Why Tour-Walk Manila?

Why do I espouse the idea of tour-walking Manila for fitness? Most tourists would just take a ride or hire vans for touring Metro Manila. But if you want something different and also rub elbows with the masses, so to speak--and experience real Manila--then I suggest you do it by tour-walking Manila. That's what my wife and I do most times.

I mean, we ride some and walk some. We also run now and then. We like climbing footbridges and taking the MRT or LRT and walking along crowded and busy sidewalks where vendors sell various items. We like jumping for rides in public jeeps, tricycles, and buses. Tour-walking Manila, you'd see local folks turn sidewalks and street corners into shopping corners--only in Manila. And you can't experience this by confining yourself in the safety of your air-con vans or buses.

Yes, your nose is bound to catch various smells both pleasant and offensive, but that's part of the soul of a place. If you want to experience real Manila and not just see its artificial version from the safeness of distance, then walkfit the streets where the real action is--and where the real smells are, too.

Security? Well, I've seen foreign tourists walking the streets of Manila where it's safe to do so. Ride if you think the route you'd take is risky. Then walk in areas where it's safe--where pedestrians abound and you only need to walk a short distance from your destination--like a half kilometer away or so.

The fact is, even planes get hijacked in mid-air nowadays. A Malaysian airline was recently shot in the air with a rocket. Just the other day, airplanes crashed in some places in Europe and I think in the US. So, I guess you can't pinpoint any safe place these days. Sometimes, walking is the safest way to travel anywhere in the world--as long as you walk with the crowd--safety in numbers, they say. So, I and my wife often go tour-walking Manila for fitness.

In hot days, we take along a bottled water and small umbrella in hand as we walk. We go inside shops to take peeks at what's available, roam around department stores for the cool air-conditioning, try seeing what's inside a hotel or restaurant, and then go out to take a walk again. You get to see more this way, and also burn lots of calories in the process. Now, when we get really tired of walking, we take a cab. As simple as that.

I and my wife are health buffs so we usually take late afternoons for brisk walks in the park, around the block, or somewhere else. And when we have somewhere to go, we often ride and walk and run. We enjoy the sights and get good health in the process. Best of all, I have something to blog about.