A visit that ended in him being caught in Polokwane during lockdown upon his return from a year in South Korea has seemingly slowed down Niel Pretorius’s plans for further exploring Vietnam, a destination he has set his sights on.
As he was about to purchase his next flight ticket lockdown restrictions got announced in South Africa, hence he has found himself in his hometown since returning in March after almost a year in Uijeongbu – some 15 km from Seoul - where he was engaged in English tutoring at an institution facilitating classes for children after school.
Already early on the conversation veered away from the expected travel-related recollections when Niel elaborated on the realities of a gruelling education system in that country that sees children of school-going age spend behind desks for hours, before attending extra classes while still having to do homework in all subjects upon eventually arriving at home generally around 20:00 every weekday. Ethically he couldn't be part of such a system, he explained. There the youth doesn't have much of a social life and the sight of kids playing outside isn’t common, Niel remarked. As it’s a nation technologically logged-in everybody has their noses glued to their cell phones, to such an extent that pedestrians are warned against the dangers of accidents via laser installations on sidewalks in zones of high accident frequency, he recalled.
Prior to initially leaving for that part of the world he was under the impression that the wander bug would get the better of him as it evidently is in his nature to be enlightened and be uncomfortable in his surrounds, but while there he worked hard in a career set-up characterised by a successful and driven workforce. Having embarked on his first position after completing a degree in Economics and Statistics back home in 2016 and not being traditional or conservative in his thinking, he found the adjustment to the work ethics and the continuous drive towards wealth acquisition and physical appearance difficult. As he explained, he fought the system in his head but found freedom in a way once letting go in his mind.
Vietnam, on the other hand, spoke to his soul. He fell in love with the country during previous visits when having enough opportunity to getting to grips with the locations visited, the last having been in January this year. It is his intention to return to stay a while, buckling up for an unspecified period of time in a more go-with-the-flow kind of place as opposed to South Korea’s creature comforts and glamorous lifestyle. Instead, he would want to experience the instability posed by Vietnam.
The discussion turns to his inclination to express himself through poetry and photography, a medium that would stand this Psychology student in good stead in his next adventure. And as Niel gets to plan his itinerary, we get to revel in mages from his collection.
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