The Healthy Way of Walking

Knowledge and applying that knowledge are two different things. Walking is something healthy someone can do and it is a way to get somewhere by foot. However, I personally do not walk as much in Jakarta, Indonesia. Even though there are sidewalks near my home, they are not continuous. So often time, sidewalks in Jakarta would be patchy. Sometimes there would be sidewalks, and sometimes there would not be any sidewalks.

Walking around to get to somewhere is not what I would usually do, due to the difficulty of finding a sidewalk. Whereas walking on the side of the road is not safe, as there is the risk of cars and motorcycles passing by. Not to mention the amount of pollution and dust on the side of the road.

I am recently in Latvia, a country in Europe for an exchange program. The environment here is different then Indonesia, especially in regards with walking. In order to get anywhere here, my friends and I would prefer to walk. The air is fresh, and it is truly healthy. Normally, I would not think of a one hour walk by foot. But in Latvia, I have been walking around everywhere.

Hopefully, I can bring this good habit back to Indonesia. But I still find that it would be challenging if the sidewalk for pedestrian are still in the patchy state that they are. That is why compared to walking in Indonesia, I usually go around using public transportation. Of course this is before the pandemic, because during these time I often stay at home.