adidas kampung, the pros and the conts

or maybe i should put the title as 'sayangi lutut anda'

imagine this..
u r a noobie. and for some good reason u learn from the elders, or old-timers.
the fitness and endurance been another realistic issue.
so u adapt what their practices and soon u'll get used to it.

during my early times in outdoor adventures, i've been promoted to adidas kampung or kasut getah (rubber-tapper's shoes) very much like its a must have and a real hardcore will having at least a pair of it.

this is how it looks. the sandal is normally a Teva, but risk the toes for tripping the roots n trees or even rocks.

the shoes cost more or less RM5. quite hard to find. this sounds so cheap. one single xpdc costs not less than rm100, the equipments, maybe rm500 or so.. so to have another few hundreds bucks for a timberland or lafuma is not a very affordable idea.

the special thing about it is that it is fully made of rubber, the original one. so it grips very well, and wont get wet, (malaysian rainforest tracks require climbers to cross rivers and waterfalls) this means it wont be extra heavy. plus, it is a whole-pieced so less likely to get torn.

on the minus side, this is a big no for hot, long trek balak or even roads. it will became uncomfortably hot and easier to tear. replace if its worn out because it will be slippery then.

more importantly, it doesn't have a steel plate so it wont protect from sharp objects.
the cushioning is also an issue.
the various kind of tracks (i.e. canak, landai, 90 degrees, cerun, tangga, batu, kayu, humus, sungai, lumpur) affect the stepping pace.

when its almost 10-hours of trekking, the only thing in mind is to reach the nearest campsite as quickly as possible, at least before its getting dark. or maybe just for the fun of it, (while the energy lasts) the tendency to jump and run is very, very likely and its the knee that suffers the impact of like 10-20kgs of the rucksack on the back.

after few years, its still the sweetest memory in life. until i met the forestry and asli peeps, that told me, its not that good wearing the adidas kampung.
on my recent gunung, i went well up to the summit, but the knees start shaking all my way down or even flats. even back at home, going downstairs to the kitchen is disastrous.

long walking distance also trigger the similar effect. going classes is miserable sometimes.
after more than a month now, the pain on the knees hasn't gone. too bad, with the h1n1 outbreaks, no other cases are more severe than flu and fever, so the doctor pays little attention to my case.

if u r having a pair of adidas kampung or planning to. please think again. even running on nicely-paved jogging-track requires an engineered pair of trainers.

p/s: i still own a newly bought pair of shoes.