Huge zit

A wild sheep found wandering the wilderness of the Australian bush has been sheared of a huge 35-kilogram (77-pound) coat after an estimated five years of unchecked growth.

Struggling under a filthy fleece caked with years of mud and tangled debris, Baarack was spotted in a Victorian state forest and taken to an animal rescue sanctuary north of Melbourne, the group said on Facebook earlier this month.

“I couldn’t believe there was actually a sheep alive under all of that wool,” Pam Ahern, founder of Edgar’s Mission Farm Sanctuary, told Nine News .

The sheep’s matted coat had been growing uncut for close to five years, Ahern estimated.

“I think he has been a cheeky little rascal of a young lamb who’s just wandered off and never came back.”

Unshorn sheep struggle to walk under the immense weight of their wool, and without a haircut at least once a year most will not last long in the wild, particularly in Australia’s often harsh and dry summers.

Despite Baarack’s hefty locks, he falls short of the world record held by a late compatriot, Chris, who made headlines when he was shorn of a 41-kilogram mane in 2015.

Baarack’s transformation from hulking mass to fresh faced has nevertheless given him a new fleece of life, with his overhaul racking up millions of views on TikTok.

On an early weekend morning in late January, Bui Nguyen Van Nguyen sat down for a cup of coffee at Ba Lu, one of Saigon’s oldest cafés, located smack in the middle of Phung Hung Market in District 5.

After taking a sip of coffee brewed in the traditional net-filter method, Nguyen began snapping photographs of the market, cataloguing the simple beauty of everyday life in Saigon.

Such moments are typical for Nguyen who, for the past three years, has spent his time wandering around Saigon, capturing life through the perspective of his lens.

Saigon ‘enthusiast’

Nguyen’s love of Saigon is shown to the 106,000 followers of his Instagram account @odaucungchup , which translates to ‘taking photos everywhere.’

“It makes me happy that every day I get to wake up and realize I am in the heart of Saigon,” Nguyen told Tuoi Tre News .

Saigon at sunset. Photo: @odaucungchup

Nguyen’s goal is to showcase simple, familiar images of Saigon, from its narrow alleyways to its street corners covered in tangled electric wires, and everything in between.

Building his Instagram handle a place for Saigon lovers, he wrote upon his bio, “Do you guys love Saigon like me?”

Besides randomly taking photos of city life in a wide range of topics, Nguyen has also run several long-term series, including Saigon Old Texts, Saigon Houses, Saigon Alleys, Saigon Cinemas, Saigon People, Patterns of Saigon, and more.

A photo from Bui Nguyen Van Nguyen’s Saigon Old Texts photo series

“I’m always attracted to shops with nice old-school signs when I need to buy or repair things because I truly believe that the people in those places put love and kindness into their work,” Nguyen captioned a series depicting store signage.

The 29-year-old photographer also uploads the story behind each photo, describing his feelings about it or what he has learned of the area where the picture was taken.

“Each time I stop at my regular banh mi [ Vietnamese baguette] stall on the way to work, I’m welcomed by Ms. Bay, the owner,” Nguyen told his Instagram followers.

“She always asks me if I want to stick to my favorite choices of fillings.

“It shows me she truly cares.”

According to Nguyen, he has never had a specific plan to post a picture or a story on a certain day.

“When I’m in the mood for telling a certain story, I look for the photos in my collections, do a little retouch before recalling what happened that day,” he described the routine to run his account.

The man has the peculiar habit of ending his sentences with commas, rather than periods.

“I want to give my sentences an open ending so that readers can continue to tell stories in their own way and from their own perspectives,” Nguyen explained.

“I think it makes people more comfortable if they are free to express their thoughts after the commas.”

A photo from Bui Nguyen Van Nguyen’s Saigon Alleys photo series

The boy from Dak Lak

Given his devotion to the southern metropolis, most of Nguyen’s fans are surprised when they find out he is not a Saigon native, but rather a transplant from the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak.

Nguyen first came to Saigon 10 years ago in order to pursue higher education and has since made the city his home.

“My journey of maturing is in Saigon, with all the best moments in my life having been witnessed by the city,” he explained.

“When I was living with my family in my hometown, I was just a high school boy who didn’t know a thing about life.

“It wasn’t until I began living independently in Saigon that I started to learn what life is all about and how to live kindly.”

Bui Nguyen Van Nguyen in a photo he provided Tuoi Tre News

His love for the bustling city has grown ever since.

“Saigon brought many beautiful people and experiences to my life,” he said.

“When I’m away from the city, I always suffer from missing the city and its things, like a loaf of banh mi .”

Saigon has also been a city of firsts for Nguyen.

“The city brought me many first times, like the first time I had my motorbike stolen or the first time I quit a job,” he shared.

“Sometimes, when I feel really down, I stop working for a while and wander, then stop and listen to all the street sounds.

“It helps me ‘recharge my batteries,’ which gives me energy to keep moving forward.”

To Nguyen, Saigon is a huge ‘warehouse’ with endless material and inspiration.

“Saigon is like a rain,” he remarked.

“It slowly drenches you until you realize how much you love it.”

A photo Bui Nguyen Van Nguyen took in Saigon under the theme of Tet (Vietnamese Lunar New Year).

Currently, Nguyen’s only plan is to continue running the @odaucungchup Instagram account in order to share his perspective on the city with the world.

Nguyen also denied being called a photographer, saying the title is “too great” for him.

“I would like to be called a Saigon storyteller with photos,” he said.

A photo from above by Bui Nguyen Van Nguyen shows vegetables being sold a wet market in Saigon.

A photo shows local people making banh ba trang , a typical dish of Chinese-Vietnamese people in Vietnam for Doan Ngo Festival, which is celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth month in the lunar calendar. Photo : @odaucungchup

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SINGAPORE — Traveloka, Southeast Asia’s largest online travel startup, plans to launch financial services in Thailand and Vietnam as it eyes a U.S. listing through a blank-cheque company, its president said.

The 9-year-old Indonesian company, which counts Expedia and China’s JD.com among its backers, is seeing a strong rebound in its business after the COVID-19 pandemic pummelled demand.

The company’s president, Caesar Indra, told Reuters in an interview that Traveloka’s Vietnam business had surpassed pre-COVID-19 levels, is nearly back to normal levels in Thailand, and is at half of pre-COVID level in Indonesia. “The worst has happened and now we’re well prepared for 2021. Domestic travel is driving recovery,” he said.

“The plan is to invest in fintech in a big way to allow more consumers to travel in the region,” Indra said, adding that the travel business had returned to profitability in late 2020.

Traveloka, which says it has 40 million active monthly users, is developing “buy now, pay later” services for Thailand and Vietnam markets.

“We recently formed a joint venture with one of the largest banks in Thailand to collaborate in the fintech space,” Indra said. Traveloka, which has smaller local rivals, is also talking to potential partners in Vietnam, but Indra declined to name the parties.

Traveloka’s two-year old equivalent service in Indonesia, launched after the firm realised that customers would wait until their paydays to book travel, has already facilitated more than 6 million loans, Indra said.

Last year, Traveloka launched “Paylater” credit cards with some Indonesian lenders. It also offers insurance and wealth management services.

Indra said the business potential was huge in Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s largest economy, where only 6% of the population of 270 million has credit cards.

When asked whether Traveloka might buy a bank in Indonesia, like other start-ups, to expand its financial services, Indra said, “all options were on the table.”

Traveloka, also backed by Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC and Indonesian venture firm East Ventures, has grown its local lifestyle services in Indonesia, where it offers restaurant vouchers and a food delivery service, as well as a popular rapid COVID-19 testing.

Indra said the company is Indonesia’s largest restaurant review app.

Traveloka, which has been preparing for a listing, is holding discussions with special-purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs, for a U.S. listing.

“U.S. markets have become more appealing because there’s more and more appreciation of Southeast Asia as a flourishing region, and by listing in the U.S, we can also provide an opportunity for U.S investors to become part of Southeast Asia’s growth story,” Indra said.

Many SPACs, exchange-listed shell companies that raise money through IPOs and merge with firms by enticing them with shorter listing timelines, have approached Southeast Asian startups.

Bridgetown Holdings, backed by Asian tycoon Richard Li, Provident Acquisition and Cova Acquisition are contenders for Traveloka, with a potential valuation of up to $5 billion for the startup, a source said. The firms did not immediately respond to requests for comment made outside normal U.S. business hours. Indra declined to comment but said an Indonesian listing remained an option.

AFP