Metro Manila Community Quarantine - Day 779
One of the more interesting aspects of this Singapore trip has to be all the trail walking/hiking that I've gotten to do together with my sister. It's something they had gotten into over the course of the pandemic when Singapore allowed outdoor activities even within the first year of lockdowns. And it's hard not to get excited about trail walking in Singapore since they have some beautiful parks and well-maintained nature trails.
When one thinks about hiking back in the Philippines, it typically means getting out of Metro Manila and going to nearby provinces or mountains in order to get a "proper" hiking experience, as it were. And this is not necessarily a bad thing - but it does take a LOT of effort to get out of the city such that hiking trips tend to eat up your entire weekend.
But here, there are great options well-within the city. Even some of the more challenging trails in nature reserves and the like are no more than 30 minutes away. I can literally walk over to Fort Canning Park from our location and still have the energy to go around the park itself and still have the legs to walk back. Greater access to public spaces of this nature is quite the game-changer.
And despite living in a nicer community like BGC, I know we don't necessarily have anything super comparable in our area. And I doubt this will change anytime soon given the way government works. I recognize that parks are really more of a luxury instead of a community necessity, which is a shame. It would really drive different behaviors to have more safe outdoor spaces in the mix of things.
Ah well, one can dream. We're all hoping for the best in terms of the elections next week but even that won't necessarily lead to major changes - at least not within the next Presidential term. Things do tend to move slowly on that front, but one can only trust that change happens over time.
Anyway, gotta head to bed. We're hoping to squeeze in a last hike tomorrow since we're going home on Wednesday.
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