Tuesday, January 24, 2012

恭喜发财

Chinese New Year means food, food, food and more food.


Conversations with mom goes like 'Ma, got buy xxx ah?', 'Of kos!'.


Everything I wanted, she would have bought or cooked.


So I'd sleep, eat, sleep, eat, and repeat the entire cycle repeatedly.


And after consuming millions of calories, I would go burn around 3 or 4 calories.


恭喜发财!!!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Mirror Mirror on the wall

Who’s the lightest of them all??!!

Ever wonder which Adidas is heavier? Ever wonder how heavy is a model that you are interested in?

These questions popped into my head so I went and look for the answer. And while I wasn’t surprised who is the lightest of them all, I was very surprised with the order of lightest to heaviest. By the way, I’m a size 9/10.

Introducing the champion… Vibram Fivefingers Bikila!!! Weighing in at 177g!!! This is definitely a no brainer as this is the king of minimalist footwear. The beauty is, you still have the Vibram sole to protect you. So you get to run with the barefoot feeling (not completely la…) without the risk of it.

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And not far behind… is Adidas Adizero Feather, weighing in at 217g!! This is definitely a surprise for me. I know la the name itself says FEATHER. But I really didn’t expect it to be lighter than the Minimus and Reebok. Given the fact that it’s sole is fairly thick and offers some good cushioning. Adidas… GOOD JOB!!!

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Next, is New Balance Minimus Trail weighing in at 218g. Less is More. I couldn’t agree more. But again, I’m surprise you are heavier than Adizero Feather!! Maybe it’s the Vibram sole. For detail measurements of the heel drop or what drop this drop, please go to their official website or the professional ‘reviewer’ k. I’m just rambling… Damn.. I still can’t get over it!! Recently went to Gunung Tok Wan with it, hiked for 5 hours+, it felt GOOD!!! FYI, I was wearing socks. The shoe is meant to be worn sockless; which I tried but the tongue gave me a hotspot after 5km on the dreadmill. Anyway I never really like wearing shoes without socks…

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Next up, Reebok don’t know what model… weighing in at 229g. This is another shocker. I totally expected this to be much lighter… this shoe is nothing le!!! When I run with it, I can barely feel it… It was initially bought as a ‘boat shoe’, for popping when I went to Simeuleu, Indonesia.

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Next, is my sexy Salomon Fellcross, weighing in at 308g. Fairly surprise with this as well, as I didn’t expect it to be lighter than my Adidas Response. Salomon, RESPECT!! Given the ruggedness and solidness of the shoe, I really expected something heavier. I Love it!!!

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Weighing in at 375g, Adidas Response. This is officially my FIRST running shoe. Bought after N signed me up for a 10km run, my first. After that, I ran my first 21km in them… so… ok la… didn’t know it’s so heavy… Hahahahaha…

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Split by a mere 4g, we have Adidas Titan Bounce! This was bought as a ‘kai kai’, jalan jalan, gaya shoe. And getting the shoe itself has a story behind it. I went to almost every Adidas outlets, Al-Ikhsan, World of Sports, Studio R, in the Klang Valley, and I couldn’t get my size. And coincidently over the weekend, I went to Penang with my parents, and we passed by an Al-Ikhsan. I went in, tried the size I wanted, and left the shop wearing it. Anyway, I ran a bit in it. The name speaks for itself, it’s bouncy. But again, the weight… while not highly noticeable, it’s there…

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And the Heavy Weight Champion goes to… Salomon XA Pro 3D Ultra 2, weighing in at 416g. Aiyo… the name itself also so long liow… of course heavy lo… This one is heavy because it’s PACKED with muscles!! So it’s got every reason to be heavy! And I don’t really feel the weight when I’m hiking. The feeling is (as one will expect), completely different from the Minimus Trail.

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So there you have it… and pretty obvious what is my favourite color eh… hahahahaha…

Gunung Tok Wan – 140112

The moment we reach the oil palm estate, the parking lot and entrance to Broga Hill, I can’t help but suspect that there is a Rave Party going on somewhere inside… The number of cars is just unbelievable..

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And because our destination is Gunung Tok Wan, we will have to join in the human traffic as the ‘entrance’ to Gunung Tok Wan is right after Bukit Broga.

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So off we went.

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We started from the car park at 8:30am and I think by this time, quite a number of people are already on their way down.

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This is my first time to Broga so I can’t really compare the ‘traffic’. But I have seen worst pictures on the net… So we were quite lucky…

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I think it’s clear why so many people come here. For a short hike of around 45 minutes, you get this super cool view. And it’s leech free. Mosquito free.

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It took us around 45 minutes to get to the summit of Broga. And it’s really sad to see everything ‘vandalisable’ is vandalised. The sign, the rocks, and every single branches of a poor tree that was between the rocks… Fucking idiots…

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From the summit of Bukit Broga, it’s another 2 hours hike to Gunung Tok Wan. And here we are standing at the ‘entrance’.

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Aside from this dude below that we were all staring at, we only bumped into another group along the way. And the funny part was, we bumped into them 1 hour+ into the journey. They asked us where we heading to and we said Tok Wan. They actually told us ‘Don’t bother!! You can’t reach. It’s up down up down'. Idiots… luckily we never listen to them and went on.

The journey was pretty ok with quite a number of ups and downs. But it was decent climbs. Tougher than Apek for sure, but not as tough as Gunung Datuk and way no match to Gunung Angsi. Along the way, I only spotted 2 leeches on my New Balance Minimus Trail, and they were tiny. (those we saw in Gunung Angsi racing towards our feet when we were standing still, were gigantic compare to these…)

And all along the trail, we were guided by the red tapes tied to the trees. So we just follow them.

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Giant tree with massive massive roots spread all over…

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Absolute coolness…

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The view at the summit was… er… there was no view. It was just trees and trees and trees. So it was quite potong steam.

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But got 2 nice chair to rest your ass on.

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If this signboard was not there, I think we won’t feel we have reached the summit…

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Any idea what the red bucket is for???

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New Balance – Minimus Trail. Love the feeling of the almost direct contact with the ground. While the grip is no match to the Salomon Fellcross, the fact that I have more feel to the ground gave me more confident in my steps. Love it!!!

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By the time we got back to Broga , it was already noon. And the place was totally empty.

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Ais kosong!!

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Not a single soul…

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And the earlier packed car park, just my car left. Can spot my Triton??

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