What have I done here in Johannesburg so far? I've met good people, been drinking tasty beer and i'm freezing my ass off, literally, since it's winter down here. So far i've not yet been to the Apartheid museum, but hopefully one day I will manage to see it. I can't take the bus from where I am since there is barely any buses going, this city is built for cars. And since I don't have a driving license i'm more or less dependant on the people I've gotten to know down here, and it's not that fun being this dependant on people. Especially since you can't go out alone during certain times of the day, in case you might get assaulted, robbed/mugged or whatever, some areas is a definitely no-no. Why? Well the crime-rate in South Africa, and especially Johannesburg is among the highest in the world, if not the highest. Driving around on the streets here you see poor, homeless people everywhere. Quite the contrast from safe Scandinavia, and in some parts even europe. There are people trying to sell you stuff in every intersection/traffic lights(called Robot down here), you see people walking around in droves by the highway. There is poverty in Scandinavia and europe, but not like this, and i've seen nothing yet. This is only the beginning. A few days ago I got a ride through Hillbrow, the most dangerous area in Johannesburg, this was during the day so it was OK. But you could see the decline. There were hi-jacked buildings(there are apparently a thousand hi-jacked buildings in Johannesburg city centre with about 14000 people living in them. An hi-jacked building is often controlled by gangs or druglords and mostly the buildnings are not maintained, they look like shit) here and there and neighbourhood watches driving around. And my drivers re-assuring me that this is a place where I don't want to be at night. There are quite a few areas like that here in Johannesburg. Considering the amount of poverty it doesn't really surprise me. If you can't get a job here, or study, you are basically fucked, you get nothing from the government. Some lucky individuals do, but like 75% of the unemployed receives nothing at all. So that's the reason to why the crime rate is so high here, it's all about survival, not to get rich, not in most cases anyways. Besides that Johannesburg is a beautiful city, but there's contrasts everywhere, extreme poverty and extreme wealth side by side. And I haven't been to any of the townships yet. The people i've met so far has been great. Warm and helpful.
That's all for now. I'm alive and well in Roodepoort, Johannesburg.
Laters!
