I am not a super-huge person but I am substantially larger than your average Vietnamese person. Therefore, finding shoes just generally speaking can be quite the adventure. I'm not talking about shoes that you really like, just finding shoes that are big enough for your foot.
I wear a 46cm shoe or 11-12 size depending on what country you are from. These are almost impossible to find since apparently the average man in Vietnam has size 38 or smaller foot. I base this on the fact that when I go to major shoe stores this is normally the largest size that they have.
I took a gamble the other day at a legitimate shoe store to ensure that I don't end up with counterfeit knock-off shoes and was initially quite happy that they had something in my size. Not only that but they felt quite comfortable in the store.
Having sandals is pretty important here because you are taking your shoes off frequently. It is also dreadfully hot so wearing socks outdoors, unless you are there intentionally to exercise, is painful. So when these fit me and I walked around the store a bit, I was already sold. They were not cheap either as they are genuine Adidas and that means they are priced at roughly 2x what they are actually worth and 10x what they cost to make. They were 1.5 million VND which is nearly $60. Other than some Birkenstocks that I bought during my hippie days in college, this is by far the most I have ever spent on sandals.
I was happy initially, because the sole of them is comfortable and much thicker than your run of the mill, shitty flip flops that everyone seems to wear on a regular basis. I changed out of them at the store and proceeded to wear them from that point forward for the day.
It was on day 1 that I realized that I had made a terrible mistake as far as this purchase is concerned.
I don't know if I walk with a gait or something, but the inside of these very strong velcro straps are constantly rubbing up against the sensitive inside top of my foot and it was only after I took them out to "break them in" that I realized exactly how much damage I was doing to my foot.
This doesn't really do justice to how bad it is because I took this photo several days after the initial "breaking them in" sequence. My footses were bleeding along those scar-lines and I still have marks there in those places weeks later. It got so bad that I took the sandals off and just walked the rest of the way home barefoot.
Some people have said that you just have to develop callouses to deal with the friction and rubbing but do you really want to have callouses on that part of your foot? I know that I don't want to.
Someone suggested that these kinds of sandals are meant to be worm with socks and their only purpose is to walk from the football/soccer pitch to your car without having your spiked shoes on. If that is the case I am not going to do that either because I am not German and therefore do not wear socks with sandals.
I guess it is just $60 wasted and hopefully I will be able to give them to someone who likes pain a great deal more than I do.