Hereunder an excerpt from this blog 6 years ago when we last visited Vietnam. 

Can't  help but ask ....has much changed? Well I guess that's a little unfair...the exchange rate HAS changed  considerably since then from R13,95 to R20 to the dollar :

So,...when we left almost a month ago I remarked to Cheryl,.....” I wonder whether anything will get better during another full month of the ”NEW DAWN”.

Although nowhere near to comprehensive here’s a synopsis of what’s gone down in SA during the month:

 

-Whilst Rome (SA) is burning and ,in the midst of really serious and longstanding violations such as ESTINA (amongst others)Magashule’s many serious apparent violations on many fronts,...our so called “public protector” ( gangster protector maybe?) has spent the entire month “ investigating” the only two public officials who are attempting to do he right things,...namely Pravin and Ramosphosa and his sources of funding for the elections.Nothing about NDZ nor Malema ,.....both apparently funded by a gangster who has stolen millions over the past decade and more.

-Xenophobia,.....Xenophobia,....Xenophobia,.....an excuse for looting indiscriminately ( it’s going on still in Soweto as I write)

-Major roadways and arteries,closed indefinitely , cordoning off the entire cities of Pretoria/Joburg,....as well as various major transport arteries such as the N1/N2 etc. at a huge cost to an already totally failed economy.

-Murder,.....murder,....murder to add to our ongoing tally of 60/day around the country.

-The “massacre“ of yet another tourist daring to take a stroll in our national heritage table mountain reserve,.....he was apparently stabbed mercilessly 100 times or more for his few possessions,....stealing them was apparently ( again) not an option!

-this morning ,....yet another fatal stabbing of a pupil at one of our schools,......a daily occurrence lately.

-SA defence force now regularly patrolling our township streets in a attempt to control an out of control gangster situation where kids are afraid to walk to school lest they are shot en route.

-ongoing burning of buses,trains,private vehicles,libraries and other vital infrastructure/

schools in so called “ protests” .......no arrests,....no accountability!

-another downgrading by Moody’s to negative , with an expectation of a very serious downgrading in November ,.......promising yet more outflows of existing ( what’s left) foreign investment 

-the resultant devaluation of an already decimated currency from R13:95 when we departed,to R 15:60 today,.....3 weeks later (12 percent depreciation in 3 weeks)

-reports of uniformed policemen openly selling confiscated goods ,taken during recent raids on local shopowners and particularly immigrants with absolutely no consequence ( this is a common occurrence nowadays)

-an ecomomy which is desperately close to having to go to the IMF cap in hand in an attempt to save a totally failed economy 

On quite a few occasions on this trip I have been asked by various people of all nationalities whether I ,as a white South African ,am still safe in my home country.

In all my years of fairly extensive travel I had never been asked this question in the past .

Obviously contrary to public opinion in SA,and with the benefit nowadays of social media, the general consensus of those outside SA is a fairly common view  ,which places us down there with places like Mexico,....Honduras,....Colombia and the like i.t.o. Perceived dangers when visiting.

In the past most tourists I’ve met had expressed some desire to come to SA,.....this trip ,....nada,....nil,...zippo,....not a single one has any intention of coming to our country.

Can we blame them?,......very sad but I can no longer defend SA in such instances,.....people are totally unsafe when compared to almost every other place on the planet.

It’s one of the reasons I love to travel,.....takes one outside of our cocoon to view our country with the more objective eyes of foreigners.

Very sad but,I fear that our hopes for the expansion of perhaps the only industry (tourism) with any chance whatsoever of a recovery is doomed to failure (tourism In SA currently contributes 2 percent to GDP,....this should be 15 percent but will never be😫😞😭)

It would take many years,even with a number of obvious necessary changes ( i.e. visa requirements) to alter perceptions out there.

Or maybe,........once we hit R25/$ (not long now,...just look at what’s just happened in Argentina) we’ll be such a cheap destination that many will almost have no choice but to risk their lives coming 😬