The “we” that Ah Tao is talking about are gay men on the island, like him. With the aim of understanding the life of the LGBT community in Hainan, I asked Ah Tao to be my guide. Unlike big cities in China such as Beijing, Shanghai or Guangzhou, the LGBT community in the island located on the southern coast of the mainland 30 km is not really well received, has to live a closed life and hide its bias. sexual orientation towards society. Unlike in Beijing or Shanghai, the LGBT community in Hainan province still faces many prejudices and is not accepted by society. Photo: The Beijinger. Hide your identity 11 years ago, I spent 12 months learning Chinese in Hainan and interacting with the local LGBT community. From that experience, for the past 8 years, I have started researching the lives of gay, bisexual and transgender people in this low-economic and culturally low-value locality. In the past few years, the government has made a lot of efforts to promote tourism in Hainan, but there has not been the same level of investment in other coastal areas. Ah Tao led me out of the square, through an empty market, and into a dark alley. “When you go there, don’t mention homosexuality or heterosexuality,” he warned carefully. Most have to hide their identities to be able to integrate into the community and continue to lead normal lives. Photo: New York Post. I suddenly recalled in 2009, the first time my friends took me to the only gay bar in Haikou – the capital of Hainan province. It was nestled behind an abandoned hotel, hidden by another row of working hotels. Later, I found out that that is the common point of spaces for the LGBT community – discreet, out of sight. To outsiders, these areas are completely invisible, hard to find. But for people like Ah Tao, this is the only place to take off your mask and be true to yourself. “Happy or sad, I always go to these bars to relax. The LGBT community here doesn’t have that much space,” said Xiaomai, a 19-year-old gay man. However, such bars only exist in major cities on the island. In smaller towns, they can only meet and chat at teahouses, convenience stores and parks. The risk of being discovered, stigmatized, affecting honor, family and work is also greater. Therefore, Ah Tao told me not to mention a word related to “gay”. Following Ah Tao’s footsteps into a convenience store at an intersection in a dark alley, I saw three electric mahjong tables surrounded by many people, men and women of all kinds. Seeing Ah Tao, they turned to ask about love and marriage. “It looks like it, but the men sitting here are all gay,” Ah Tao whispered to me. Accordingly, because they want to participate in community activities, many gay people in Hainan accept to hide their identities and pretend to be a different person. The worry of “no wife, no children” “How do you have a wife and children that are so few these days?”, a woman playing mahjong turned to ask Ah Tao. In fact, gay men here often receive such curious questions about marriage. Family pressure, children are always present, reminding Ah Tao that he is living “no wife, no children”. Many people in the community fear that they will be forced to marry and have children according to the expectations of family and society. “I am happy to make friends, get to know many people like me. But what about the future? How should I face my family, how do I explain the fact that I am still unmarried at 20-30 years old?”, Xiaomai’s heart. Some gay people living in Hainan choose to have children through surrogacy, which helps relieve the pressure of marriage and the anxiety of loneliness in old age. Photo: The Guardian. In China, the traditional concept of family still has a profound influence in society. For men, they need to be responsible for getting married and having children at all costs. In addition, due to fear of old age without a caregiver, many gay men accept marriage. “I got married partly because of my parents, partly because I was afraid that I wouldn’t have someone to look after me in my old age,” said 24 year old Liang Zongwei, a gay man living in Haikou. Some individuals like Ah Long (36 years old), a factory owner in northeastern Hainan, choose to have children through surrogacy. However, not everyone has the financial means to do this. In big cities, social organizations are trying to change stereotypes and raise social awareness about the LGBT community. But with provinces and cities that have not yet received economic and cultural investment like Hainan, the presence of homosexuals has not been properly recognized. From the experience of making friends with Ah Tao and being exposed to LGBT culture in Hainan, I reflect more on life, wondering if having to hide my true self is really “living”.

Old model house level 4 (Photo: Internet) 1. Level 4 house with Thai roof A model of an L-shaped level 4 house (Photo: Addicted to a level 4 house) This is a popular house type in our country because most traditional Vietnamese people want their house to have a garden to blend in with nature. In which, there are mainly 4-level houses with U-shaped and L-shaped roofs. For this type of 4-level house, the façade is simply decorated with pillars to create stability for the house and the walls are decorated. Simple design to create the effect of width and depth for the house. Currently, owners of 4-level houses with Thai roofs often prefer bright exterior paint colors such as milky white while Thai roofs are gray or reddish brown. Level 4 U-shaped house (Photo: Internet) With a simple design, the 4-level Thai roof house is suitable for many land shapes, so it saves space and creates a natural yard for the house – creating a play space for children or a place to take care of trees. , relieve stress for homeowners after a tiring working day. 2. Level 4 house with flat roof Some models of level 4 houses with flat roofs (Photo: Addicted to level 4 houses) This model is suitable for areas with harsh climatic conditions such as Central Vietnam. Because the roof has a small slope of only 5-8%, it will minimize the pressure of high winds and big storms as well as save costs for homeowners. Currently, this model is popular with two main exterior colors, white and dark gray. 3. Level 4 house with mezzanine Level 4 house with mezzanine (Photo: Internet) This is the most popular 4-level house model today because you can use most of the living space for the whole family without spending much, the layout of the rooms in the house is also extremely comfortable. In particular, with the mezzanine inside, the owner can completely design the bedroom, reading room, office to suit the height of the house. Even homeowners can take advantage of the mezzanine floor as a luxurious and airy living room space, with a panoramic view of the whole house. 4. Level 4 house has 3 rooms Level 4 has 3 rooms (Photo: Internet) This is an idea based on the design of an ancient Vietnamese 3-room house. Currently, many people often use light colors, plus a combination of transparent glass doors and wooden door frames to bring elegance, modernity and help the house always full of light. At the same time, the use of tile roofs contributes to preserving the traditional beauty, creating a sense of peace for residents.

“Red envelopes”, referring to the traditional cash prize distribution, will be distributed to 200,000 winners and they will have to download an app to use the prize for purchases at designated locations. in the city. Those who want to buy lottery tickets can register from 6/6. The winner will be announced a few days later and will have to spend the prize money by June 20. China is a promising player in the global race for central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and has conducted trials in several major cities such as Shenzhen and Shanghai. The trial in Shenzhen in January awarded a reward of 20 million yuan. The People’s Bank of China (PboC) aims to be the first major central bank to issue an eCNY, part of an effort to internationalize the yuan and reduce its dependence on the global banking system without USD prevails. eCNY may also weaken Ant Group’s Alipay and Tencent’s WeChat Pay in payment systems.

New Yorkers are happy to return to normal life after being vaccinated against Covid-19. Photo: AP According to the AP news agency, starting May 19, New Yorkers and Americans who have received the Covid-19 vaccine can remove their masks in most situations and restaurants, shops, and gyms. Many other businesses can also reopen at full capacity if they make sure all patrons are vaccinated. This week, the subway will operate around the clock. The midnight curfew for bars and restaurants will end later this month. Broadways tickets are on sale again, although the shows won’t start until September. Now is the time for New York to shed the image of a city that was defeated by the virus last spring and bounce back, as it was featured on the latest cover of The New Yorker, US officials said. It was an image of a giant door that partially opened the horizon to let a ray of light in. Can New York go back to the way it was? “Probably 75%…It will definitely come back,” says Mark Kumar, 24, a personal trainer. However, Ameen Deen, 63, said: ‘Full sense of normalcy won’t come anytime soon. There are too many deaths, too much suffering and inequality.” Last spring, the largest city in the US was the deadliest coronavirus hotspot in the US with more than 21,000 deaths in just two months. Black patients of Hispanic descent have higher mortality rates than whites and Asian Americans. Photo: AP Hospitals are overflowing with patients and corpses. Cold trailers were used as makeshift morgues and tents were set up in Central Park as a makeshift hospital to treat Covid-19. The bustling streets of New York became quiet, making room for ambulance sirens and nighttime applause from the windows of paramedic apartments. After more than a year of uncertainty, closure and reopening, the city hopes vaccinations will make things better. To date, about 48% of New Yorkers have received at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine. The number of deaths, infections and hospitalizations from Covid-19 has dropped sharply in recent weeks. Many parts of the US and the world are gradually returning to normal after the Covid-19 crisis, which has claimed the lives of 3.4 million people globally, including more than 587,000 in the US. . Las Vegas casinos are reopening at 100% capacity with no social distancing requirements. Disneyland in California also reopened late last month after shutting down for 400 days. Massachusetts also announced that all restrictions related to Covid-19 will end at the end of Memorial Day weekend. France also reopened yesterday, with the Eiffel Tower, cafes and cinemas, and the Louvre also welcoming visitors for the first time in months. Hoai Linh

In many cities around the world, traffic congestion has become an obsession but it is so familiar that no one seems to care about effectively solving this problem. In Lagos, Nigeria’s largest city, most of the day is spent on commuting.Peter Elias, a lecturer specializing in planning at the University of Lagos, says traffic jams usually start around 6 a.m. and last for at least 9 o’clock. From 13:00 to 15:00, parents pick up their children to go to school to block the road. Then, Lagos slips during the evening rush hour, which can last until 20-21h. Traffic jam in Lagos Along with the rapid development of Lagos, the traffic congestion in this city is getting worse. The travel speed was so slow that the authorities even installed a television around a roundabout so that drivers could watch entertainment. Satellite maker Tomtom and data company INRIX used to rank cities by traffic congestion. Outstanding on the list are often cities in rich, above-middle-income countries. Examples of traffic jams include Cairo (Egypt), Delhi (India), Dhaka (Bangladesh), Jakarta (Indonesia), Lagos (Nigeria), Manila (Philippines), Nairobi (Kenya) and Sao Paulo (Brazil). ). Most of these cities have 3 things in common. The first is too crowded. Second, with the exception of Delhi, nowhere has a fast and widespread rail-based public transport system so people have very few travel options. Third, these cities are in a trend to rapidly increase the number of private vehicles. In Delhi, the number of motorbikes increased from 4.3 million units in 2011 to 6.7 million units in 2017. Cars increased from 2.2 million units of lane to 3.2 million units. at the end of the month, because at that time, the workers receive salary before they can buy gas. Chart of increase in private vehicles and declining public transport in major Indian cities over the years. Source: Times of India According to Nation Thailand, private vehicles in Bangkok as of 2018 were 9.7 million vehicles, 8 times more than the capacity of the infrastructure system. Besides, the area for static traffic is also alarmingly low, only 8-10% compared with 20-30% in Western countries. While everyone is upset with traffic jams, it’s a reality that’s unavoidable in many major cities. Economists believe this situation is a huge drain on the country’s resources. The Bangkok Post in 2019 stated that traffic jam caused people in the Thai capital to lose 97 million baht / day (74 billion VND) and 3.5 billion baht / year (27,000 billion VND) for fuel. . The city’s economy also suffered a lot of damage from traffic congestion. About 11 billion baht / year is wasted due to the time people are congested on the road every day. The two major cities of Vietnam, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, also lose billions of dollars each year due to traffic. According to calculations, each year Ho Chi Minh City lost about 1.2 million working hours, 1.3 billion USD / year due to traffic congestion and 2.3 billion USD due to environmental pollution from motor vehicles. . Evaluation from the Institute of Transportation Strategy and Development (Ministry of Transport) also said that congestion causes damage to the city. Hanoi is about $ 1-1.2 billion a year. Travel time on the same distance in Hanoi takes up to 45 minutes, while Ho Chi Minh City takes 30 minutes. Meanwhile, INRIX estimates, traffic congestion causing damage to two US cities, Los Angeles and New York, is 19 billion and 34 billion USD in 2017, including fuel costs and loss of labor productivity. Every hour in traffic is also an unused hour for being productive. And, according to Matthias Sweet of Ryerson University in Canada, traffic congestion slows job growth in US cities because it prolongs commuting time on average by more than 4.5 minutes. In a situation where the situation could hardly be improved quickly, some people have figured out how to adapt themselves. For example, Nara, a housekeeper in Sao Paulo, usually takes three hours to get to work. She started off by walking 20 minutes to a bus stop. After an hour long journey, she walked to another bus stop and took the second train, which took about an hour more. Then she walked again. Nara can travel faster if she takes the subway, but she is afraid to squeeze among the teasing men on the train. She decided to choose the long-distance bus to create “a small world” for herself, immerse herself in music and reflect on life. She enjoys the journey. TomTom Traffic Index 2020 chart of the world’s worst traffic congestion cities. Percentage indicates the amount of time traveling on the road more than when not in traffic. In cities where traffic is often congested, very few drivers obey a ban on texting or making phone calls. Whenever the car does not budge, they turn to gossip with their friends, even focus on personal things like shopping online. Meanwhile, street vendors appeared everywhere, supplying from soft drinks, grapes, chips, eggs, hot water … to the drivers. A 43-year-old man named Lawal sells inflatable mattresses. He used to have a stall in a roadside market selling old clothes and phones. But the police cleared the market to reduce traffic congestion, so Lawal went peddling. Lawal likes slow-moving traffic, not a complete stop. Because of that, he can easily slip through the lanes to sell goods. But for drivers, many people are fed up with sitting in the middle of the traffic jam. Doctors at the American University of Beirut (Lebanon) conducted a study, measuring the blood pressure of drivers who pulled into a gas station when traffic was heavy, and compared them to those who pulled over. sparse traffic in the middle of the road. The results showed that people suffering from congestion had an average systolic blood pressure of 142 and diastolic blood pressure of 87. And those who drove on the empty road were in better health, with two figures of 123, respectively. and 78. Even a late driver has no effect on their blood pressure. Traffic jams in Delhi Despite all these annoyances, time spent in traffic jams seems soon to be forgotten. Scientists Eric Morris and Jana Hirsch have researched using US time to find evidence that people in big cities do not forget feelings of discomfort when rush hour. However, they found almost nothing. The traffic jam made those who were stuck angry. But when the flow of cars started to move, people seemed to forget this feeling. That could help explain why Americans (and other expats) often oppose measures like congestion charges, according to the two experts. In 1966, the Argentinian writer Julio Cortázar gave an impressive conclusion in his work.In the short story The Southern Thruway, a man was driving to Paris when he was caught in a traffic jam that lasted for many days. . At first, he and the other drivers were very angry, but gradually they created a miniature society, shared food and drinks, and turned a car into a hospital. But when the cars start to move, the protagonist goes crazy. Turns out there was no place where he enjoyed the traffic jam in the middle of the road.

From this data, Agoda commented that major cities are the favorite destination of Vietnamese tourists during the holiday season. However, the attraction from the beach resorts is also great when 5/10 destinations in the top are famous beaches in Vietnam. Points near Ho Chi Minh City can be moved by car “to the throne” on the occasion of April 30. Photo: Minh Hanh Phan. Vung Tau ranked third. This is the top destination for tourists in Ho Chi Minh City. Owning a location right next to this urban area, visitors can go to Vung Tau by tour car or high-speed train Da Nang, Nha Trang, Phu Quoc and Phan Thiet hold the 5-8 positions of the chart, respectively. The above places are for beach lovers. Notably, the booking rate of 4-5 star resorts is higher than in previous years. Regarding the fact that Can Tho and Hue entered the top 10 destinations, it is considered a surprise. Tourists are willing to spend more money on holiday trips. Photo: Agoda. Currently, Agoda, Booking, AirBnB, Traveloka are the sites that account for nearly 80% of the online booking market share in Vietnam, according to a report by Grant Thornton in 2020. Also according to this report, online booking only accounts for 25%, Viet still prefers to book directly with hotels, resorts (18%) or through tour operators (30%). Therefore, the survey above reflects the trend of online customers, showing a part of the holiday booking market in Vietnam.