While the rest of the world struggled to find a way to relax travel restrictions, the two Asian financial centers have been trying for months to open up to tourism. In November 2020, the number of Covid-19 infections in Hong Kong skyrocketed, forcing Singapore and Hong Kong to postpone the “travel bubble”. And now, a new outbreak in Singapore has extinguished hopes of a “travel bubble” once again. “Next time, they should announce the enforcement 24 hours in advance so that Covid-19 does not have time to react,” Wong, 33, joked. The “travel bubble” connecting Singapore and Hong Kong was postponed twice because of the Covid-19 epidemic. Photo: Getty Images. Travel thirst The two city governments carefully drafted detailed criteria and announced new safety regulations to open the border. Many people who want to travel rush to book tickets to secure seats on two scheduled return flights each day. They plan to go to specific places, meet friends. Now again they are disappointed. “Singapore is only a 3.5 hour flight from Hong Kong, but now it feels like the other side of the world.” WSJ quoted Emma Herblot – 42-year-old French expert working for an online payment company in Singapore – lamented. Singapore and Hong Kong have been relatively successful in containing the Covid-19 epidemic and are still applying strict isolation regulations. People returning from anywhere still have to be isolated in concentrated for 2-3 weeks. So many Singaporeans and Hong Kongers have not traveled for more than a year now. Travel blogger Aaron Wong at Changi Airport in February 2020. This is his last trip before the Covid-19 epidemic. Photo: WSJ. Unlike the US or Europe, people stuck in Singapore and Hong Kong don’t have much choice when it comes to commuting. The area of ​​Singapore is only 728 square kilometers, Hong Kong is only slightly larger. Andrew Scott – a 41-year-old editor who works at a Hong Kong media company – said he planned to visit friends in Singapore. “It was fine until around January, I really wanted to go somewhere,” he lamented. I was so excited about the travel bubble plan and then it was all a disappointment.” Last year, Asian tourism experts and officials asserted that the “tourist bubble” was the key to opening the border. They say that two-dimensional “bubbles” will appear first, followed by regional “bubbles”. Some experts envision a giant Asian “travel bubble” consisting of countries that have succeeded in containing the Covid-19 epidemic. The Hong Kong government has used a “travel bubble” to encourage people to get vaccinated in recent weeks. “Great but dull Singapore” Since the beginning of the pandemic, Singapore has recorded more than 61,600 cases of Covid-19 per 5.8 million people and 31 deaths. Meanwhile, Hong Kong recorded 11,800 cases per 7.5 million people and 210 deaths. As the number of infections in Singapore increased, Chitra Karamchandani (30 years old, in Hong Kong) was extremely worried. She has not seen her fiancé for the past 1.5 years because of restrictions on entry to non-citizens. According to the plan, he was supposed to fly to Hong Kong at the end of this month and they will hold a wedding in June. Karamchandani had detailed plans to welcome her fiance, including walking around the city and learning to cook Japanese noodles. The “bubble” burst made her extremely disappointed. “When will the border reopen? We just want to see each other again,” she lamented. Dennison Wee – 26 years old, working in finance in Singapore – hopes his trip to Hong Kong will become an inspiration for him to continue blogging. He has written about journeys through nearly 100 cities around the world. Without a “tourist bubble”, Singaporeans and Hong Kongers are trapped in the city’s small size. Photo: Getty Images. But since March 2020, he has only written a few reviews about hotels within a radius of about 20 km around his apartment. Mr Wee, 26, said: “Singapore is great but it’s dull. We must have only one hill to walk on, a few islands.” To keep himself busy, travel blogger Wong participates in projects to stimulate local tourism. He continued to wait for another 2 weeks until the authorities had a new notice. “All we can do is hope,” Wong said.

Meryem Slimani, 37, a designer living in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, returned to his childhood with his 68-year-old mother but reversed roles. Now, she is the creator of beautiful clothes for the mother to wear and experience. The creativity of the daughter and an amateur mother model has brought the mother and daughter Meryem Slimani to fame throughout social networks. Meryem Slimani has turned mother Najate Leklye into a fashionista loved by tens of thousands of people. The daughter helps her mother transform with a youthful, dynamic style that attracts more than 55,000 followers on her personal Instagram page. At the same time, creating opportunities for mother and daughter to collaborate with major fashion brands in the world such as Uniqlo, Fila and Daily Paper. Meryem Slimani said: “People can see a part of themselves through my story. Maybe it’s the bond between mother and daughter, maybe it’s the feeling of belonging at home, Or maybe it’s simply a love of fashion.” The image of a fashionable mother-daughter couple tells the story of a migrant family with a Dutch-Moroccan identity. Meryem Slimani shared: “The culture of identity is a big part of me, I don’t even realize or think too much about it myself. That culture has been in my heart, in my soul for a long time. “. The ingenuity in combining the rich details of traditional Moroccan clothing ignited Meryem Slimani’s love of fashion. Since childhood, Meryem Slimani was encouraged by her mother to dress herself, pursue fashion styles to express herself. In 2010, when the Netherlands fell into an economic crisis, at that time job opportunities in the creative industries were not many. Meryem Slimani has decided to switch to blogging about fashion and lifestyle. Her mother is also the person she trusts to take fashion photos for her. Meryem Slimani shared: “There are times when I feel like I don’t want to be in front of the camera anymore. I feel like everything is boring, even Instagram. There are millions of users trying to do the same things. Space. become saturated but lack variety, creativity. I put my mother in front of the camera and that makes me different.” Her mother is the one who cheers Meryem Slimani the most and supports her ideas. But things did not go well when her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. Everything has to change, from daily life, mother’s health care to fashion sense. The 37-year-old woman chooses to help her mother temporarily break away from the usual feminine styles to move towards comfortable options, no longer wearing trendy high heels but choosing healthy sports shoes, even style hip-hop way. OLD “I feel like I’m in that culture,” says Meryem Slimani. “It’s a space where I feel I’m accepted as I am.” For this dutiful girl, it is important that she can use her work to send the message to many people that age is not what determines how you dress or the style you choose to be. body becomes more confident. Hoang Dung (translation summary)

Pony’s real name is Kim Hye Min, known in the industry as a blogger, makeup artist for singer CL. Her beauty-related channel currently has over 5.8 million subscribers from around the world. Pony’s most viewed video featured her transform into Taylor Swift in 2016. Difficult first days “In the beginning, it was just a diary. I introduced different trends as well as skin care and beauty. Those are my personal feelings and thoughts. However, when the channel and The number of viewers is growing, I have to know how to moderate,” Pony said. Pony once surprised many people around the world with makeup identical to Taylor Swift. Photo: Daily Mail, Pony. Pony considers herself a “first generation” vlogger in South Korea, where social media platforms have fueled the careers of many influencers over the past few years. When Pony started working on it, things weren’t completely standardized and she had to spend a lot of time being creative. She considered herself how to present her content in new mediums after spending so much time blogging. At that time, Pony’s decision was seen as a great challenge, as meaningful as a pave. She sees it as a journey to learn. The most difficult thing for a female beauty blogger is to do everything by herself, even paying attention to each punctuation mark. Kimchi makeup expert confided: “It is certainly not the easiest path. However, it is an interesting path, paving the way for those who have influence on beauty. You have to be careful even when using a basic emoji. It may be wrong in some people’s opinion. Because someone goes first, the juniors will feel less difficult.” Promoting the Korean beauty industry According to the SCMP , Pony has been instrumental in the fact that Korean products can be found in most beauty and convenience stores worldwide. Pony is now very influential in promoting the Korean beauty industry. Photo: @ponysmakeup. She said, “As a Korean, it’s surprising to me that so many people know about K-beauty around the world. But on the other hand, it’s a mixture of disappointment and optimism.” Pony thinks so because she thinks she and others have the opportunity to continue to spread news, views about Korean culture, beauty products. However, the industry has stalled. When thinking about kimchi beauty products, many people immediately know foundation, sheet masks, multi-step processes, snail cream, etc. According to Pony, these basics are still relatively new to the audience. She wanted to show people more of those things. From there, the 31-year-old makeup artist hopes to revive the industry once again through sharing her different skin care and beauty regimens with the world. In addition to beauty, Pony’s style of dress also becomes an inspiration for girls. Photo: @ponysmakeup. “In Korea there are only 2 types of foundation. In the US, it is available in different levels. Because of the lack of color variety, our products are distinguished through different finishes such as glass leather. , frosting, airbrush, velvet… with skin-supporting ingredients,” emphasized Pony. After researching, she wanted to combine the two things together so that more people around the world could “enjoy” a variety of foundations. Although Pony’s work has changed slightly due to the Covid-19 epidemic, she continues to pursue international projects as a brand ambassador, creator or event organizer. “I want to make everything accessible to everyone,” she is adamant.

After that, she got married and moved with her husband to Kolding (Denmark). Thu Thao and his wife. Thu Thao enjoys blogging about cooking, gardening and taking care of children. Before moving to a 900m2 garden house, she and her husband lived in a pretty wooden house with a small garden. Thao’s old house is close to the pedestrian street center, near schools and universities. Within a radius of 800m, there are 7 supermarkets, pharmacies, building materials … Thu Thao’s husband helped his wife build a garden, packed wooden boxes to grow all kinds of Vietnamese fruits such as: perilla, water spinach, chrysanthemum, mint, coriander, dill, zucchini, spinach, bean sprout parking … These are simple but expensive things in the country. The small garden in front of the house is planted by Thu Thao with many trees, vegetables and spices. After a month of helping her husband build a garden and take care of vegetables, she lost nearly 8kg, her skin was black but happy with the results obtained. Herbal green vegetables self-grown, provided for daily meals. She just said goodbye to that small house with a Vietnamese garden, containing the couple’s enthusiasm, moved to a garden house with a width of 900 square meters. She and her husband used to visit this house last year, but since they were both making financial investments, the plan was postponed. From the first time she saw the house, she had a feeling of familiarity. She told her husband that she really liked the house. After that, the house was also not for sale. A year later, they saved a little more money so decided to buy a new house. Every day, she goes to the website to search for apartments according to her needs. I did not expect to see the house I like to appear. All purchase and sale procedures went smoothly, the paperwork only took place within 2 weeks, and she and her husband took the key to move in. Her old house was renovated, rented, and saved. Because the old house has a beautiful location, close to the pedestrian center, near universities and the south center of the city, it is very easy to rent out. The new house is under renovation and has not yet been decorated. Thao shared that the location of the new house is not as central as the old house, but it is also quite comfortable. The house is 200m from the supermarket, the gas station, the stadium, the soccer field, the kindergarten to the secondary school within a radius of 800m, the 5-minute drive from the commercial center. The house features Nordic style with simple but comfortable and modern furniture. She said she would rebuild the garden, plant a lot of flowers, vegetables and fruits like the old house. The house is located in the middle of the garden, with a front yard and back yard. The total land area is 900 m2, the house area is 225m2 (not including 2 rooms for storage of about 30 m2). This place will be renovated so that every time you step into the house, you will feel comfortable and peaceful. Large, sunlit living room with space behind a sofa. Nearby are electric heaters and decorative wood panels. Winter here is very cold, so every family is equipped with such a heater. The dining room is connected to the kitchen. Built-in dish cabinets and wine systems. The kitchen area uses white and black tones, with a window system to welcome the sun. Thu Thao plans to smash the wall and the kitchen island, to rebuild a large kitchen island parallel to the dining table. The laundry room will replace the cabinet and the stone surface for more uniformity. To have an area for the hand washing area, close the closet so the washing machine and dryer equipment are stacked. This room has an area of ​​about 15m2. Two bathrooms use separate colors. The black bathroom is a bit dark, the bathroom wall feels stuffy, so Thu Thao plans to knock down the bathroom wall to replace it with glass, re-line the light-colored tiles, redo the ceiling and paint the walls again. The house has 5 bedrooms and 1 reading room.