth.

Today, merchants still move their goods

through the major uzbeki cities of khiva,

Bukhara, and samarkand,

the same route that darron and Alex plan to take to Tashkent.

When I were your age... Maybe even slightly younger...

I always wanted to come to samarkand.

I remember reading a poem.

Something like,

"we travel not for trafficking alone:

By hotter winds our fiery hearts are fanned:

For lust of knowing what should not be known

we make the golden journey to samarkand."

Alex: My dad, just, he knows everything.

Seeing new things, seeing new cultures,

seeing new people, expectations are that

I'm a lot wiser, I'll learn a lot more on my trip

compared to what I know now.

Narrator: As they make their way further into Uzbekistan,

the train begins to fill up.

Darron: It's a bloody long train journey.

There's no personal space at all.

The train, it's just a moving nomadic community.

But I'm sort of getting used to interacting with strangers

and not running away and hiding from them.

Yum, yum, yum, yum, yum, yum, yum!

[ Child laughs ]

Yum! Yum! Yum! Yum![ Chuckles ]

If you rage against it,

you're going to have a really miserable journey,

so you might as well embrace it and have fun.

Storm. [ Imitates thunder ]

Alex: Normally my dad's quite a shy sort of person,

he don't like speaking to random people.

But this trip's changed him.

♪♪

Narrator: Tony and Elaine are also aiming for Uzbekistan...

4,000 good?

4,000? Yeah.

Yeah? Thank you. Thank you.

Narrator: But have opted to avoid the crowds.

Because we're Yorkshire people, we would never, ever,

ever dream of getting a taxi.

That's always the most expensive way,

and we just wouldn't do it, we're just tight.

But we're desperate to get to checkpoint.

Tony: Apart from taxis, transport systems are not in place

to get you around easily.

You know, the gas is for nothing.

I mean, the desert is just full of gas and oil.

I feel as though i'm, like, being dragged on a...

Sledge across it.

I can see why they all have clapped-out cars.

Narrator: As Tony and Elaine head to the border...

200 miles to the north,

Josh and Felix have chosen to take a different route.

It's so stark and bleak, and you keep thinking

we're going to see ewoks coming over the horizon.

Josh: Love it.

For us, this is the flavor of adventure.

After an overnight train journey,

their thirst for a Kazakh adventure sees them reach aralsk

at the northern tip of the aral sea.

Their chosen route to Tashkent heads

deep into the unexplored wilds of Kazakhstan.

But it could take them 400 miles longer

than going through Uzbekistan.

Felix: We're mainly just having some time to ourselves

after a long three weeks of transport,

just being able to be in nature and breathe in fresh air.

It's really bitterly cold today, which is lovely

because my thermals come in useful.

Narrator: Once the fourth largest lake in the world,

the aral sea has now shrunk to a 10th of its size

after being exploited ruthlessly in the Soviet era

to provide irrigation.

It's stunning, in its own kind of bizarre and lunar way.

Felix: Oh, it's nice to be outside!

Even if it is a lake that's been destroyed by mankind.

This is what we were searching for.

We were searching for something elemental,

something which would bring us back to nothingness

and the elements.

I think this really delivers.

Felix: We're happy to slow down if it means a more rich experience.

We're happy to spend money if it means that it's something

which is just once in a lifetime.

Hopefully this will renew us for the dash to Tashkent ahead.

[ Train whistle blows ]

Narrator: As three teams clock up the miles,

still by the caspian sea...

Shameema: I feel a bit worried now.

What am I doing?

We're in a race.

We don't look like we're in a race right now.

Narrator: Natalie and shameema

have not moved for 36 hours, waiting for their free ride.

Shameema: Not really sure what has happened to dao,

but we need to think of our next plan.

We need to think of ourselves.

Mm-hmm.

Hey, morning.

[ Chuckles ]

Natalie: It was a mixture of tiredness and joy and relief.

It was like, "oh, my god, he's finally here!"

And maybe how many women may have felt,

"why didn't you just text me?!"

Then realized I didn't have a phone.

[ Laughs ]

♪♪

We are finally getting out of...

Arrrrgh... Arrrrgh...

Ktau. Ktau.

Narrator: On the road at last...

Get me back in the race.

They're also heading for Uzbekistan.

The journey to Tashkent may be 1,200 miles...

The equivalent of driving from Birmingham to Rome...

But without the need to trust an unreliable

and budget-eating public transport,

they can make up time on the other teams.

Guys, I just want to let you know I need the bathroom.

Shameema, this is why I tell you

to go to the toilet before we left.

I'm giving the heads-up before I really, really need to go.

[ Laughs ]

Oh, my god!

What? There's no bin!

Go.

[ Retches, coughs ]

Some things you just can't talk about.

[ Coughs ]

As Natalie, shameema, and dao cross into Uzbekistan...

Josh and Felix probably have come across a poor horse

that died somehow,

so they cut it open and get inside to keep themselves warm.

- To shymkent? - Yeah.

Narrator: Looking to head deeper

into the wilds of Kazakhstan...

I'm just finding out what time it gets in.

This woman's just gazumped me in the queue, though.

Josh and Felix get to grips

with the Kazakh approach to queuing.

Huh?

I'm just trying to get my ticket.

I feel like me eyes have just gone...

Yeah. [ Laughs ]

300 miles to the south, darron has taken integrating

with the locals a little too far.

The person we're travelling with,

he offered me some really dark-green powder...

by ingesting naswar,

a powdered tobacco snuff.

He looked slightly in shock, slightly in horror,

as I just downed it all.

My dad's on drugs!

That's so funny.

You're not meant to swallow it!

It's like the tables have turned.

I'm the 40-year-old, he's the 20-year-old right now.

Tony: I don't like waiting for buses and trains now.

You just go, "taxi!"

I think we'll do the rest of this journey on taxis.

Elaine: Taxi Tony. [ Laughs ]

Narrator: Tony and Elaine have regained their lead,

having traveled the 900 miles

from Kazakhstan exclusively in taxis.

Tony: We've done 600 kilometers today for 40 Euros.

Yeah, but we could've done the train for half that.

We spent a lot of money. Spent a lot of money.

So we're going to have to work.

To help finance their new habit,

Elaine has spotted an ad in the jobs directory.

Why do you want to brush camels?

Are you saying you don't want to?

They'll be the highlight of this entire trip.

Why?

Because we've never done anything like it.

The starry sky, for a start...

In the desert with the camels.

♪♪

Tony and Elaine have reached the red sands

of the kyzylkum desert, 115,000 square miles

that are home to wild boar, golden eagles,

and the ships of the desert... Bactrian camels.

Never groomed a camel before.

Didn't realize how scraggy on the neck they get.

I can't tell you how many sticks

and bits of food are trapped here.

It's like a baby with a bib on.

At one of the nomadic camps in the area,

working as farm hands for their bed and board,

Tony and Elaine muck in.

How many times does the camel go to the toilet in a day?

One hour, yeah?

A bit like my missus.

Sheep... one, two, three...

- Like this. - We've got to count them.

Oh, heck.

Two, four, five.

You look like a goat herder, Tony.

Yeah, I know.

Narrator: Tony spent his early years

on the family farm in Yorkshire.

As kids, we had a bit of a tough upbringing, you know?

Being on the farm and...

Going round and feeding animals

and things before school and after school

and working all your holidays and weekends.

Elaine: Oh, naughty boys.

Sometimes my dad would lift me out of bed on a morning,

put clothes on on top of me 'jamas,

then I'd be working till 9:00, 10:00 on a night.

167. 27.

It's good! Yeah!

Did you get it right?

Are you sure?

We're earning our... Keep.

Yurt tonight.

- How cool is this? - This is lovely.

This is off the beaten track.

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: Lagging 300 miles behind their nearest rivals,

life on the road for Natalie, shameema, and dao

is beginning to take its toll.

Natalie: You all right, dao?

Shameema: But we've been, like, locked up for a few days.

It feels like a week. And we need...

Need, need, need...

To get out and have some adventure.

Let's go.

Narrator: After days in the desert,

the girls reach the oasis of khiva,

the first of Uzbekistan's silk road cities.

Wow! Oh, my god!

At its heart, a 10th-century juma mosque

and its 30-meter high minaret.

Natalie: Wow! It's really steep.

[ Both laugh ]

Oh, my goodness me.

- Oh, wow. It's amazing. - Oh, my god.

When there's a country that you've never thought of

coming to and you see amazing sights like this...

It's just really intriguing.Yeah.

I was expecting to see ancient ruins, but this is actually

how so intact it is. It'd be good to know more.

Yeah. So well preserved.Yeah.

118 steps.

Definitely worth it once you get to the top.

And then you think, "shit, I have to get back down again."

[ Laughs ]

Narrator: Before they can get back on the road

there is a problem with the third member of the team.

Dao? Yes?

Has your friend told you if you need to go to Tashkent

or not yet?

Okay. Because if you're not going to Tashkent,

we need to see a time that we can get the train,

'cause then we'd just get the train,

because we have to buy our ticket in advance.

Okay. Yes?

Yeah? Yeah.

Yeah. Okay, cool. Let's do that.

Whether he stays tonight or not,

I think we should just get on with it.

Okay.

Natalie: We're basically going to see when the next train is

because we are independent women

and we are independent travellers

and we are still in the race.

Narrator: While Natalie and shameema begin to plan for life without dao...

[ Speaks native language ]

Important notes from the Kazakh train a culture...

Shoes on the bed are a no-no,

absolute no-no.

After days in the badlands of Kazakhstan, Josh and Felix

are approaching civilization... The city of shymkent.

- Menya zovut Felix. - Menya zovut Josh.

- Samat. - Samat.

Luckily we're fluent in Kazakh now.

I think that was Russian.

Narrator: And having travelled 1,000 miles across Uzbekistan,

darron and Alex are arriving in samarkand.

Darron: I always dreamed of riding into samarkand on a camel.

Lawrence of Arabia-esque... who?

Just riding across...

Who's that? Who's what?

"Lawrence of Arabia-ess."

Lawrence of Arabia.

Yeah, who's that? You don't know who he is?

No, never heard of him.

♪♪

What?!

What is it? Alcohol.

Settling in for a night in the kyzylkum desert,

Tony and Elaine enjoy the fruits of their labor.

[ Laughs ] Oh, my god!

We haven't spent this much time together since we were...

Just before we got married.

Just before...

Before we had children.

Skal. Bottoms up.

Elaine: I think what this trip has afforded us

is that freedom of the big world again,

and you feel quite giddy on the lack of responsibility of that.

Beautiful.

Tony: You must have a lot more responsibility than me at home.

I think I actually do, because you're part of

my responsibility. [ Laughs ]

You're like another grandchild.

[ Man singing in native language ]

♪♪

Elaine: A pretty magical evening,

sitting by the fire under a really starry sky.

Rekindled the embers, so to speak, with the relationship.

It's just right up our street.

We could stay forever and not a care in the world.

[ Singing continues ]

Bravo! Bravo!

Natalie: Thank you for being like a big brother.

Narrator: After 728 miles together...

[ Yawns ]

Natalie and shameema say goodbye to their good samaritan.

Shameema: We met an amazing guy who did so much for us,

someone who could speak the local language

and drive us around,

and it's almost like we're back to reality again.

We want to go to Bukhara.Bukhara.

7:20, leaving from there.

How much is the train?

Train? 97,000 so'Ms.

97,000.

Shameema: We don't have enough so'm.

We can't pay with dollars?

No?

Natalie: They're closing in 20 minutes. We have to buy the ticket.

So we need...

75. The race is on.

Narrator: With ground to make up...

Do you know money change?

The girls need to find the cash

to hightail it out of khiva as soon as they can.

[ Speaks native language ]

Let's go.

Shameema: It's just back to Natalie and I getting back in the race.

Did he say the cafe here?

Walking around, trying to figure things out.

Do you know anywhere where I can change money?

Dollars to so'ms?

[ Speaks native language ]

I'm losing this challenge.

Quick, quick, quick, quick. Run, run, run.

It's a bit daunting, but previous experience tells us

that we can get through it.

- Rahmat. - Rahmat.

Thank you.

This is what we do.

Natalie: Did you do it?

Did you do it? [ Laughs ]

Right, where's the next place?

Let's go. Let's go.

Narrator: Tickets secured, Natalie and shameema

begin a six-hour hop to Bukhara.

♪♪

400 miles closer to Tashkent,

samarkand, the silk road city darron

has wanted to visit since he was a schoolboy.

Alex: Wow. Now, that looks amazing.

Darron: That's pretty impressive, isn't it?

The architecture is amazing.

Nothing like this in Europe.

Why don't I take a photo of you?

Darron: You know how to work it, don't you?

I'm not stupid.

At its center, the ulugh beg observatory...

In the 15th century,

at the cutting edge of astronomy and mathematics.

This was an early version of how to understand the sun.

Looks like a fun little slide.

Its 70 astronomers could predict eclipses,

calculate the hour of the rising sun,

and measure the length of a stellar year

to within one minute of modern calculations.

I feel at one with the universe now.

[ Chuckles ]

What they achieved here, all the stars aligned

to advance our knowledge of the place we live.

You're not an emotional person, so...

It's just there's not many things that prick my emotions,

and something as beautiful as this does.

It's just a privilege to spend this time with you,

and the fact that you've ticked this off the bucket list,

and I'm here with you doing it, which you will never forget.

And I'm glad I'm doing it with you.

♪♪

♪♪

[ Growls ]

Oh, god, it's freezing.

In the kyzylkum desert, 270 miles from Tashkent,

Tony and Elaine plan their next move.

We need to be in a big city for transport.

We can't be in some random little place.

Tony: What's the point of travelling all the way to samarkand?

We get the taxi and we get really close to Tashkent.

Tony favors taking a direct route through the desert

and along small backroads, all by taxi.

But Elaine is keen on the more reliable main road to samarkand,

and from there to jump

on cheaper public transport to Tashkent.

Don't you think there will be buses from here?

Absolutely no way!

Of course there will. No!

We know what it's like, even from big cities.

We can hitch from here. No.

Okay, then, we'll do that, we'll go to samarkand.

You call this one, then.

Samarkand. Yes, yes, yes.

Yeah. She's the boss.

Yeah.

[ Laughter ]

Bye-bye.

We've got a race to win, haven't we?

We forgot about that momentarily,

while we were knocking back the vodka last night,

but we're back in it to win it.

♪♪

Oh, fantastic.

Narrator: Josh and Felix have arrived in shymkent.

Determined to continue their Kazakh adventure,

the boys have word that just outside of town,

a sporting spectacular is about to begin

that they can't afford to miss.

I'm getting more and more excited.

It feels like the big match is impending.

[ Announcements in native language ]

Brought to the region by genghis Khan's mounted raiders,

the sport of kokpar has been played by Kazakh men

since the 13th century.

[ Shouting, horses neighing ]

I said I wanted to go into the wild, and this is wild.

This is a different way.

This is the wild west.

[ Shouting continues ]

He's got a horse in a headlock.

Narrator: It involves two teams fighting over the decapitated carcass

of a recently slaughtered goat.

It's visually impressive but...

borderline barbaric.

At least the goat's not alive.

Yeah.yeah.

Thank god for small mercies.

The more I've watched it, actually,

the more I've appreciated and enjoyed it.

It's like rugby played on horseback,

fighting over a goat by...

60 of the hardest men you've ever met.

Thank you, thank you.

You guys, you are all amazing.

Seeing you out there, made us think...

[ Laughter ]

- Oh, wow. - This is fantastic.

It smells delicious.

I think today and I think

this whole Kazakhstan leg

of the journey for me has been the most true

to what I've wanted this experience to be.

Risking your life and limb and then coming back to this

and everyone being together and being like,

"do you remember that bit where Jim got knocked out?"

You know? This is for the story sharing,

and this bit is probably more important than the kokpar,

to be honest.

There's nothing, there's nothing that compares to this.

This is one of those once-in-a-lifetime experiences

that I'll never see again.

The next generation.

[ Laughter ]

Thank you so much.

I wonder if you know when the earliest train to Tashkent

is tomorrow.

Narrator: Samarkand.

180 miles from the checkpoint.

Darron: Tomorrow morning, yes.

Early as possible.

There's one at 5:18.

Thank you for your help.

Thank you again. Greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

Narrator: Just arriving, Tony and Elaine.

My rear end feels like it's been pummeled for a good hour.

Why are you smiling so much?

[ Both laugh ]

We're looking to get a train to Tashkent.

Today, yeah.

8:00 A.M.

Tomorrow. Tomorrow.

Alex: Look.

I can only know one person who wears that hat other than you.

Hello. You're kidding me!

How are you?

Oh, all right.

Where have you been? Where have you been?

We've been in samarkand.

Narrator: With Tony and Elaine's tickets booked...

Yes.

8:00 A.M.

Thank you.

Alex spots an opportunity to steal a march on his rivals.

Hello.

We are wanting to get to Tashkent as early as possible.

Man: Today? Tomorrow, 5:00 A.M.

Alex: I seen something I maybe should not have.

Ooh! Tell me.

8:00 A.M.

Their earliest train was 8:00 A.M.

So they didn't know about the...

They didn't know about this one.

Tomorrow. Perfect.

On this journey, I hope Alex learns he's far stronger,

smarter, and more adaptable than he believes he is.

He doesn't lack ability,

he just lacks the confidence of his ability.

It will change him forever, without a shadow of a doubt.

How and in what way, it'll be interesting to see.

♪♪

[ Cheering ]

Natalie: 73 years old. That's my gran.

So obviously I would find the raving grandma.

Narrator: 200 miles to the west,

Natalie and shameema adapt to life without dao.

Are you going to take me to dinner?

Yeah. oh, my god, guys!

[ Laughs ]

Yes!

I will take you up on that offer.

Narrator: In the process of separating from her husband...

- Me? - Yeah.

- 25. - 25?

Narrator: 39-year-old shameema finds herself

single for the first time in 19 years.

- You are not 18! - 18.

Okay, I can't have dinner with you.

He's 18, guys. [ Laughs ]

Oh, my god. [ Laughs ]

Uh, tea?

Tea? Yes.

Black.

[ Laughs ]

Shameema: I did say I'm going to live in the moment

so I'll get to know this nice young man

and never see him again. [ Laughs ]

I'm not really thinking about love and romance at the moment.

It's more about just working on myself.

Mmm.

This is chicken soup?

Yeah. Thank you very much.

I feel bad for eating without Natalie.

What is your name?

My name is guara.

Where do you live?

In... I live in...

I live in khiva.

Natalie: Shameema went on a hot date, so I've been just, like,

with my new train family next door.

What is your name?

[ Chuckling ] My name is...

[ Laughs ]

Obviously I'm very different, very different from them,

sharing and exchanging knowledge,

but feeling very comfortable

and not feeling awkward at all during this journey.

So how has your date been?

I had a really nice dinner, actually.

Did you have a nice date?

- Yeah. - Yeah?

Oh, good.

Have you been a perfect gentleman?

Narrator: 12 days since leaving Baku,

all four teams are within striking distance of Tashkent.

Time for bed, then?

Yeah, I think so. I'm tired.

If I eat any more meat I'm going to burst.

Tony: I feel frustrated with myself.

We've made a bad decision coming this way

and Elaine railroaded me this way.

She just wasn't listening earlier today

and I should have stood me ground.

The simplest, easiest way isn't always the best.

You're never going to let go of that, are you?

You're going to poke the bear.

Elaine: Whenever he's feeling fed up or his body's hurting him,

he always sort of attacks me,

which is exactly what he's done tonight.

And after 40 years of marriage, it won't really affect me.

I'll just ignore him.

Anyway, end of story. New day tomorrow.

We'll get on darron and Alex's...

It'll be funny if they're on the same train.

- This week is... - it's been a good week.

Yeah, I don't think we've screwed up too often.

Alex: I think we've got on a lot more than what we would normally.

Yeah.

I even recall a couple of moments

where I didn't mind you at all.

[ Laughs ]

We went through a bit of a hard time on the boat,

and the fact that I was ready to quit

and you kept me controlled and it's good again.

Alex: It's helped we've stuck together

going through this journey together.

It's making our bond stronger

'cause we're going through the highs and lows.

♪♪

Narrator: 8:00 A.M.

Tony and Elaine catch the train from samarkand to Tashkent.

We hope to arrive in Tashkent for about half past 1:00.

Bottoms up.

What do you say in Russia?

Nostrovia. be healthy.

- Nostrovia. - Nostrovia.

Nostrovia.

Tony: Slightly surprised not to see daz and Alex on the train today.

So I've got a feeling that we may well be ahead of them.

Narrator: But after catching the earlier train...

- Well, we're in Tashkent. - Yeah.

Narrator: Darron and Alex are closing in on the third checkpoint.

They are notified of its exact location by their GPS tracker.

"Head to the Amir Timur square.

If you stand next to the monument,

you will see our hotel."

Four miles away, Amir Timur square,

a monument to the turko-mongol emperor who founded a dynasty

that ruled from central Turkey to the edge of China.

Beyond that, the hotel Uzbekistan...

A brutalist relic of the Soviet era.

Go!

♪♪

Sorry.

Bloody hell, dad, what you doing?

We do not have time to mess about.

[ Sighs ] Bloody stressful.

Ah!

Woman: [ Speaks native language ]

Navoi. Navoi.

[ Speaks native language ]

Navoi and up? Down.

Down.

Next stop, navoi.

♪♪

We're in Uzbekistan. We've crossed the border.

Narrator: Closing in, Josh and Felix.

I've really enjoyed soaking up some Kazakh culture,

but maybe I'm feeling a little bit nervous

now that we're racing towards the checkpoint.

While in Bukhara, 350 miles from Tashkent...

Thank you. What did she say?

Basically, we're fucked.

There's a fast train fully booked.

The next fast train is fully booked,

but the cost of a taxi is the same, but we lose time.

It would have only taken four hours on the train

and it's going to take us seven hours sat in a car.

Okay, let's make a move.

This is navoi.

Got to be fast, dad.

Oh, wow. Now, that is impressive.

Timur square?

[ Speaks native language ]

Up? Thank you.

Monument.

Hotel.

Please be there.[ Tires screech ]

♪♪

Hello. Good morning.

Hello. Welcome to Uzbekistan hotel.

- Thank you very much. - Thank you.

Narrator: Each team must sign in to find out its position in the race.

Oh, wow.

Touch. Give me touch.

That's exactly what I wanted.

I am buzzing.

After leaving Baku in last place,

darron and Alex are the first to reach the third checkpoint.

Oh, wow, what a feeling.

Yes!

This leg, it's been extra special for me,

and I think Alex has picked up on my happiness

and embraced that.

So, we're getting on better.

We're getting there.

The fact that I took my dad's advice

and sucked it up and carried on, and it were good.

Like, we're here, we're first, we're at Tashkent.

It's perfect situation.

Tony: We'd better go, Elaine. Have you got the bag?

Yeah, I've got it.

Have you got my glasses?

After taking totally different routes through Central Asia...

It's 10,000 each.

Pleasure to meet you.

All right, let's go.

Two teams arrive in Tashkent just minutes apart.

Do you want me to take yours, as well?

My what? Rucksack.

It's not my rucksack, it's my legs.

They're not as long as yours.

- I'm itching to get there now. - Yeah.

- I need a shower. - I need a wee.

First there has a bath first.

Into the light!

Come on, Elaine.

Elaine: I'm coming as fast as I can.

This bag is getting really heavy.

That's probably it there, the hotel Uzbekistan.

Come on.

I'm sweating a bollock.

If darron and Alex are here, I'll eat my hat.

Alex and darron?

How did they manage that?

They were at the train station after us.

How did they get a blooming ticket for a train before us?

I don't get that.

- Oi, oi! - Hey, guys.

[ Laughter ]

Look at this! Oh, nice to see you guys.

It makes you realize that, actually,

there isn't much in this.

It can just turn.

Tony: We messed up. We would have been here early this morning

if we'd taken some risk.

We don't know that.

But we've over-spent on this leg.

That doesn't bode well.

Hello. Nice to see you.

Josh: We arrived two minutes after the second-placed team.

It feels like this is the way we've got to carry on doing it.

We're making the most of the experiences

and we're not losing in the race.

We're competitive but also having fun,

which has got to be what it's about.

♪♪

Narrator: There's one last team to reach the checkpoint.

Hello!

[ Both panting ]

Oh, no!

Oh, it's all right.

It's cool.

Natalie: We knew that we lost a couple of days in aktau.

I didn't want to be a day behind.

As long as we were within hours of everyone

because I don't want that to impact the next leg.

And the fact that we've only come in a few hours after

is actually not that bad.Yeah.

[ Both laugh ]

Narrator: After the third leg in the race to Singapore,

darron and Alex have moved from last to first place.

And the teams are separated by just 6.5 hours.

We are going to get our lead back by whatever means.

Josh: We're only halfway through a marathon.

I don't think anything's won or lost yet.

Next time...

- God, it's snowing! - Oh!

Narrator: The race hots up.

- Oh, wow! - This shit just got real.

Narrator: As the teams head to the people's republic.

It's a crazy, wacky, whoopy place.

Oh, my god.

Narrator: Emotions run high...

Shut up!

Alex: Thank you.

Josh: We don't have enough money, so...

and budgets...

We're in dire straits.

Dangerously low.

That is the most we've spent in the whole trip.

It's a massive culture shock.

I've never been anywhere like this.

♪♪