Hiking with the family not only fosters bonding among the members but also nurtures rich memories and experiences. Memories and shared experiences, especially on video or with photos, ensure that the bonding is preserved for years or ages (or generations) to come. So, it's a serious matter to take pictures and videos of your journeys and adventures as a local hiker.
Pic above by HongFei Li, Stockvault.
Better Than a Trip Around the World
My dad traveled around the world as a journalist, sent as a news correspondent by their newspaper company, The Philippines Herald. But he wasn't able to take us with him, so the enjoyment was about half of what it should have been. So, he made up for it through the local trips he took us to. They weren't as special as trips around the world but they were definitely much better.
He often took as to Luneta or Rizal Park in Manila (a mere hour ride from our place) where we imagined ourselves traveling to China, Hong Kong and Japan when we visited the Chinese and Japanese Gardens there. Creative dads can make it look and feel so real, and my dad was one of them. Being a writer, he could make things look real when he told us about them, especially his travels, that it seemed we were making those trips with him right there and then.
He also sometimes took the family to San Juan, La Union during summer vacations and spent special time reminiscing his childhood and youth there while pointing to us the actual places where they happened. We loved his mystery stories about the place and his escapades with his friends in the same. Family trips like that are definitely lots better than touring around the world.
What a Family Local Hike is Like
Now, don't get me wrong. World tours or cruises are definitely swell, especially if you have a sponsor for all your expenses. Sometimes, God grants us that and moves certain folks to sponsor our trips. But most times, we just have local hikes. So I have become some kind of an expert local hiker. My wife, too. And this is what I mean by a local hike.
You take long walks to your destinations, sometimes you commute. You see, commuting can sometimes feel like "hiking" if you keep transferring rides like we do to avoid traffic. We get off the public vehicle trapped in traffic and walk to the footbridge to get to the other side of an intersection and take another ride there. And anyway, in this pandemic, most public jeeps in Metro Manila take short distances only so you do lots of ride transfers. And I mean a lot.
Like going to Quiapo in Manila from project 8 in QC. We take two to three rides and sometimes even 4, when it used to be one long ride. So that's a lot of "hikes" and adventures.
And then you eat at cheap restos where delicious food is served. You're familiarized with these places when you've done local hiking quite a bit. And I plan to feature them here, Godwilling, so you'd know where to go for lunch or dinner as a local hiker.
Local Hike Guides
We have served as local hike guides assisting tourists who are not familiar with local places they're in. These tourists look for locals who can be trusted and who know where to go for promising tours, or who can show them around if they're looking for something so they won't get lost. And it was a memorable adventure--better than touring the world, I guess.
I and my wife had a Jordanian-American who was looking for a house to rent or buy somewhere in Pampanga. So we spent 3 days hiking around the vicinity scouting for a place and talking to local real estate agents. The tourist needed someone who could talk to the locals and who could be trusted to strike a rent or purchase deal for him. We enjoyed that experience.
We wondered how it would be if our two boys had been with us in the tour. Like if our client brought along his family and they wanted some group tour with our sons.
Another time was when a couple from the US wanted to see Corregidor and Palawan and they took us as travelling guides and companions. As local hikers, we made sure they were on the right route and in safe places, in contact with the right locals there. We also made sure they had fair deals when hiring transportation or requesting special trips with cabs or tricycle drivers. Or how much tip should be given for a service. Tourists need these things.
Local Food Guides
Some foreigners just love sampling local eateries in the Philippines. They're fed up with posh restaurants and fine dining so that they love trying street-side, makeshift food carts or short-order restos we locals call "Carenderia." Local hikers can bring them to safe versions of these Carenderias where food and drinks offered are clean and well cooked--and the local hikers themselves can vouch for them. Meaning, they frequently have their meals here, too. And believe me, many of these cheap, poor folks' eateries offer better menus than expensive ones.
Being a local food guide to tourists can be more exciting than touring the world, especially when you get to eat delicious native dishes cooked by local street chefs equipped with streetwise culinary techniques long proven to cook swell snacks or meals for decades. I'd prefer Carenderia Chicken Sotanghon anytime, made more mouthwatering by its appealing orangey color using native aswete. And then you put in lavish pepper powder and some fish sauce with kalamansi. Or streetfood sopas with pork brain topping.
Ready for a new career on being a Local Hiker?
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