HWY17

[Drunk Monk]

Italian kung-fu shoes? Do tell!

So Wing Lam had several Italian disciples and was brought there to teach by his loyal Italian students several times.  I like to think it was somewhat the result of an article I wrote that was translated to Italian in a mag called Samurai Banzai Pulgalto (or something like that) but it was more likely that me selling that article was a result of his travels there. We wore these handmade Hong Kong Kung Fu shoes - they were funky little booties that snapped in the back and had no soles with treads made from recycled tire sidewalls.  Fell apart if you got them wet.  They weren't that expensive, but they were a pain in the butt because they would wear out quickly.  Sifu never required them, but everyone at the school wore them, so I did too.  Impossible to find those now.  No one makes them anymore.  Sifu's Italian students hated them, absolutely hated them, even more than me.  I mean, Italian shoes, 'nuf said right?  So one of his students had some Italian shoemaker craft some, and they were nice.  Fine leather, beautiful suede, real soles and tread.  They were expensive and I never got a pair. I should have, but they seemed so ridiculous to me at the time.  I hated those booties back then. As soon as I went to Shaolin, I switched to Feiyues and I've never gone back. I regret not having any now, just as mementos.