For the past few months I’ve been walking fairly regularly (minimum of 5 days a week). Me and my daughter Jean, my niece Bebe, our helper Joy and once in awhile my son Chris goes walking. He doesn’t like waking up so early (4 am is our waking time). So he mostly played basketball or ride his bike for his exercise. We’ve been trying to walk at a very early morning just near our house. So thankful that the nearest mall at our house has a big parking area that can accommodate to a lot of people that want to exercise so early in the morning. It’s just so nice going there when it’s still dark, not much traffic and not much people walking there yet. So many people will be walking after 6 am, I think until 8 am. We walked for over an hour a day. The girls do jogging sometimes.
The walk from our house to the mall takes like 7-10 minutes. Nice thing our street lights have a timer and it will turn off like 6 am. So its safe to be walking around our subdivision to the main road and to the mall. The best time to be walking at the mall near our house would be during weekdays. People that’s regular walkers there pretty much recognize the other walkers. During weekends, sometimes its a bit busy. Usually some school students meet up there for volleyball games or basketball games. Some students they just go for a group walk. Often times they will be a little louder than usual. Once in awhile theres a walking marathon’s going too. Even with those events I was mentioning, It’s still not a problem walking around the mall, the mall has a big parking lot anyway.
Most SM malls in the Philippines have a big parking lot. I think they allow people walking inside the parking lot too. Here in Davao, we have 2 SM malls and both location have big parking lot. The only mall here that you can’t be walking around would be the Gaisano malls. Gaisano mall’s parking lot usually on the underground or next to every floor. I think Felcris Centrale is just like Gaisano parking lot too. Abreeza has big parking lot, so does Victoria mall. I think those malls that have open parking lots will allow people to walk inside the parking lot. I’m just guessing. I know that we walked at Victoria Plaza before. I’m not sure if Abreeza management will allow people inside their parking lot during mall closing. We’re lucky here in our area that SM allows us to be walking there.
I really like walking in the mall parking area because its safer. They had security guards there. We used to walked inside our subdivision, but sometimes dogs got out of the gate. Some dogs look harmless, some look scary. Plus sometimes dog dirty stuff will be in the middle of the road, if you are not paying attention or the light post is out then you might step the dog poop. But if you live in a gated subdivision no problem of dog getting out of gate or the dog poop.
Even walking in our neighborhood, we didn’t experience a time yet that we felt scared or threatened while walking during late at night or early in the morning. Hopefully it stays that way forever. Crossing my fingers. Really just pay attention while walking and pay attention to the person next to you.
Did you ever experience being threatened here while walking during dark in the city? Feel free to share.
Have fun!
I have walked down F. Torres in Davao City more than 500 times at night and have never had an issue. I have taken tricycles down to bankorohan to the market at 4am (I have a Davao call center so I work night shift). I have never have even the slightest issue.
The worst stuff I have seen is a group of men pull some guys off a jeepney with baseball bats in hand. I didn’t stick around long enough to find out why or see the results.
A good friend of mine who is a white guy was beat senseless by a group of Filipinos after he insulted them while being drunk. They had somewhat started it but he should have kept to himself.
I would say Filipino on Filipino crime is far more prevalent than that on foreigners. I have heard things like Duterte protects foreigners, but I think he is hard on crime in general.
Now in Manila, taxi drivers at night are very weary and tell me to lock the doors. That’s a whole different cup of tea.
Hi dc – When we used to lived in Marfori. We do a lot of walking in F. Torres during early morning, never had a problem too.
Generally speaking it’s really safe to be walking here in the city day or night. Just try to be cautious too where you want to go during night time. Some places in the city that I will be careful to go if I don’t know anybody there during late at night.
Our mayor is really good on keeping up with the peace and order. I salute him for that. For foreigners we always says here that follow the rules here in the Philippines. Being the guest here, don’t disobey the law. Period.
Yep, Manila. It’s a whole different story.
Thank you for stopping by. Have a great day!
Only felt threatened, not really, by the dogs. LOL.
We’ve walked on the island of Bohol and never have felt threatened. Perhaps by the dogs but that is it. LOL
Rusty
here in Digos, i have walked the entire downtown area during the daytime and at night and have never had a problem. My biggest hassle is that friends and family keep warning me it is too dangerous to do this, which is why they never do it!!!