Current Read: First Pass Under Heaven

Official website at http://www.greatwalldvd.com/

The Great Wall of China is the largest man-made structure ever built, stretching for over 4,000 kilometres from central Asia, across the Gobi Desert, through the remote, cold mountains of northern China to end on the shores of the Pacific Ocean. Nathan Gray, a young New Zealand lawyer, wanted to be one of the first Westerners in history to walk and document the entire length of the Great Wall...

Selling my new unsued Injinji, Mizuno, Adidas

I have converted to sockless VFF running this year.
Thus the following new and unused socks are useless to me.

1) Injinji NuBamboo toesocks (2 pairs) CREW 75% NuBamboo 25% Nylon (NuBamboo is naturally odour resistant and anti bacterial)
Size L (M:11-13 W:12+)
This is NOT AVAILABLE in Singapore
Got it from Hong Kong last year at HKD$199 (~SGD$21.60)
Asking for $20




2) Injinji Coolmax toesocks (1 pair) Mini-Crew 70% Coolmax 25% Nylon 5% Lycra
Size L (M:11-13 W:12+)
Got this from Running Labs for $23.90
Asking for $20



3) Mizuno 1/4 Skin CoolMax Socks (1 pair) 67% Coolmax 25% Polyester 8% Spandex
Size L (M: 9.5 or more W: 11 or more)
Got this from World of Sports for $12.90
Asking for $10




4) Adidas Cushioned Ankle Running Socks (1 pair) - All in Thai so don't understand
Size: Free Size
Got this from Bangkok Department store for THB$150 (~SGD$6.30)
Asking for $5


























Email me at tyongwei@singnet.com.sg if you are interested and do not have my contact

Dean's footwear survey

Dean Karnazes, who made headlines with lot of his crazy running challenges that are often heavily advertised did a survey in his blog regarding the the footwear his reader are wearing....

The full results can be found HERE.

• Asics = 59
• Mizuno = 33
• Brooks = 27
• Saucony = 27
• Nike = 24
• New Balance = 18
• Vibram Five Fingers = 16
• Adidas = 13
• The North Face = 11
• .............

This result actually caused some attention in the Vibram FiveFinger community. The reason being the ranking of Vibram VFF is unexpectedly high and even above the usual brands like adidas and The North Face (Dean's sponsor) and is close to New Balance. Even Dean himself was surprised by the ranking of Vibram Five Fingers.

Point to note is that majority of his readers are extreme runners.....doing distances beyond the traditional marathon.

I need another VFF soon

VFF trail running video

five finger trailrunning from Sam Duregger on Vimeo.

Oh Yes, I got exactly the same red VFF sprint and i have used it to run Macritchie Reservoir Trail for the past 3 weeks....total mileage with this shod has just exceeded 100km.....I was able to run fast and harder than before...now is to slowly build up to go further.........

Running Barefoot by Harvard University

Some Researcher from Harvard University Skeletal Biology Lab has this interesting webpage about their research in barefoot running which is worth reading....

You can find it at http://www.barefootrunning.fas.harvard.edu/

RazerTV coverage on Barefoot Running with Local Barefoot Runners

Orange on the wrist for Chinese New Years: Orient Mako CEM65001M

I was eyeing this orange on the wrist for a month...until I found out that there is a roadshow at vivocity and I was free to drop by to take a look...The feel is real solid and the build looks great...as good as other brands that cost 3 or more times than this....the price is astonishing low for this quality timepiece.......
No wonder this is the most popular model from Orient........
.......I was confused and cannot decide whether to get the rubber strap or oyster bracelet version........after thinking and also advised by the sales guy, I decided to get the oyster bracelet piece due to the small price difference between the 2....cheaper to get a rubber strap than a oyster bracelet later


Presenting my first mechanical self-winded automatic watch..ORIENT MAKO. Comes with a nice box and the black book below is the catalog

Close-up

The 2 lions logo is even on the crown

 

The backcase with the hologram sticker

On the owner's wrist

 

I am not going to write too much on this because there is 2 very good reviews with much better looking photos at the sites below:

1) ablogtoread.com review on CEM65001M model with the stainsteel oyster bracelet

2) orientalwatchsite.com review on CEM65004M model with the rubber strap

This model comes with other colour combinations and here my friend, Kym has a trilogy of it...and here is a good intro on the Mako watch 

I just remembered....and I took out my most recent 3 watches that I got

Somehow, I am a sucker for orange to be on my wrist........

Guangzhou holiday: The last piece

finally, this will be the very last post of the guangzhou trip series....I hope I did not bored anyone who is following or readers (If I got any) whom want me to blog more about my running......I have been running....and blogging will come soon

Here are some of the other misc shots about the trip

An all our buys from this trip

Guangzhou: Tian He golden area

Tian He area has one of the most expensive property space in guangzhou city. Interestingly, the area is centred around TianHe sports & recreation centre which consisted of a large stadium and many other sports facilities like basketball court, tennis court, soccer field........

The street in outside TianHe city, notice the gold building

 at the end

Entrance to one of the large shopping mall in the area...which is like our paragon here

7-up christmas tree

 

The Movie adverts for the MULAN movie

Outside another shopping malls

 

Another Guangzhou Restaurant branch

 

The sports lottery  management centre at the TianHe sports stadium

 

Carpark entrance to the stadium..and the construction site for Asian Games 2010 Sports venues

 

One of the taller office building in the area

We reached a park and saw this beautiful tree filled with no leaves but pretty pink flowers

 

The most prominent building in the area with a fully gold-coloured outer

It is a pity that the area is so big and we have so little time to roam that day...and did not manage to raid more shopping malls for good buy...but I did brought something at one of the shopping mall there...and something finally relaed to running.....I got a nice onepolar hydration pack for SGD$43!!! My best buy in Guangzhou

many functional pockets and can be expended by zipping and unzipping the side and the cushioning and support is superb...I dun think camelbak or deuter has such great hydration pack at this price....similar piece with other brands will definitely cost > SGD$120

And the magical thing about this bag is the waist strap can disappear!!!

 

amazing design!!!

Guangzhou Food: Real Kungfu!!!

One of the interesting local fast food chain had a very prominent billboard everywhere.

Bruce Lee

and true enough to the name, ZHEN! sound the same as STREAM...and the fastfood chain served steamed chinese food...

 

Reasonable pricing, reasonable taste...and definitely much more healthier than other famous fastfood

Guangzhou food: Chuan Food

The night before we went for the Pearl River night tour, we were led to a small village beside Sun-Yat_San University main Campus for dinner. The food is not Canton food for what they called Chuan Food from ShiChuan area......where the Spicy and Numb Chili Dishes are famous for.

One thing that we are impressed in China is the level of hygiene at the restaurant, all the plates and bowl and spoons are sterilized and wrapped for customer

We had this...taste like potato

and I like this tomato fired egg

 

This chicken is good...the chicken meat is tough and Q...but too bad is very little

Vege

 

The main highlight is this "water cook fish"...unfortunately, the fish is not deboned and has a lot of small bone...I had a hard time trying to pick the bones

The temperature dipped and these Chuan Food does help to warm the body up

Guangzhou food: Our 1st meal in Guangzhou...but not canton food

Our first meal in Guangzhou is actually not canton food....normal visitor probably will not get to find this building because it is located in a village called Nei Gang on the university island among the Sun-Yat-San University campus.

click to zoom in:

I will know how to go again because it was hidden in centre of the old village which is built like a maze.


We are actually having Northern China food....we had northern china food in Singapore but the dished that served out are really interesting and never seen before

The name of the restaurant on the tissue packet

1st is the special pork rib..Superb taste!!!

 

cannot remember this is fried what

This dumpling is really unqiue...cannot remember what is inside

 

This is their Shou Mian...eaten by the birthday boy/girl...but nobody birthday that day...and we managed to get this free

 

This is the Malt sugar sweet potato..nice to eat but the malt sugar is irritating..kep sticking to the teeth

we really do not know what vege dish is this...very nice but one the vege is very very spicy!!

 

and we supposed to wrap up with beancurd skin and eat

This soup is good for the eye and very nutritious...GouQiZhi Chicken Soup

whole table of good food!!

nobody birthday but my cousin and friends got this cake to welcome us...it is a fruitty cake

 

and something that caught our eyes are the prints on the paper plates

 

Happy Birthday to whoever's birthday today