PUTRAJAYA 15 JAN 2011: Back by popular demand after a hiatus of 3 years, Putrajaya Treasure Hunt 2011 - Amazing Race was definitely a not-to-be-missed event. This well-publicised hunt was aiming to pick up the excitement where it has left off in 2007; and to a great extent, it has succeeded.
The much-anticipated event on 15th Jan 2011 certainly packed a few surprises; most notably, the appointment of Johan Salul as question setter. For a sport, where the choice of COC will lend credibility to the hunt, his appearance was undoubtedly greeted with an appreciative sigh of relief among the regular hunters.
With 30 road questions, 5 treasures and a few tasks to be performed around Putrajaya areas, the meagre 6-hour hunt time ominously hinted that time management was the critical success factor for the day. The 15 questions in Leg 1 proved to be rather cryptic, with the font size of a few answers possibly smaller than the letters in the last row of an eye test chart.
Thankfully the tasks provided a breather from the mind-boggling questions; where the participants needed a bit of navigation skill to go to some of the locations within Putrajaya.
However the mastermind behind one of the tasks must have been an ardent fan of Fear Factor, as the hunters were required to chomp on ‘mouth-watering’ worms for brunch. Yikess!!!!!
The mental torture resumed with the final 15 cryptic questions in Alamanda mall. What made these already-tough questions doubly hard was that their answers were not in sequence.
Given the vast space area of each floor and the amount of signages, this Leg 2 walk-in-the-mall hunt seemed to make Tom Cruise’s Mission Impossible a walk in the park.
However it is a painfully fine line that so often separates an unforgettable successful hunt from a run-of-the-mill one.
Just like the hunt itself, Johan’s long-time absence as COC, has inevitably raised diffidence as to his ability to flawlessly conduct a mammoth event, with an amazing field of 160 teams.
The failure to address the mundane-yet-critical administration of mid-station and finish point was conspicuously evidenced by the long line of impatiently waiting hunters. A few bitterly complained that the 6-hour time was not strictly enforced.
(Photo from Michael Pang blog)
“It’s not rocket science to figure out that if you have 2 counters to handle 160 teams, where each team needs to submit answers and 5 treasures, it’ll take easily 30 minutes” a queueing hunter noted sarcastically.
“Not to forget that we have to show a photo for verification too” added another.
It was these comments that somehow pockmarked the return of an otherwise great hunt.
Putting these minor failings aside, I would still recommend this Grand Slam event for hunters! It was certainly entertaining and the questions were craftily set by its COC!! A good hunt, with a bit of room for improvement !!!
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