Latest Impulse buy...

Ok, admittedly not strictly an impulse buy as I've been coveting them for months... but having recently become solvent again I decided a small treat was in order... soooo I now have possibly the strangest sports shoes yet. Which is saying something as my current Arnis shoes are of the 'if Nike made shoes for ninjas' style.

So I found a place in Chinatown Point which sells them (and another in Velocity in Novena).


The shoes are FiveFingers made by Vibram (who make excellent soles for walking boots). The design principle is that you're essentially going bare foot, which I'm pretty much used to after two years of wearing nothing but flip-flops. So they have a protective sole then a pretty thin breathable/anti-bacterial fabric top. I opted for the KSO variety (keep stuff out) which are a bit less minimalist, but less likely to fill with sand etc. The colours vary between mildly benign and fugly... so I chose a relatively calm pair.

My first impression was 'damn, I feel like a frickin' ninja, I want to run up walls'. (remembered gravity, resisted the temptation).

I spend the afternoon wandering around exploring the railway track near my house (its ok to play on the railway tracks when there are only 2 trains a day). Took some pictures and generally explored.

Apart from the odd strange (crazy Ang-moh) look from people I really like them. They are amazingly comfortable as you are essentially walking around barefoot. I found I was much more aware of the ground and noticed the gravel I was walking on more (but not unpleasantly). Like Nike free and other minimalist shoes the company recommend you only wear them for a few hours at a time to start with, to allow your feet to strengthen. But I didn't have any great problem/discomfort/pain after.

At some point, when I'm feeling a bit braver I'm going to start trying to learn to run bare-foot, which takes a bit more time but is much better for knees and joints etc.... will see how it goes. Will also try them for Arnis at some point, as they have an excellent feeling of control and grip.

Happy Happy Joy Joy!