LAST EDITED ON 11-19-01 AT 11:04 AM (EST)

LAST EDITED ON 11-19-01 AT 10:49 AM (EST)

Someone in another post a few days ago commented on the incongruity of the nighttime dinner scenes at the pit stop in Bikaner shown at the beginning of the last episode. It made me curious, so this weekend I re-watched the opening minutes of the show and it's true - it doesn't add up. Here's why:

According to the times they departed for Delhi, supposedly "12 hours later", the Festers must have arrived at Bikaner (after the Rat Temple visit) at 4:50am, when it was still dark. Rob and Brennan and F/M were close behind, within 30 minutes or so. Guidos and Momily did not arrive until 8:30am, by which time it was daylight. They all supposedly left 12 hours later - starting with Drew and Kevin at 4:50pm - in daylight.

This means that all five teams should only have been together in Bikaner from about 8:30am to 4:50pm - i.e. in daylight hours only.

The scene shown at the beginning of the episode clearly takes place at the Bikaner palace, on the same patio-like structure on which they all "checked in" on arrival. You can also see the same design in the stone carvings along the rail of the patio, and you see an Indian man wearing a turban.

The scene (which they show in two bits - one right at the start of the episode, one a few minutes later) clearly shows all 5 teams present, and you can see food/wine sitting in front of them. The Guidos and Momily appear to be wearing the same clothes they were wearing when they arrived at Bikaner; GQ, F/M and Festers have changed their clothes. It is clearly outdoors, it is clearly night time.

There is also a brief clip of a bunch of people dancing on the same patio at night, but it's not possible to tell who is who. Presumably it is supposed to be the teams having a little fun after their dinner and wine. You can see the same palace in the background, the same outdoor lamp posts. You can also see the same "night lights" you can see in the background when Drew and Kevin arrived at 4:50am.

The only possible explanation for all five teams being shown together, at Bikaner, at night, is that the teams stayed over in Bikaner another night, and left the following day, 36 hours after they arrived.

If this is the case, why don't the producers just say this? Why tell us it is 12 hours after they arrive if it isn't true?

It wouldn't make me like the show any less if there were longer pit stops at some point. But if they lie about one thing it raises my suspicions about others.

It also makes me wonder why Momily is claiming they were up for "48 hours straight" when they were walking around Bangkok. In fact, it looks like they had quite a rest while they were in Bikaner. At most they had been up for a little over 24 hours; very tiring, but not as much as being up for 2 days, as they would have us believe, ie that they went from Delhi to the Rat Temple to Bikaner to Delhi to Bangkok without sleep. Unless they were referring to the 48 hours it took for them to actually get to Krabi - that would make sense - from Bikaner (after a rest) to Krabi would be about 48 hours.

I hope that someone can point out that I am wrong about this, because I would really like to be. What do you think???