Random thoughts on walking
I consider Nate, an old co-worker turned good friend, the person who taught me what walking could be.
It was 2016, walking leisurely to a coffee shop in Central Osaka. As Nate navigated, I found myself sitting on the edge of a plant box on the sidewalk. Having walked all afternoon had turned my legs to jelly (though I’d like to think the giving up was mostly mental). I told him I didn’t mind skipping the last shop on our list. He said we were just a kilometer away, a gentle nudge to take a few more steps. The destination was worth it: my first time in a shop I’d only seen in pictures, with more than an hour spent looking over Tosabori River, listening to quality music played by each passing ferry.
Me and Nate at Brooklyn Coffee Roasters, Kitahama - Sept 2016, and said view (captured with a colleague’s GoPro - Hi, Carlos!!!)
That memory shaped how I view walking. I chalk it up to Nate’s daily habit of walking to work, so integrated into his life it’s almost never mentioned unless someone asks. Now that I’m in his shoes (no pun :)), living where most things are within walking distance, (work, stores, yoga studios, and maybe ‘non-essentials’ like a pottery studio and some of the country’s best coffee shops) it’s almost a no-brainer that walking is what I choose. I even find it funny that arranging private transport is what inconveniences me. Especially in Manila, where traffic is the worst in the world.
Walking shorter distances develops in me the confidence to walk farther ones. After enough repetitions, a kilometer stops feeling far. Then three kilometers stop feeling far. Eventually you stop calculating whether a destination is walkable and simply start walking. Even the Manila heat doesn’t stop me. I’ve learned to equip myself well enough for the climate (and the grime!) that I don’t only have a portable fan with me always, but my manner of dressing up (or down?) has shifted to ready me for the walk. (See video: The Casual - One Mile Wear)
Another key figure in my walking life is my dad. I’m practically his mini-me--we both choose to walk anywhere, anytime, whenever possible. In his late 70s, he still walks and swims regularly. To me, the message is clear: when movement becomes a significant part of your life, it stops feeling like a chore and becomes a choice you no longer need to make. It’s almost like breathing, you do it because it’s the default way--initially by choice, now by need.
Walking in Manila is an interesting choice because only a tiny, concentrated fraction of the city is actually pedestrian friendly. In the central business district, sidewalks practically mirror the road: flat, well-paved (sometimes not :)), except each block is punctuated by an entrance to an underground walkway. A long walk is a flatline with a quick dip-ascent. Quite predictable, that I require myself to always look out. And there are many, many interesting visuals seen, then collated in the mind. (One unexpected takeaway: A lot of locals actually dress quite nicely, contrary to popular belief!)
The rest of the city tells a different story. Sidewalks double (tripling, quadrupling??) as parking spaces and vendor stalls, aka Jollijeep food carts, cigarette and candy sellers, leaving barely any room for actual pedestrians. Most aren’t even real sidewalks; they’re building driveways, uneven and inconsistent, optimized for wheels. Walking here means constantly adjusting your pace, your steps, your awareness, and doing this daily really shapes how you see the world, how resilient you become (a warm-up for walks on the harsher non-sidewalks of Manila), and how much movement you can take on. Maybe that’s what years of walking have taught me. Not really endurance, but trust: that my legs can take me farther than my mind initially believes.
Sidenote: I also make a lot of cat friends in my walks! (See Cats of Salcedo Village, Cats of Legaspi Village)
A list-in-progress
Readings on walking (or related practices) + inspiring figures, aka people I don’t personally know but have made an impact on me~
- Craig Mod’s Ridgeline, Roden newsletters + his memoir Things Become Other Things
- Haruki Murakami’s What I Talk About When I Talk About Running
- To finish reading: Frédéric Gros‘ A Philosophy of Walking
- To read: Twyla Tharp’s The Creative Habit
I did realize at some point that a lot of the thinkers I admire are apparently walkers/movers.
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Plot points 🗂