Open Skies | January 2017

A DUBAI SHARK TALE

THE IMPRESSIVE MOMENT.

Editor-in-ChiEf Managing PartnEr & grouP Editor EditoriaL dirECtor grouP Editor SEnior Editor digitaL / Print dESignEr digitaL aniMator VidEo Editor Sub Editor EditoriaL aSSiStant

Obaid Humaid Al Tayer Ian Fairservice Gina Johnson gina@motivate.ae Mark Evans marke@motivate.ae Andrew Nagy andrew.nagy@motivate.ae Ralph Mancao ralph@motivate.ae Surajit Dutta surajit@motivate.ae Donnie Miguel donnie.miguel@motivate.ae Salil Kumar salil@motivate.ae Londresa Flores londresa@motivate.ae

ContributorS

Iain Akerman, Jade Bremner, Geoff Brokate, Gemma Correll, Sarah Freeman, Jamie Knights, Kaye Martindale, Matt Mostyn, Stuart Turton Cover: Noma Bar

gEnEraL ManagEr ProduCtion S Sunil Kumar ProduCtion ManagEr R Murali Krishnan

ChiEf CoMMErCiaL offiCEr Anthony Milne anthony@motivate.ae

PubLiShEr Jaya Balakrishnan jaya@motivate.ae

grouP SaLES ManagEr SEnior SaLES - intErnationaL ManagEr Michael Underdown Shruti Srivastava michael@motivate.ae shruti.srivastava@motivate.ae

dEPuty SaLES ManagEr Amar Kamath amar@motivate.ae

EditoriaL ConSuLtantS for EMiratES Editor Manna Talib arabiC Editor Hatem Omar dEPuty Editor Catherine Freeman WEbSitE emirates.com

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125,959 copies January – June 2016 Printed by Emirates Printing Press, Dubai, UAE

E D I T O R ’ S

L E T T E R

ANDREW NAGY

ON THE COVER

SENIOR EDITOR

V

ery recently, I watched on as sperm was extracted from a sand tiger shark. How’s that for trying something new thing in 2017.

You’ll be pleased to read that this was no idle leisure pursuit. I didn’t just drop by on my way to the cinema. I was there to witness the Dubai Aquarium and Underwater Zoo’s groundbreaking assisted breeding programme. It’s something that, if successful, could bring an entire species back from the brink of extinction, and that’s just half the story.

international market for their fins, and you’re left with a population now at critical levels. Sand tiger sharks alone number roughly 1,200 in Australia, and if things continue as they are in the wild, it could well be extinct within 30 years.

I get it; they’re a bit toothy. Not really cuddly or loveable enough to want to save, but what people don’t realise is that a healthy shark population means a healthy ecosystem. The domino effect set in motion if a breed dies out can be catastrophic, as it takes a whole host of

“THE BIGGER PICTURE IS THAT IF A SHARK BREED DIES OUT, A WHOLE HOST OF OTHER SPECIES WILL ULTIMATELY GO WITH IT” The issue is right now, in the wild.

The sand tiger shark has a complicated breeding procedure that yields small results, but the problem isn’t nature. This problem is manmade.

Thanks to a certain Steven Spielberg movie, sharks have been the owners of a bad reputation since 1975. No sooner had John Williams epic score to Jaws offered movie-goers two notes of ocean-based dread, did every shark become public enemy number one.

As a result, any public brush with one saw the hunting boats come out in force. Combine that with a profitable

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A DUBAI SHARK TALE We could think of nobody finer to illustrate the need for a new perception of an old problem than Noma Bar. We hope his shark cover can help change hearts and minds.

other species with it. That’s where the assisted breeding programme comes in.

A final play when nature is in trouble.

This month’s cover story follows Dr Jon Daly and Dubai Aquarium and Underwater Zoo general manager and curator, Paul Hamilton, as they move into the second phase of testing to see if they can successfully breed a sand tiger shark pup. It’s a long road ahead, but they’re confident they can succeed. After that, it’s a just matter of sharing Dubai’s knowledge with the world.

Enjoy the issue.

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C O N T E N T S

FRONT

12 16 20 24 26 Experience

Lunch With

Stay

Entrepreneur

Food

30 Neighbourhood

MAIN

40 46 56 Game Of Stones

Being President

A Dubai Shark Tale

BRIEFING

66 70 72 74 76 Emirates News

Inside Emirates

Destination

Comfort

80 82 88 90 UAE Smart Gate

Route Map

Emirates Fleet | 9 |

Knowledge

Customs & Visa Information

Carefully curated content focused on unique experiences

Food

Lunch With

Stay

Neighbourhood

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30

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FRONT

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January 16

cats

dubai, uaE

It might only be four months since Dubai Opera opened its doors with a stellar performance from Plácido Domingo, but it has already become a wildly popular fixture on the cultural landscape.

After November’s hugely successful run of Les Misérables, the 2,000-seat venue welcomes another of the all-time greats with Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats.

Adapted from TS Eliot’s book of poems, Old Possum’s Book For Practical Cats, it was written for his grandchildren in 1930 and published nine years later.

In 1977 Lloyd Webber composed

music to accompany the verse, and the late writer’s wife loved it so much that she gave her blessing for it to be adapted into a musical. Opening in 1981, Cats enjoyed huge success, winning two Grammys and seven Tony awards en route to becoming the fourth longest running show in both Broadway and West End history.

The story follows a tribe of cats called the Jellicles, and the Jellicle ball at which the most deserving of their number will be chosen for heavenly reward. It’s had a star-studded cast over the years, with Brian Blessed, Sir John Mills, Leona

Lewis and Nicole Scherzinger performing throughout a combined 35-year West End and Broadway history, and now Dubai becomes the 300th city to host it.

It’s all part of fantastic line-up for 2017, which sees big name performances arrive each month, from West Side Story in February, to Madame Butterfly in March.

Not content to simply showcase musicals and opera, however, April sees both Jurassic Park and Raiders Of The Lost Ark screened, with their epic scores performed live by a full symphony orchestra. dubaiopera.com

Musicals & Soundtracks on ice has the Original London Cast recording of Cats as well as many other hit soundtracks from stage and screen.

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iMAGE: GEtty

DubAi OpErA StArtS 2017 AS it MEAnS tO GO On, with OnE Of thE MOSt LOvED MuSiCALS in brOADwAy AnD wESt EnD hiStOry

E x p E r i E n c E

January 28 – February 11

Chinese new Year China

The most important event in the Chinese lunar calendar, legend holds that a sea creature named Nian would wake up on the first day of the year and invade the countryside, eating everything in sight – vegetables, livestock, children, you name it.

That is until villagers found the monster’s weakness: loud noises and the colour red.

This January in China, it will be clear how the story has influenced modern traditions. Red lanterns will hang everywhere, and the streets will be filled with gunpowder as truckloads of firecrackers are set off around the country.

Unlike New Year’s Eve in the West, Chinese New Year (referred to as Chun Jie, or Spring Festival) is a slow burner and is celebrated over roughly two weeks. Much like Christmas Day, families sit down for big feast (Nian Ye Fan) on New Year’s Eve, while on the fifth day they welcome Caishen, the god of prosperity. Single people are given red envelopes (hong bao) by their married friends and family; these packets symbolise good luck and also have cash in them.

In some provinces you may find temple fairs, while in Hong Kong there’s a big New Year’s Day parade with dragon dancing

through Tsim Sha Tsui. However, the best and most common way to celebrate across China is to eat. Restaurants everywhere have their own Chinese New Year menus where cured fish, fowl and meats are popular, plus sticky rice cakes and jiaozi dumplings – believed to bring good luck as their shape resembles a traditional Chinese gold ingot. High-end restaurants will go all out with dishes that bring joy, luck and prosperity, like diced Wagyu beef or wokfried lobster in spicy truffle sauce. Don’t forget to greet people you meet with: Xin Nian Kuai Le – Happy New Year!

download the Emirates App – available for iPhone, iPad and Android. your personal journey planner makes it easy to view and arrange your trips when you’re on the go. designed to complement the iPhone app, there’s also an Emirates App for Apple watch.

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iMAGE: GEtty

jAnuAry MArks thE bEGinninG of ChinEsE nEw yEAr, And sEEs AlMost two wEEks of fAMily tiME, Gift-GivinG... And MorE thAn A fEw drAGons

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/lavillecitywalkdubai

L u n c h

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HELEN SHARMAN Twenty-five years ago Dr Helen Sharman made history when she became the first Briton in space. We spoke to the scientist over lunch at Ognisko in London

O

gnisko is located on the ground floor of Ognisko Polskie (Polish Hearth Club), a private members’ club on Exhibition Road in London’s Kensington neighbourhood, founded in 1940 by Polish nationals seeking refuge in Britain during the Second World War. Entering through heavy curtains, I spot a photograph of Queen Elizabeth II exiting through the very same curtains after a dinner to celebrate the Duke of Kent’s 80th birthday in 2015. In a less prominent position, on the way to the gent’s, is a photograph of Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin walking on the moon. It’s signed: “To the Polish Club with best wishes Buzz Aldrin.” Ognisko Polskie has a grandeur befitting the status of my dining companion, Dr Helen Sharman, the scientist who became the first Briton in space when she visited the Mir space station on the joint Soviet Union-British Project Juno mission in 1991.

Sharman is now a trim 53-year-old, her dark brown hair shorter and sharper, her features more angular, but her brown eyes still possessing the same clarity on display in the photographs, of the then 27-year-old, taken before her space flight 25 years earlier. Entirely unpretentious, Sharman probably chose the restaurant because it is directly opposite Imperial College London, where she has worked as operations manager for the Department Of Chemistry since 2015, rather than its prestigious clientele.

Born in Grenoside, a suburb of the city of Sheffield, North Yorkshire, Sharman enjoyed what she describes as “a very normal upbringing” with her mother, a nurse until she gave up work when she had children; her father, a physicist; and her sister (a brother came a long “much later”). She went to the local comprehensive school and enjoyed messing about in the garden with her friends.

“It was a fairly non-special existence, really,” says Sharman.

But she loved science. “I got the science from my dad,” she says. “It became a part of normal conversation. I never thought

of science as something that you might separate from the rest of life. For me it was just life. My dad would explain stuff he was doing around the house, DIY, as a lot of dads do, but being a physicist, he would explain the science. He would explain why a plug and a socket are wired the way they are, and that was just a normal part of existence. I never thought of it being different from anybody else’s upbringing.”

When the time arrived to start mapping out her future career, Sharman says she had no idea what she wanted to do, but she inevitably chose science, enrolling on a chemistry degree course at the University Of Sheffield. “I couldn’t do physics because my dad had done physics,” she explains.

Sharman says she had never considered working in the space industry. “There wasn’t much of a space industry in the UK. It wasn’t even a topic of conversation at school.

Nobody was going to be an astronaut.

Americans and Russians were astronauts, but not British people.”

After completing her undergraduate degree, Sharman moved to London to work at the General Electric Company (GEC), and started studying for her PhD at Birbeck, University Of London, before working in research and development at Mars Incorporated.

The waitress arrives to take our order, and I mainly defer to Sharman who, having lived in Russia, is familiar with many of the ingredients and techniques – cabbage, cucumbers, pickling and smoking – used in Polish cuisine. We order kopytka dumplings and smoked eel to start, followed by chargrilled poussin and boiled salt beef with buckwheat groats and surowka on the side for our main course – all to share.

Driving home from Mars Incorporated one evening in 1989, Sharman heard a radio advertisement calling for physically fit Brits between 25 and 40 with a technical degree and proficiency in languages to apply to become astronauts. No experience necessary.

THe HigHLigHT Of THe eigHT DayS in Space WaS Speaking TO THe preSiDenT Of THe SOvieT UniOn, MikHaiL gOrBacHev, WHO raDiOeD Up frOM MiSSiOn cOnTrOL

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When the UK Space agency annoUnced that tim peaKe WoUld travel to the international Space Station, in 2015, it decided to Write Sharman oUt of hiStory

“I applied for the training as much as anything,” says Sharman. “I struggled at school to narrow down what I was studying, because I enjoyed quite a few things… I didn’t need any persuasion. I knew as soon as I heard that [ad] that’s what I wanted to do.”

The dumplings and the eel arrive. The deep-fried potato dumplings are light and crisp and smothered in a zingy red pepper dressing – delectable. But after devouring the meaty fingers of rich, oily eel, delicately smoked, sitting on top of a fresh Russian salad, drizzled with a peppery mustard and horseradish dressing, and accompanied by two triangles of crisp rye bread, I was just about ready to book a plane ticket to Warsaw. Sharman seems to be enjoying the food too, as much for the memories of her time in Russia it evokes as its quality.

The fearless youngster was up against almost 13,000 other applicants. Nevertheless, after a “filtering out process”, 40 or so were chosen for medical and psychological testing, before 22 were invited for space flight testing at the Empire Test Pilots School in

Farnborough. Sharman was one of them. “Every time I went forward to the next part of the selection process I didn’t think I was going to go any further, so I was just going to enjoy each part of it.”

Four applicants were eventually sent to Star City in Moscow, home of the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center, a training facility for Russian astronauts since the 1960s, where they underwent more in-depth psychological tests. “They were looking for people who were fairly even-tempered,” explains Sharman.

“They didn’t want people who would get really excited or really depressed, whose mood would change significantly in certain situations.” Finally, two candidates remained: Sharman and Timothy Mace, a 33-year-old major in the Army Air Corps. The two would undergo 18 months of training in Russia before one was chosen to be part of the crew on the Soyuz TM-12 spacecraft headed for the Mir space station; the other would be back-up.

“When there were two of us, I knew that I was going to go to Moscow, to Star City, and that I was going to take part in the training, and I was delighted with that,” says Sharman. “Throughout most of the training I assumed that the person with whom I was training would fly instead of me, because in British society if you were a bit older and male and you flew helicopters for the army – it just seemed the natural way, even though he was no more qualified for space flight than I was.”

After training they were flown back to London where one of them would finally be informed that they were going to space.

Sharman prepared herself for disappointment. When she was told, in her hotel room, that she was going, she had only minutes to process the news before she had to attend a reception with, among

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many others, Mace, who had been told that he would be back-up.

During training they’d worked together; Mace helping Sharman with the theory of flight and Sharman helping Mace with the science.

Now, while she was elated, he would be downhearted. “He must have expected to have been chosen, so it was probably harder for him [than it would have been for me],” she says.

On May 18, 1991, Sharman boarded the spacecraft with fellow cosmonauts Anatoly Artebartsky and Sergei Krikalyov at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, then part of the Soviet Union. Her parents and her sister looked on from a viewing platform a few hundred metres away from the rocket, her mother’s eyes fixed on a small television monitor showing an image being captured by a camera inside the spacecraft – an image of her daughter.

Eventually the image “fizzled and went black”. “At that point my mum stood up suddenly and threw her arms around the nearest person she could find, who happened to be a Russian general with all these medals on his chest,” says Sharman, smiling. “He was saying, ‘There, there, I have a daughter, too’. My mum hadn’t travelled very much and was very heartened by the friendliness and normality of people from a country she was probably quite scared of when she was younger, with the Cold War and everything.”

It was only once the spacecraft had left the Earth’s atmosphere, and the payload fairing, which had obscured the windows during the launch, had been jettisoned, allowing the light to stream in through the windows, that Sharman herself began to take it all in.

“That was the first time we could get a glimpse of the earth,” she says. “That’s when you really know you’re up there.”

Our main course arrives. Slivers of soft salty beef balanced by the earthiness of a beetroot terrine and given a mustard kick by a horseradish sauce, and a deliciously garlicky poussin chargrilled to perfection. The sides of roast buckwheat groats and crunchy surowka salad ensure that both of us would have trouble squeezing into a space suit for a good few hours.

The highlight of Sharman’s eight days on the Mir space station was speaking to the president of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, who radioed up from mission control. “It was a lovely thing,” she says. “He didn’t call up to every crew. I think it was [because of] the special relationship he wanted to build with Britain.”

Sharman first encountered life in the public eye before she went to space, and she didn’t like the “false, giggly excitement” that was “peddled” by the agency hired to “drum up excitement” about the mission and turn her and Mace into minor celebrities, or the fact that the newspaper columnists who lined up to interview her were only interested in speaking about her clothes. Sharman refused to discuss the topic.

Despite the casual sexism she has encountered, Sharman has never made a big deal of being a woman. “It never mattered to me what gender I am,” she says. “I’ve just got on with it.”

Following her return to Earth, Sharman embarked on a tour of British schools – organised with the help of the then Prime Minister, John Major – during which she talked to schoolchildren about her time in space and shared her love of science. The tour

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turned into almost a decade of public speaking, in schools, in universities and on the radio and television. She wrote two books: an autobiography, Seize The Moment (1993), and a children’s book, The Space Place (1997), but she couldn’t remain in the limelight forever. “I just needed to move on,” she says, sipping her mint tea, which arrived along with an espresso for me. “I needed to do something different. I also wanted to live a quiet and private life.”

Sharman went so quiet that when the UK Space Agency announced that Tim Peake would travel to the International Space Station on Soyuz TMA-19M in 2015 it decided to write her out of history, declaring Peake the first British astronaut. When I mention this, Sharman isn’t angry, she has every right to be, she’s just surprised. “I don’t know if they thought people would just totally forget about my mission or what,” she says. Thankfully, the UK Space Agency issued another press release correcting the error, meaning Dr Helen Sharman’s place in the history books is secure.

The Bill 1 x kopytka dumplings (US$4.45) 1 x smoked eel (US$10.80) 1 x poussin (US$21) 1 x salt beef (US$21.60) 1 x buckwheat groats (US$4.45) 1 x surowka (US$4.45) 2 x mineral water (US$8.90) 1 x double espresso (US$3.30) 1 x mint tea (US$2.80)

Total: US$81.75

For more on the universe and space exploration, check out Discovery Science for shows like Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman, NASA’s Unexplained Files and How the Universe Works. Channel 1261 on ice Digital Widescreen.

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R o o m

AmAngAllA Galle, Sri lanka

Words: GINA JoHNsoN ImAGes: AmANGAllA It’s not often that classic architectural form is associated with the Aman group of hotels, more renowned for their sleek minimalism.

But Amangalla, in Sri Lanka’s 2,000-year old maritime fort of Galle, is a shrine to Dutch colonialism and charmingly reminiscent of the original Oriental Hotel that stood before it.

Today, many of the authentic features remain, including the original wooden

flooring, a grand staircase and 400-yearold stone steps in the lobby. An emerald hued pool with private cabanas set in a high-walled, sun-dappled courtyard is a modern touch.

Rooms run off the corridors behind enormous antique teak doors with arched windows and free-standing baths. The upper floors have a seating area overlooking the

town; a place to sip late afternoon cocktails and watch the sun dip over the terracottatiled roofs of the fort and out to sea.

Or you could always take a roadtrip down south to sister resort Amanwella in remote beachside Tangalle – all concrete, stone and glass in contrast – for a dose of Aman-style luxe brutalism at its best. aman.com

On April 1, 1986, an Emirates Boeing 727-200 departed Dubai touching down in Colombo, Emirates’ fourth global destination. 31 years later, Emirates has logged 56 million miles, transported thousands of tonnes of cargo and continues to connect Sri Lanka to the world, with 34 flights a week.

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Hotel D’Angleterre Copenhagen, Denmark

Words: andreW nagy Images: Hotel d’angleterre The Hotel D’Angleterre is par t of the furniture in Copenhagen. Absolutely central to city life – it’s across the road from the Royal Opera House, a five-minute walk from the colourful waterfront buildings of Nyhavn and around the corner from Strøget, the largest pedestrianised shopping street in the world. Prime real estate.

The building alone is wor thy of its fine reputation – even the Lego version found in the lobby is impressive – and the 92 rooms and suites offer a combination of traditional luxury and contemporary touches that many, similarly historic, hotels often get wrong.

Our advice is to add your name to that of former visitors – Winston

Emirates operates a daily A380 service to Copenhagen.

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Churchill, Grace Kelly, Walt Disney and the Rolling Stones. Opt for a suite with a balcony overlooking historic Kongens Nytorv square, a meal in the Michelinstarred Marchal restaurant downstairs, and then wrap up warm for a winter walk around one of Europe’s most beautiful cities. dangleterre.com

INTERNATIONAL LEATHER FAIR MIL ANO

21-22-23 FEBRUARY 2017

SUM M ER 2018

E n t r E p r E n E u r

THE TERRACOTTA CAFÉ VARANASI, INDIA

Words: MATT MosTYN | 24 |

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I

n 2012, during a six-month solo charity cycle through India, Australianborn adventurer Matt Brice dreamt up a bold idea to help others.

Pedalling through towns and villages on his journey from Delhi to Goa, he was blown away by the random acts of kindness people showed him – and it was this outpouring of generosity that inspired him to do something to “pay it forward”.

His concept aimed to give something back to the people he’d met along his journey, while at the same time helping him to realise a long-cherished personal dream. So, drawing on his many years of hospitality skills working in and managing cafes and restaurants around the globe, Brice began to put a very different set of wheels in motion, for a rooftop cafe in his favourite Indian city, Varanasi.

“Varanasi is one of India’s most spiritual places and that emanates through everything here,” he says. “I was looking for a way I could sustainably stay there, and so the cafe felt like the best logical solution.

I could use the hospitality and business skills I’d developed over the past 18 years to contribute to the local economy, while giving me the opportunity to spend a lot more time in India.”

Yet this was to be no ordinary cafe, and as he explored his concept further, the idea began to take clearer form as a fertile hub for the local community. Not only would he develop a permacultureinspired farm nearby, which would both supply the cafe and also encourage local farmers to grow in a more sustainable way, but the cafe itself would offer on-the-job training and hospitality experience to young people from disadvantaged backgrounds, giving them the necessary skills to gain employment and “lift themselves up” from poverty. The Terracotta Café was born.

After working tirelessly back in Australia for many months, while setting up various charity initiatives, dinners and events to help fund the project, Brice finally moved to Varanasi in October.

“It’ll have a communal feel, with shared long tables and cushions,” he says.

“And we‘re envisaging it being a sociable

place where locals and tourists can together freely mix.”

The cafe itself is set to open this month, and once up and running, the plan is to provide three- to six-month training programmes to three young people at a time from local slum communities. “We’ll be offering full-time salaries, good working conditions, reasonable hours and even accommodation, if required. There’ll also be a heap of opportunities for overseas travellers to come and volunteer on the farm or teach foreign language skills to the cafe workers in exchange for free meals.”

Yet Brice’s aspirations don’t end there.

“The money the cafe will generate will be used to support all kinds of local community initiatives, from cleaning up the Ganges and combating poverty, to helping street animals and funding disabled shelters.”

He’s clearly eager to get started. “It’s been a long-held dream of mine to do this, so I’m incredibly excited that, now, it’s finally happening. To tell you the truth, I really can’t wait to see where it all goes from here.”

If you’d like to help fund the birth of the Terracotta Cafe and its sister projects, visit chuffed.org/project/theterracottacafe

LOCAL KNOWLEDGE To eat like a local… visit the street vendors down by the river and try uttapam – a tangy dosa pancake sprinkled with spices, coriander, tomato and then fried until it’s crispy.

The best way to spend an afternoon in Varanasi is… lazing on the Ganges, floating along in a boat, followed by an evening ceremony on the banks of the river.

A fascinating place to see is… the old city, which is a rabbit warren of tiny lanes that have remained pretty much unchanged for hundreds of years. Check out the spice markets as you navigate cows, motorbikes and even carts carrying bodies down to the river.

The best advice is… to have a really good local presence to support your idea – someone you trust, who fully understands how things work locally.

Emirates serves nine destinations in India – Delhi, Mumbai, Cochin, Hyderabad, Thiruvananthapuram, Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, and Bengaluru.

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Street food in Hong Kong is so good that the Michelin Guide decided to give it its own category. Few places do noodles like Ying Kee

YING KEE

WORDS AND IMAGES: JONAthAN MAlONEy

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A

lthough 73 years old, C hiu Sei Kwun still wakes every morning at 6am to check in on the chefs and preparation at his restaurant, Ying Kee. He was born in 1943 in the village of Chiu Yeung in Chiuchow, and arrived in Hong Kong at the age of 15.

Kwun’s uncle walked from Chiuchow to Hong Kong at the height of the Cultural Revolution in China to escape the purges.

To make a living he would walk with two old kerosene tins perched on a stick over his shoulders – one filled with soup and the other with boiling water, both lit by charcoal – calling out to diners before serving a bowl of noodles to customers on the steep-sided streets of Sai Ying Pun in Hong Kong island. Kwun soon started working for his uncle as a delivery boy, taking food orders to the nurses and doctors at nearby hospitals.

Despite being named in the Michelin Guide for 2016, for as little as US$5, you can buy a steaming bowl of beef brisket or fishball noodles. Ying Kee’s specialities are many and varied, but is its shrimp wontons

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and fish skin are particular favourites.

Meanwhile, the secret to the soup stock lies in its ox bone – it’s boiled for a minimum of five hours.

Location is good and in winter it makes a great place to sit outdoors at the back.

Once you’re into summer your best bet is being inside under the AC – with your steaming bowl of noodles in front of you.

In keeping with family tradition, Kwun uses the same recipes and menu items as his uncle once did. He lives just around the corner – he’s been there since he arrived – and he still works on weekends and at busy periods. He also uses the same noodle maker who has supplied the restaurant since it opened its doors in 1985. Kwun calls them: “smooth and silky”, and they’re made especially for his shop.

With his wife by his side manning the tills, Kwun looks in no hurry to leave his business in the hands of a younger generation anytime soon.

Shop 10, Hong Keung Mansion, 32-34 Hong Keung, San Po Kong, +852 2323 9519

Emirates flies four times daily to Hong Kong. Choose from three non-stop services from Dubai, and one service with a stop in Bangkok, Thailand.

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N e i g h b o u r h o o d

Chelsea london, UK Words: Kaye Martindale iMages: geoff BroKate

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N e i g h b o u r h o o d

S

kirting the north of the River Thames, Chelsea has been affiliated with high society since Henry VIII moved his royal court to the area in the 1600s.

In the late 18th century it became a Bohemian neighbourhood with artists, writers and radicals moving in, while many luminaries of the Victorian era lived here, such as painters Turner and Whistler and writers Thomas Carlyle, Jonathan Swift and Oscar Wilde.

The ’60s brought artists, designers and musicians, attracted by cheap rent and a cool reputation.The Beatles and Rolling Stones had homes here and designers Vivienne Westwood and Mary Quant opened boutiques on the increasingly outrageous King’s Road. By the ’80s the area was so fashionable that few of the artists and musicians that made it so popular could afford the increasingly high rents.

Now almost exclusively the home to the one per cent, Chelsea and the surrounding areas enjoys big investment from Middle Eastern, Russian and Chinese buyers. But then, with its grand Victorian townhouses, wide avenues and leafy squares, it was, perhaps, always destined to be the stomping ground of the super-rich. Here are some of our favourite places to spend the afternoon.

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N e i g h b o u r h o o d

stay + eat

No.11 CadogaN gardeNs Hotel A stay at No.11 Cadogan Gardens will give you a taste of the splendour and elegance that lies behind Chelsea’s impressive red brick, mansion blocks. Located just a few hundred metres away from Sloane Square, the hotel is in the hear t of the neighbourhood. With the feeling of a grand house rather than hotel and, despite its 54 rooms, it still feels intimate and exclusive. Built by Lord Chelsea towards the end of the 19th century as three separate residential proper ties, Cadogan Gardens was situated between Buckingham Palace and Harrods department store. In the mid-20th century the building was transformed into a hotel, becoming a popular place to stay for visiting aristocrats and politicians.

The extremely spacious rooms represent a stately elegance synonymous with the neighbourhood, while the contemporary finish and style equates to a modern luxury hotel in a classic setting.

London, SW3 2RJ | +44 20 77307000 | 11cadogangardens.com

In the area ( T h r e e -minuTe wa lk )

ParTridges

This luxury food store and deli is home to Saturday’s fantastic Duke of York Square Food Market. A must for all foodies.

2-5, Duke oF York SquAre, king’S rD, LonDon, SW3 4LY +44 20 77300651 pArTriDgeS.co.uk

Emirates serves London nine times daily, with six daily services to London Heathrow and three flights a day to London Gatwick.

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N e i g h b o u r h o o d

Shop + be InSpIred

In The AreA

Bentleys

( F iv e -mi nut e wa lk )

Tim Bent scours the world for the finest handcrafted Victorian and Edwardian antiques. Only the most rare and engaging items will find a place in Bentleys on Sloane Street. With a special interest in travel accessories, expect to find leather goods and fantastic vintage trunks by Louis Vuitton, Goyard and Hermès. There’s also a good chance that you might also pick up a unique piece of 1960s furniture or a delightful gadget – like the Mar tin Baker ejector seat from a lightening jet. The store is unashamedly masculine, with lots of brown leather, polished metal and glass. It has the atmosphere of a Victorian prime minister’s office. The dedicated team has a genuine enthusiasm and real encyclopaedic knowledge of the objects that are on sale. In fact they love nothing more than putting the item in your hand, so you can feel the quality and craftsmanship for yourself.

91 Lower Sloane St, London, SW1W 8DA | +44 20 77306832 | bentleyslondon.com

Saatchi Gallery

The rabble-rousing contemporary art gallery is always guaranteed to provoke and inspire, showing the brightest up-and-comers as well as established artists.

Duke Of YOrk’s HQ, king’s rD, LOnDOn, sW3 4rY, +44 20 78113070, saaTcHigaLLerY.cOm

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N e i g h b o u r h o o d

Dine + See

Rabbit This achingly cool restaurant has a tonguein-cheek rural feel, with up-cycled feeding troughs doubling as light shades and a tractor hood as a decorative centrepiece. Owned by the Gladwin Brothers who grew up on a farm and vineyard in West Sussex, Rabbit aims to bring the best of the British countryside to the city. Handily, one of the brothers became a chef, another a farmer and one went into hospitality. Pooling their skills, Rabbit is their second restaurant. With a strong sustainability ethos, the brothers source all of their food within 100 miles of London and have a strict no food waste policy. The menu is written each morning by head chef Oliver Gladwin, who uses what’s available and fresh each day.

Many of Rabbit’s dishes use foraged foods that were traditionally eaten in the UK before that knowledge of the country was lost.

172 King’s Rd, Chelsea, London, SW3 4UP | +44 20 37500172 | rabbit-restaurant.com

in The AreA ( F i v e -minut e ca b r ide )

the royal court theatre

One of Europe’s most groundbreaking theatres, this is the place to go if you want to see original, reflective storytelling.

SlOanE SquarE, lOndOn, SW1W 8aS, +44 20 75655000, rOyalcOurtthEatrE.cOm

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A collection of stories from around the world A Dubai Shark Tale

Game Of Stones

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Being President

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MAIN

Malta’s cinematic landscape has become world-famous as a backdrop to Game Of Thrones. But now, the island’s unique geology is amassing its own cult following, and they’re viewing the island from an entirely new perspective Words and Images: Sarah Freeman

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’ll be the first to admit that my preconceptions of Malta were that of a staid island, with heaps of history and a hot ticket for retirees.

Its heritage speaks for itself: the archipelago has been inhabited since 5,000BC and is home to some of the oldest freestanding monuments in the world. Paradoxically, nowhere does the island’s history converge more profoundly with the present than in its fossilisedencrusted cliffs, which are attracting an altogether more adventurous and youthful community: rock climbers.

Despite being mountainless and just 253 metres above sea level, 60 per cent of Malta’s coastline is cliff, and this is where you’ll find its throng of vertical thrill seekers – dangling precariously from the roof of a sea cave, or abseiling into the bowels of the ocean.

But the action doesn’t all happen at sea.

The island’s rugged, inland limestone crags, carved from glaciers in former ice ages, are primed with dramatic and steep routes too.

This weather-sculpted terrain, combined with high quality limestone rock that’s rich in holds, have made it a veritable playground for climbers of all levels.

Locals don’t call it the ‘the rock’ for nothing.The sheer variety of climbing, from sea level traversing,to sheltered climbing in

deep gorges and steep overhangs in sinister caves, is immense for an island measuring just 27kmx14km. By default, its diminutive size has also been its greatest climbing asset – the longest walk-ins, even to remote crags, are around 15 minutes, making it entirely possible to squeeze in an hour of culture between climbs. Its even smaller and sleepier sister island, Gozo (a 30-minute ferry ride away) boasts 350 routes, ranging from nine metres to some 60-metre monsters, and one of the biggest overhangs in the world: King of Kings.

Surprisingly (and much to the delight of its 250-strong local climbing community), the island is still relatively unknown as a climbing destination compared to the likes of the South of France and Northern Italy.

There are estimated to be in the region of 10,000 climbers visiting annually – a number set to inflate, since world-class talent Tommy Caldwell – of Dawn Wall fame – began chalking up the crags.The international climbing community is certainly warming to the sunshine island – international bouldering competition Melloblocco’s Simone Pedeferri visited just last year and, more recently, members of the Dutch Ice Climbing Team, along with their dachshund Ooinn, descended on its enviable limestone rock.

Long before the likes of Caldwell and Pedeferri were christening routes like | 42 |

X-Factor and Club Paradiso on Gozo, bare-footed Maltese fishermen were soloing down the same precarious cliffs (minus the fandangled equipment). Searching for food, these formidable men, described as “dwarfed fishermen with giant forearms” by local climbing heavyweight Stevie Haston, would solo down loose rocks on a hemp rope, without a harness and a bucket of fish on one arm. Occasionally you can still see one or two at Pillar Box Cave, negotiating the 60m cliff, just like the old days.

It was actually the British Royal Commandos, stationed here during the 1950s and ’60s, that evolved rock climbing into a pastime on the island. But by the mid-’70s, the scene had plateaued, and wasn’t revived until local lad Andrew Warrington (now president of the Malta Rock Climbing Club) and a group of friends took up climbing in 1985, unlocking its ‘trad route’ potential. But what really took it mainstream was the introduction of sport climbing in 2005, and the evolution of a two-pronged climbing ethic: sport (using fixed bolts for protection) and traditional (using temporary hardware to ascend), which engaged an even wider audience. Two years later, the definitive island climbing guidebook: Malta Rock Climbing (co-authored by Warrington) was published, and cemented the archipelago’s status as a serious climbing destination.

Warrington, who’s also a guide leader at MC Adventures, attributes the island’s climbing diversity, together with Malta’s 300-days-a-year sunshine, to the sport’s success and longevity. Multi-season climbing doesn’t get much better: whilst keeping dry on the walls during its mild winters is practically a given, getting wet in the heat of the summer is all part of the fun.

Increasingly popular is Deep Water Soloing, aka climbing minus ropes with just the azure waters to catch your fall. Look in any Maltese climber’s rucksack and you’ll probably find a pair of flippers, packed for that post-climb snorkel.

All this begs the question – is Malta’s expanding climbing culture set to finally burst the Game Of Thrones bubble? There is every possibility. With an ambitious bolting project underway to equip 400 of the island’s climbs with special sea-spray resistant bolts, the sky really is the limit.

G a m e

O f

CinematiC Setting Gozo’s very own star of the silver screen, the Azure Window, is one of the island’s most iconic and photogenic landmarks. Sadly, the collapse of this 30-metre-high, monumental rock formation is inevitable, and imminent.

A combination of natural erosion, recent seismic activity and rebellious cliff divers has destabilised its natural arch, causing sizeable chunks of rock to collapse into the sea.

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G a m e

O f

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a hand in history It’s not uncommon to pull up on a bit of fossilised sea urchin whilst scaling Malta and Gozo’s prehistoric sea cliffs. Millions of years ago the entire island was submerged, yielding fossilised-studded rocks, rich with oyster shells, sea urchins, seaweeds, worm holes, triton shells and the occasional shark tooth.

CliFFhangers Head 5km north along the coast from the mesmerising Azure Window, and you reach another dramatic sea arch: Wied il-Mielah.

The Azure’s fate may be sealed, but this rocky arch is reassuringly stable, boasting plenty of big holds and eight routes, that make it a great spot for beginners to cut their teeth. Rappelling is popular, as is taking a refreshing summer time dip between climbs in the Med’s cobalt blue waters.

Faith and Footholds Dramatically bisecting the landscape, Mgarr ix-Xini’s stunning canyon setting on the southern coast of Gozo is a climber’s paradise. Green year-round, the cliff sides are riddled with karstic features, prehistoric remains and even an abandoned water-pumping station that used to supply fresh water to the entire island.

Like a beacon of faith on the horizon, the Xewkija Church (fashioning the world’s third largest unsupported dome) makes for a scenic 10-minute walk-in to the gorge’s shady climbing walls: Flake Out, Champagne and Dream. | 44 |

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King of the Crags Known to have some of the finest forearms in the game, Gozitan-born Stevie Haston’s (left) credentials speak for themselves. This wall warrior has soloed up to 80 routes in the Alps, including the north face of the Eiger (aged 20), and the first one-man ascent of the Walker Spur on the Grandes Jorasses. Instrumental in shaping Gozo’s burgeoning climbing scene, the 58-year old has not only actively bolted over 50 routes on the island, but also routed one of the world’s longest roof climbs; The King of Kings, which extends 55 metres.

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B E I N G P R E S I D The new man in Washington has one of the most important jobs on the planet, and it has accumulated numerous quirks, traditions and privileges over the years. Here’s what lies ahead for Donald Trump in the US capital...

HOW IT STARTS

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Donald Trump’s inauguration as the 45th president of the United States will take place at noon on January 20, but that doesn’t mean he gets to play golf until Barack Obama hands over the keys. To hit the ground running, president-elect Trump will be looking to fill 30 positions across his cabinet and senior White House staff before taking residence in the Oval Office.

“For a newly elected president the transition is a time of delicious chaos… the 11-week span that lies ahead of them will be seen for what it is – a brief flash of time that is far, far too shor t for them to do what must be done before assuming the awesome responsibility of governing the most powerful, largest, most complex and impor tant institution on Ear th,” says Mar tin Anderson, author of Revolution: The Reagan Legacy.

Senior positions usually go to campaign staff, with behind-doors meetings and political expediency helping fill the rest. Most presidents-elect aim to name their cabinets by Christmas Eve in a bid to reassure the stock markets and calm a nervous electorate. Mind you, having a stocking filled with politicians is no guarantee you’re going to wake up with a successful administration. Richard Nixon had most of his nominations in place a week after being elected, while Jimmy Carter set up an elaborate series of interviews, requiring everybody to come out to his home in Georgia. Ronald Regan delegated the entire process to his chief of staff, Ed Meese, who filtered nominees through a “kitchen cabinet” of Reagan’s friends to judge if they’d get along with the president.

Once the names are decided, they’re sent to the senate for approval – at which point the real politics begin in earnest.

If senate doesn’t like the nominee, or the president, they can make the task an ordeal, as happened to Bill Clinton who had three nominees for the same job rejected.

In contrast, Nixon had all but one of his cabinet nominations approved during a 20-minute session.

Alongside selecting his cabinet, Trump will be receiving national security briefings from the White House and putting the finishing touches to his legislative agenda and inaugural speech, while his staff get busy redecorating the White House.

B E I N G

P R E S I D E N T

Ronald Reagan swears his oath to the people on his inauguration day on January 21, 1985

INAUGURATION DAY January 20 will be full of pomp and pageantry, but only one item is constitutionally mandated and that’s the famous oath of office, which must be read out by the president-elect at noon. If this falls on a Sunday, the president-elect takes a private oath, then conducts the public inauguration on Monday, following a tradition laid down by Woodrow Wilson in 1917. So far only three presidents since Wilson have had to take the oath on Sunday, and that’s Dwight D Eisenhower (1957), Ronald Reagan (1985), and Barack Obama (2013). Typically the oath is taken with one hand resting on a bible, though any book can be used. Theodore Roosevelt refused the Bible when taking the oath in 1901, and John Quincy Adams and Franklin Pierce swore on a book of law. | 48 |

B e i n g

can you redecorate the most famous building in the us?

Most of the furniture and fittings in the White House are so historic that the building requires its own permanent curator to account for every candlestick and chair. Surprisingly though, new presidents get a lot of leeway when it comes to decorating their new home. During the transition period, the president can choose new furniture, curtains, and even their own carpet for the floor in the Oval Office. Ar twork is selected from the

UnUsUal inaUgUration day speeches

P r e s i d e n t

White House’s own collection, or can be borrowed from museums for the duration of the president’s term in office. While picking out lamps might seem merely aesthetic, it’s wor th pointing out that many of these items carry immense significance. British Prime Minister Tony Blair gave a bust of Winston Churchill to George W Bush, who placed it beside his door.

Barack Obama removed the statue and replaced it with a bust of Mar tin Luther King, prompting a media backlash in the United Kingdom, which considered it a slight, and took it as a sign of the deteriorating relationship between the two countries.

The first family have similar freedom in the residence (they live on the third storey of the White House), though rules are tighter for historic and public spaces. If the family fancies getting their paint brushes out in these rooms, they need the permission of the Committee For The Preservation Of The White House – a body established by Lyndon Johnson in 1964. As an unwritten rule, these rooms, along with the state rooms, are generally refurbished once a decade, often with funds from the White House Historical Association.

does the president have to live there?

1793

Having not wanted to run for the presidency a second time, George Washington summed up his lack of enthusiasm with the shortest inauguration speech in history. It was 135 words.

No law dictates that the president must live in the White House, though every previous commander-in-chief has settled there. “In my mind, there are two reasons presidents stay in the White House,” says historian Evan Phifer, of the White House Historical Association. “Number one is the White House is a national symbol to the presidency. And the second is, in the White House, everything is there. They have security and they have the working space to accommodate a working president.”

Gerald Ford and wife Betty relaxing at home in the White House

1841

Stung by accusations that he was too old for the job at 68, William Henry Harrison gave a two-hour inauguration address in the freezing rain, without a hat and coat. He caught pneumonia and was dead within the month.

1865

Vice President Andrew Johnson had been ill, and drank throughout the day to keep his spirits up.

His rambling speech only ended when somebody tugged on his coattails to get him to stop.

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A working dAy in the white house Ever wondered what the president actually does? Barack Obama told Newsweek back in 2009: “I’m a night owl. My usual day: I workout in the morning; I get to the office around 8.309am; work till about 6.30pm; have dinner with the family, hang out with the kids and put them to bed about 8.30pm. And then I’ll probably read briefing papers or do paperwork or write stuff until about 11.30pm. Then I usually have about a half hour to read before I go to bed about midnight, 12.30am – sometimes perhaps a little later.”

As a job not renowned for its downtime, it’s little wonder presidents typically bring their hobbies to their workplace. Dwight Eisenhower constructed a putting green on the White House lawn in 1954. The Kennedys commissioned a swimming pool; Truman built a bowling alley underneath the driveway, and Obama added a basketball court. There’s also a private cinema, to which presidents can request advance screenings of new movies.

It’s also worth noting that while there’s technically no limit on the amount of holidays a president can take, they still receive security briefings every morning, and usually end up travelling in the US, rather than anywhere exotic, due to security concerns.

does the president cArry cAsh? “Everything’s provided for them so they really don’t need money,” says Thomas Whalen of Boston University. “Kennedy didn’t carry any cash at all, even before he was president. His friends would have to foot the bill for the privilege of hanging out with him.”

If caught shor t, secret service typically pays out of their own pocket, and they’re reimbursed when they return to the White House, though recent presidents have been wary of having somebody else foot the bill when the cameras are on. Ronald Reagan was photographed paying for fast food with a US$20 note, while George HW Bush showed his credit card to a little girl who doubted his claim to being president. More recently, the idea of the president going cashless has been used to comic effect, with both Barack Obama and Bill Clinton telling stories of their credit cards being rejected in restaurants. Rather than turn to the secret service, Obama got his wife, Michelle, to pay on his behalf.

VacatiOn days Barack OBama: 217 days GeOrGe W Bush: 533 days Bill clintOn: 174 days Source: CBS News

Above: Barack Obama pays with hard cash; Right: JFK at work in the Oval Office

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LIFE iS SHORT unlimited

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B e i n g

P r e s i d e n t

Picking herbs from the White House garden; Below: Hillary Clinton claims they left the post in debt

Who else Works at 1600 pennsylvania avenue?

Previous presidents have described the White House as everything from a “glamorous prison” to “the best public housing I’ve ever seen”. In truth, it might better be described as a piece of clockwork, with the first family popping out at regular intervals.

“Every evening, while I took a bath, one of the maids would come by and remove my clothes for laundering or dry cleaning,” wrote Nancy Reagan in her autobiography, My Turn. “The bed would always be turned down. Five minutes after Ronnie came home and hung up his suit, it would disappear from the closet to be pressed, cleaned or brushed.

No wonder Ron used to call the White House an eight-star hotel.”

Ninety-six people work full-time in the residence, and there are another 250 part-time employees, including butlers, maids, chefs, plumbers, doormen, and florists. Overseeing all of this is the chief usher – a job so prestigious that the average length of service is 20 years. Don’t bother checking the White House website for jobs though. Most residential positions are filled by word of mouth, with current employees vouching for new hires. As most people spend decades working in the White House, grandparents and their grandchildren are often found working side by side, one training the other.

On inauguration day, the staff say goodbye to the previous family in the morning, then immediately begin

redecorating the White House per the new president’s wishes. By the time he arrives in the afternoon, it’s like he’s lived there his entire life.

the cost of being the first faMily “We came out of the White House not only dead broke, but in debt,” Hillar y Clinton told ABC during her presidential bid. “We had no money when we got there and we struggled to piece together the resources for mor tgages for houses, for Chelsea’s education, you know, it was not easy.”

This statement brought incredulity at the time, but it wasn’t just the Clintons who left the White House worse off financially than when they arrived. A destitute Harry Truman complained he couldn’t afford return postage to answer letters once he left Pennsylvania Avenue.

It’s estimated a modern election costs

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the candidates around US$10 million per state they campaign in, and while much of this is paid for by donors, they still must foot par t of the bill. And the White House isn’t an all-inclusive resor t.

“Nobody had told us that the president and his wife are charged for every meal, as well as for such incidentals as dry cleaning, toothpaste and other toiletries,” wrote Nancy Reagan in her autobiography, describing how an itemised bill would arrive every month for them to sign.

Though the first family don’t have to pay for utilities – which seems fair given how many people work in the White House – they’re expected to pay their own way out of an annual salary, just like any other American family. Since 2001, the president has earned a US$400,000 per year, along with a US$50,000 annual expense account, a US$100,000 nontaxable travel account, and US$19,000 for enter tainment.

It’s a lot of money, but the pressure’s immense. Writing in her autobiography, first lady Laura Bush – wife of George HW Bush – describes the stress of knowing every outfit she wore was going to be photographed and dissected in the media. As a result, she had a blow-dry and professional makeup applied every day, out of her own pocket.

“There were some costs that I was not prepared for,” wrote Bush. “I was amazed by the sheer number of designer clothes that I was expected to buy, like the women before me, to meet the expectations for a first lady.

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Barack Obama leaves the White House on the morning of January 20, with Donald Trump moving in by the evening

back to reality In 1958, Congress passed the Former Presidents Act to “maintain the dignity” of the office by ensuring former presidents didn’t have to get a real job.

Former presidents are paid a cabinet secretary’s wage of US$205,700 per year for life, and given Secret Service protection. Alongside these perks, they also receive an office, staff and expenses for life. President George W Bush received an allowance of nearly US$1.1 million in 2015, according to the General Services Administration. Mind you, this is all peanuts compared to the money a former president can earn from memoirs and guest speaking. Bill Clinton received six figures for his speeches, and was paid US$15 million for his book, My Life, in 2004. Rumours suggest Barack Obama will earn between US$25 – $45 million for his autobiography.

make your own Presidential visit Since Herbert Hoover, every former commander-in-chief has built his own Presidential Library. Here are three to visit

Franklin D roosevelt Presidential library and Museum, (Hyde Park, Ny)

ronald reagan Presidential library and Museum (Simi Valley, ca)

William J clinton Presidential library and Museum (little rock, ar)

This library is a treasure trove of relics from a world imperilled. Among the exhibitions, children can learn about the Great Depression and WWII, and even take a tour of his home.

Reagan’s librar y is basically a giant movie set, starring the Boeing 707 aeroplane that ser ved as Air Force One during his administration. There’s also replicas of impor tant rooms in the White House.

You’ll find models of impor tant White House rooms, as well as a Histor y Of The Secret Ser vice exhibition, and a great collection of gifts given to Clinton by ordinar y people and heads of state.

Emirates operates a daily A380 service to Washington D.C.

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BE Y O N D T H E D U N E S A N D A L L I M A G I N AT I O N y o u d i s c o v e r a n A r a b i a n t re a s u re with glistening pools, nestled in the golden sands.

This hidden palace invites you t o c o u n t l e s s a d v e n t u re s , e n d l e s s re l a x a t i o n a n d u n f o rg e t t a b l e i n d u l g e n c e .

But what to do first?

I t d o e s n ’ t re a l l y m a t t e r when you have it all a t y o u r f i n g e rt i p s .

YOUR E X T RAORDI NA RY STORY

Qasr Al Sarab Desert Resort by Anantara #InAbuDhabi

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A du bAi shAr k tAle

With shark populations in the wild at critical levels, Dubai Aquarium And Underwater Zoo is at the forefront of groundbreaking work to revive, not only numbers, but also a hard-bitten reputation Words: Iain Akerman Images: Masam Ali

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You’ve seen Jurassic Park right?” asks Paul Hamilton, the general manager and curator at Dubai Aquarium And Underwater Zoo. “In Jurassic Park they had cryopreservation cylinders that kept all of the dinosaur DNA. Well, it wasn’t that far-fetched to be honest.”

The two of us are deep within Dubai Aquarium, far from the crowds that stream past the attraction’s 10-million-litre tank every day, largely unaware of what lies above and within. In front of us are two cryopreservation cylinders loaded with shark DNA. Around us, and on the walls of the small rectangular laboratory in which we stand, are charts and the assorted paraphernalia of marine biology. Behind is a window through which the laboratory’s scientists can be viewed by visitors. It is, says Hamilton, part of a process of public outreach designed to help combat negativity surrounding sharks.

Within the cryopreservation cylinders themselves is the DNA of the sand tiger shark and 20 or so other species and endangered elasmobranch, frozen in liquid nitrogen at -196°C. It is, to all intents and purposes, a sperm bank.

“A lot of these shark species are becoming critically endangered in the wild and populations are diminishing to levels that give you little hope of a wild

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recovery,” says Hamilton. “For example, the sand tiger shark in Australia is down to 1,200 individuals. At that point you start to develop doubts as to whether there’s going to be any substantial change that would reverse that [decline] and see populations increase. You also start to wonder what’s happening to genetics when populations are getting so critically low.”

In an effort to confront the issue head on, Dubai Aquarium And Underwater Zoo is pioneering an assisted breeding programme designed to help protect | 58 |

the future of the sand tiger shark, which is found in the wild off the coasts of Australia, South Africa and America.

Currently classified as ‘vulnerable’ on the IUCN’s (International Union For Conservation Of Nature) Red List Of Threatened Species, it could become extinct within a generation if firm action is not taken. What’s more, the sand tiger shark is far from alone. Amongst the numerous other species listed as vulnerable, endangered or critical include the scalloped hammerhead, the whale

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Dr Jon Daly and team check a sand tiger shark with ultrasound; Right: Paul Hamilton and Dr Jon Daly

shark and the speartooth shark. Many Pelagic sharks continue to be caught for their fins at an unsustainable rate.

“Our immediate goal is to completely understand the cycling process of the sand tiger shark – when they produce sperm, when they produce eggs, when’s the right time for insemination,” says Hamilton.

“Obviously the pup is the ultimate goal, and once we get the pup we can then package all of that [information and science] and make it public. The idea is to pioneer a technique that will be fed out to everyone

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Before DuBai aquarium there was no access to the species, with scientists working largely on theory anD unaBle to practise technique who’s working on shark conservation.”

The groundwork for the programme, which was launched in Dubai last summer, was undertaken by Dr Jon Daly at Sea Life in Melbourne, Australia, alongside aquarium veterinarian Dr Rob Jones. Both regularly travel to Dubai to oversee and monitor the programme, which is led on a day-to-day basis by research veterinarian Nitwipa Ruangtrakool.

“The programme is an extension of the work that I did during my PhD in Australia and on the work that Rob | 59 |

Jones and I have done over the past few years,” says Daly, an elasmobranch reproduction consultant for his work with Dubai Aquarium And Underwater Zoo. “Last year I spent three months in Dubai working to set the programme up.

“At the moment we are still working to transfer some of what we know from other species to the sand tiger. We can collect sperm, observe ovaries by ultrasound, and monitor hormone cycles, and we are working on determining the optimum timing for artificial insemination. Much of what we have done so far has been centred on identifying reproductive cycles and determining which individuals to target for semen collection and artificial insemination.

“The next step is to apply what we have learned by attempting artificial insemination in selected females. If we are able to get to a stage with aquarium populations where we can reliably achieve successful artificial insemination, then perhaps there is a role for this kind of approach for helping to maintain genetic diversity in wild populations as well, although ideally this sort of intervention would not be required at all in the wild.”

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The sand tiger shark, however, does not make life easy for itself or for the scientists.

The females can only reproduce once every two years, while the males produce sperm for only a limited period of time during any given year. If that isn’t enough, the first thing an embryo develops is its teeth, with which it devours all of its brothers and sisters whilst still in the uterus. Only the strongest will be born. To complicate matters even further, there is a dominance hierarchy within males, which leads to a likely variation in reproductive output.

“They did do us one favour though, in that they made two uteri,” says Hamilton.

“So we get two pups out of a breeding event. But essentially they struggle to replace themselves, and that low ability to do that in the wild is one of the big contributors to their decline, while the

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mass producers – the species that breed readily – tend to be the ones that are succeeding in the human age.”

“Mankind is 99 per cent responsible for what’s happened,” reveals Hamilton.

a tiger shark embryo develops teeth first, and devours its brothers and sisters while still in the uterus. only the strongest will survive

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“The shark fin trade decimated most species. In Australia – before anyone really understood sharks – it was also the case that if a shark attacked somebody, then people would look for the most toothylooking creature and get rid of it. So these guys were getting culled when they had nothing to do with the attacks.”

Anyone familiar with Steven Spielberg’s Jaws will know what Hamilton refers to. A tiger shark, although a man-eater and rare for the waters around Long Island, was caught and erroneously blamed for the attacks around which the film was based.

Only the oceanographer Matt Hooper (played by Richard Dreyfuss) raised a lonely voice of dissent.

“Jaws is also another big contributor to our lack of empathy for the species and our heightened state of fear around them,”

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adds Hamilton, himself a marine biologist.

“The public fear is definitely misplaced,” he continues. “There are certainly sharks out there that you can have a bad accident with, but the frequency of those incidents is just so low we should be prioritising it in our heads as minimum risk, but for some reason we put it at maximum. We seem to think that every time we get in the water the possibility of being attacked by a shark opens up in front of us. It’s not the case. More people are dying from toasterrelated incidents. But you don’t tend to look at the toaster the same way.”

The sand tiger shark is also its own worst enemy. It looks ferocious and has three rows of long, jagged teeth that menacingly protrude from its mouth.

In many ways it epitomises the human fear of the deep and has been chased

The lab in Dubai Aquarium and Underwater Zoo that’s home to the assisted breeding project

and slaughtered simply because of its appearance, even if it is, in fact, a rather docile creature.

“You’re touching on the second arm of this project,” admits Hamilton. “As you can see there’s a window into the lab so the public can watch the scientists work. That is because without changing perception it’s hard to drum up support; it’s hard for people to understand why not to remove all sharks from the beach; it’s hard to get all those messages through. As such public outreach is just as important and this is a very public programme.”

The risks of failure are arguably incommensurable. The loss of any given shark species has a knock-on effect that impacts food-chains, habitats and species diversity. “The scary par t about the shark is where it sits in the kingdom of things,” explains Hamilton. “If the shark is lost it takes other species with it, and that’s not something that we’re experiencing with, say, a frog. You may not care so much about the shark, but you may care about the hundreds of other species that will go with them.”

Hamilton uses the example of a frog for good reason. The Rabbs’ fringe-limbed treefrog, a native of Panama, became extinct in September and yet few people batted an eye-lid. Unfathomable numbers of diverse species are under threat, putting into context the work that Daly and | 61 |

Hamilton are doing.

“Jon’s also working on the cryopreservation of coral species; I mean they’re working on an ark more or less,” says Hamilton. “There’s an ark going on right now, where they’re going out and grabbing the last genetic materials of certain species and trying to store it.”

In the case of the sand tiger shark, the Dubai Aquarium And Underwater Zoo was chosen as the base for the assisted breeding programme because it has the largest group of sand tigers anywhere in the world, with both males and females of reproductive age. This gives the team all the genetic material they need. Before Dubai Aquarium there was no access to the species, with scientists working largely on theory and unable to practise technique.

Dubai Aquarium made it possible for the science to come to the animal.

As part of the project, the team have created environmental cues in the tank, giving the sharks a spring, summer, autumn and winter, while the use of ultrasound enables the scientists to follow the ovary and follicle development of the females.

“For aquariums to have this role as advocates for conservation, they need to be able to manage their shark populations,” says Daly, emphasising the importance of the programme. “And the assisted reproduction helps with this goal by allowing the transfer of genetic

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A diver coaxes a sand tiger shark up to the team for a check-up

material between different aquarium populations, the introduction of new genetic material from the wild without removal of animals, and long-term banking of genetic material so that individual animals can remain part of the genetic population beyond their own lifespan.”

“We’ve had success with other species,” says Hamilton, referring to the birth of a brown banded bamboo shark in 2014; the first ever shark to be born via artificial insemination in Australia. It was also the first shark pup to be born via live semen sample transported from one facility to another. “Sand tigers are the most complicated species we could work with.

So if we can crack the sand tiger then most of the other shark species in the world are going to be doable.”

He adds, “This is some very long-term thinking, although this is not the current opinion of the government in Australia. The

Another shArk species gone doesn't reAlly register with Anybody, And without thAt empAthy you're not going to progress general idea is to continue creating marineprotected areas and trying to prevent further loss of the species. However, the decline continues every year. Even recreational fishing is a big contributor to the shark loss. At some point – and it happens with all these species – everyone just drops their head and says, ‘We can’t

save them in the wild’ – and that’s when this project comes into play.

“We’ll succeed,” says Hamilton without any shadow of a doubt. “We will get there.

We are succeeding with other species and we’re already publishing papers and putting techniques out there, so there’s certainly information already available that can be used. But I think everyone’s waiting for some of these more critical species to be solved.

“People don’t realise how many species on planet Earth are in programmes like this because we have failed in the wild. It’s about being ready, but no-one’s doing it for sharks.

You’ll never see this issue for panda because, well, it’s panda, right? We’ll do anything to stop losing them. But another shark species gone doesn’t really register with anybody.

That’s why the project is two-pronged – it’s awareness plus science. Because without empathy for the species, you’re not going to progress.The science will go only so far.”

If you love animals and nature, check out Wildlife TV this month on ice for documentaries such as Wild New Zealand, Nature’s Great Migrations and Seasonal Wonderlands.

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Essential news and information from Emirates Emirates Airline Dubai Jazz Festival

Inside Emirates

Route Map

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all a380 To manchesTer Manchester now boasts an all-A380 Emirates operation on its route to Dubai.

The replacement of the Boeing 777-300ER with the iconic double decker aircraft will see an 11 per cent capacity increase on the ever-popular route.

The airline has also swapped its current A380 service to Birmingham from the morning to the afternoon departure slot, offering customers even more connections beyond Dubai and ensuring a seamless ‘A380 to A380’ experience.

Manchester has been an important destination for Emirates over the last 25 years and the second route launched into the UK after London Gatwick. With 21 weekly flights, Emirates enables seamless connections to the airline’s global network of more than 150 destinations.

Emirates is also expecting to push through the symbolic mark of one million passengers carried on the route for this financial year.

Flight EK21 departs from Dubai at 3am and arrives in Manchester at 7am.The return flight EK22 departs from Manchester at 8.45am, with a 7.45pm arrival time in Dubai.

The adjusted A380 schedule to Birmingham sees flights EK37/38 replace EK39/40. EK38 leaves Birmingham at 8.45pm

and arrives in Dubai at 7.40am; while EK37 departs from Dubai at 2.50pm, arriving in Birmingham at 6.45pm.

Tom Jones, mariah carey and enrique iglesias in duBai A star-studded line-up has now been confirmed for the Emirates Airline Dubai Jazz Festival from February 22 to 24.

The 15th anniversary of the event will see living legend Sir Tom Jones headlining day one, Mariah Carey on day two, and the biggest Latin recording artist in music history, Enrique Iglesias, closing the event on February 24.

“At the heart of this mission is a goal to provide memorable and unique experiences for music fans all over the world,” says Anthony Younes, CEO of Chillout Productions, founders and organisers of the Emirates Airline Dubai Jazz Festival.

“With a line-up that features heavyweights such as Sir Tom Jones, Mariah Carey and Enrique Iglesias here to celebrate our 15th anniversary, we hope to establish the UAE and the

Emirates Airline Dubai Jazz Festival as impor tant destinations for outstanding live events,” he continued.

Any one of these artists would have been a coup, but there can’t be many events around the world where you can see all three share the same stage | 66 |

– and that’s certainly part of Chillout Productions’ mission statement.

As Younes explains, “We aim to provide something unique and memorable for our fans, old and new.”

For information on the complete line-up and to buy tickets visit dubaijazzfest.com

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The Emirates Group has published a report outlining the Group’s environmental performance for the financial year.

The repor t presents the Group’s environmental performance data and environmental sustainability initiatives.

“As our business grows, we are ever conscious that we have a responsibility to the communities we serve around the world,” said His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman and

Chief Executive, Emirates Airline & Group.

“Aviation and travel ser vices as an industr y can make a real contribution towards achieving the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. As we head towards 2017, agility will be the defining characteristic of our approach.”

Emirates operates one of the youngest aircraft fleets in the industry, with an average age of just 74 months compared with the industry average of 140 months.

A significant development has been

the installation of photovoltaic panels at the Emirates Engine Maintenance Centre in par tnership with Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), which will help save around 800 tonnes in carbon dioxide emissions annually.

Emirates also par tnered with United for Wildlife to help raise awareness about the devastating effects that illegal trade in wildlife is having on the survival of some of the planet’s most endangered animals.

‘A Greener Tomorrow’ winners Announced Emirates has selected three notfor-profit organisations working in wildlife protection and environmental conservation in Africa for vital funding under its ‘A Greener Tomorrow’ initiative.

Southern African Wildlife College Trust (SAWCT), Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB) and African Parks, were selected from a global pool of applicants working towards environmental sustainability and conservation in their respective regions.

‘A Greener Tomorrow’ is part of

Emirates’ commitment to sustainability and environmental conservation. It provides a share of up to US$150,000 in funding for organisations working innovatively to safeguard and improve their local environments.

“Sustainability and concern for the environment are part of our core values at Emirates and we constantly strive towards reducing the impact of our operations on the natural environment,” said Will Löfberg, Emirates Vice President of International, Government and Environment Affairs.

SAWCT has trained close to 15,000 | 68 |

students from 46 countries in natural resource management and conservation practices, while SANCCOB protects, treats and conserves sea birds and endangered species such as the African penguin.

African Parks tackles the long-term management of national parks and protected areas in partnership with governments to save wildlife, restore landscapes and ensure sustainable livelihoods for local communities.

The funds for the initiative are raised through internal recycling programmes within the Emirates Group.

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Bupa Cromwell Hospital, 164-178 Cromwell Road, London SW5 0TU Expect the exceptional.

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Big news for LittLe League BaseBaLL Emirates has partnered with the Los Angeles Dodgers to sponsor the Dubai Little League. Here’s what that means for the growth of the game in the UAE and beyond WORDs: Matt MOstyn

Hot on the heels of emirates’ recent sponsorship deal with Us baseball team the La dodgers comes a fresh announcement that should pique the interest of local and international sports fans alike. emirates and the dodgers are partnering to sponsor dubai Little League divisional teams, otherwise known as the dubai dodgers.

Dubai Little League is an all-volunteer league and operates with the intention of teaching its 500 players the fundamentals of baseball, while fostering a team environment that gives them the opportunity to practice the ar t of good spor tsmanship. For John Fekete, President of the Dubai Little League, the new deal is nothing less than a dream come true. “We have no better partners than the Los Angeles Dodgers and Emirates Airline to help us achieve our goals. We’re thrilled that our youth will have the opportunity to enhance their skills through the

mentorship of some of the most respected players in Major League Baseball – and we’re looking forward to more visits from the Los Angeles Dodgers along the way.”

This latest sponsorship deal underscores both the airline’s and the Los Angeles Dodger’s commitment to grassroots development of baseball in the UAE. Both par ties will provide financial suppor t, equipment and uniforms to nur ture the 500 players at the Dubai Little League – and their suppor t also ensures that Emirates Airline Little League Park’s fields and facilities will be kept in pristine condition.

The sponsorship will give Emirates onsite brand visibility and the ability to run various on-ground promotions – and the rebranding of the facility itself (now called Emirates Airline Dubai Little League Park) was heralded last month with a kids’ clinic run by the LA Dodgers. Attendees were rewarded with

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one on one instruction, autographs by some of the team’s players, as well as a friendly game to mark the occasion.

Sheikh Majid Al Mualla, Divisional Senior Vice President Commercial Operations Centre, remarked on the new commitment: “We see our par tnership with the LA Dodgers and this recent announcement as an oppor tunity to connect with baseball fans in our home, the UAE. Through our focused collaboration with the legendary LA Dodgers team, we are now able to develop baseball at the grassroots level through the Little League baseball teams.”

Sheikh Al Mualla also reiterated the airline’s continuing support for sports amongst youth in Dubai. “We hope for young players to enjoy the positive experience that the Dubai Little League and the spor t has, including the appreciation for the values of hard work, teamwork, discipline and fair play.

We also hope to capitalise on the LA Dodgers’ experience in extending player mentoring through clinics and other activities.”

Emirates’ international footprint as a supporter of sports and culture has grown considerably of late – and as a sport with deep roots in American culture, baseball always seemed a perfect fit for the Emirates brand. “This is a sport that unifies many communities across the US,” said Sir Tim Clark, President of Emirates Airline.

“The spirit of competition and fair play, the continuous drive to excel, and ability to foster a shared passion and connection with its fans – these are all values we share at Emirates.”

With the Dodgers’ history of recruiting the best players, personnel, and partners throughout the world, it’s no surprise that the organisation was interested in par tnering with Emirates. And with it being a world leader in par tnerships in sport and culture, this new deal will bolster the already significant global reach of the Dodgers’ brand.

For Dodgers Corporate Sponsorships Senior Vice President Michael Young, it’s an especially exciting oppor tunity, “We have

an incredibly large and loyal fan base throughout the US and into Latin America, Asia and beyond. We will work to introduce Emirates to millions of Americans who, at this point, are still relatively new to everything that this world-class airline and the amazing city of Dubai has to offer.”

Emirates’ par tnership with the Los Angeles Dodgers began in February, when it signed a five-year deal as the Official Airline Par tner of the six-time World Series Championship and 21-time National League pennant team. Under the agreement, Emirates will have home plate and foul pole signage, an Emirates hospitality lounge, in-game activations, occasional ceremonial first pitches and fan appreciation activities.

This new deal continues Emirates’ momentum in the realm of spor t, with the airline having already made its mark as a sponsor of some of the world’s premier football teams, including AC Milan, Real Madrid, Arsenal FC, Olympiacos FC, Hamburger SV, S.L Benfica and FC Paris Saint-Germain.

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D e s t i n a t i o n

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D E S T I N A T I O N

JOHANNESBURG As Emirates announces the deployment of an A380 service to Johannesburg, there’s never been a better time to visit South Africa’s largest city Johannesburg has everything you could want from a modern city, meaning that a contemporary restaurant culture, numerous shopping options and an eclectic nightlife awaits.

Even the weather is something of a draw, thanks to a subtropical highland climate that offers year-round sun, occasionally punctuated by some spectacular lightning storms.

Johannesburg has a rich and complicated history. Nelson Mandela studied law here, and there are numerous ways in which you can learn more about his incredible life and the country’s social struggles.

You’re in a good location if you’d like to book a safari tour. Kruger National Park is four hours away, but there are many closer parks worth visiting, too. If you’d rather something a little more relaxed, you can pick up a bargain at Rosebank Finders Keepers Market, or head to Ellis Park stadium to catch some rugby or football.

Finally, no mention of this city would be right without talking food.

Unsurprisingly, meat is the star of the show, so be sure to try South African classics like bredies (a local stew) and boboties (a meat and egg stew). We guarantee you’ll want to take the recipes home.

EAT

STAY

DO

TASHAS This popular brand goes from strength to strength, so you can still expect a queue, but the quality of the bistro-style food will leave you glad you waited.

Popular with families and those grabbing a simple but stylish bite to eat, there’s plenty to love, especially the Turkish eggs. tashascafe.com

SAXON HOTEL, VILLAS AND SPA History and culture aficionados will stop here purely on the basis that Nelson Mandela stayed at the property to finish his biography Long Walk To Freedom.

Beautiful, lush landscaped gardens combine with impeccably designed rooms to create a relaxing stay in the city. saxon.co.za

GET READY TO SPEND AT SANDTON CITY One of the most popular malls in the city, the luxury brand boutiques are a great draw for international tourists. Don’t fancy the mall trawl? Head there for a bite to eat or for a trip to the cinema instead. sandtoncity.com

CUBE TASTING KITCHEN Still considered one of the best restaurants in the city, Cube is the place for special occasions.

Expect 10 or more courses of cutting-edge dishes, but don’t forget to tour the wine cellar first and pick out your perfect bottle to accompany your meal. cubekitchen.co.za

54 ON BATH Exuding elegance, this boutique property is the ideal spot for tourists who love the convenience of a shopping mall on your doorstep. Ideal for visiting landmarks such as Nelson Mandela Square, Sandton City and Melrose Arch. tsogosun.com/54-on-bath

D6 DISTRICT SIX EATERY Authentic Cape Malay food can be found throughout the region, but few compare with the slow-cooked delights of this rustic gem. Curries, rotis and a fantastic milk tart, combined with the charm of owner Grace Fourie, have helped garner an army of fans. districtsixeatery.co.za

THE OASIS BOUTIQUE HOTEL Beautifully designed with traditional interiors, guests love the rain showers and comfortable beds. This property is hidden away in suburbia, but is an ideal launch pad for exploring Joburg and beyond. The pool is always a welcome sight after a long day of sightseeing. oasis.sa.com

REFLECT IN THE APARTHEID MUSEUM The Apartheid Museum houses a powerful and thought provoking example of South Africa’s struggle with race relations. Historians, filmmakers and designers have created a sobering, yet evocative sense of the coming to terms with the past while striving to move forward. apartheidmuseum.org FALL IN LOVE WITH LIONS An impressive 600 hectares of wilderness await, and you’re guaranteed to see some of the most magnificent animals on the planet. Lion cubs are a family favourite, while cheetahs and hyenas, alongside a wealth of game, will all leave a lasting impression. lionandsafaripark.com

EMIRATES STAFF TIPS Lauren Labuschagne AIRPORT SERVICES AGENT

GO CENTRAL

Head to Nelson Mandela Square for restaurants, bars, spectacular fountains, and the largerthan-life statue of the man himself.

Noko Hlabolwa CUSTOMER SERVICE AND SALES AGENT

GO DANCING

Dance the night away at Katzy’s in Rosebank, a popular Joburg suburb that has the best live bands in town.

EK761 will depart Dubai at 04.40am and arrive in Johannesburg at 10.55am. The return flight, EK762, will depart Johannesburg at 1.25pm and arrive in Dubai at 11.45pm.

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COMFORT IN THE AIR To help you arrive at your destination feeling relaxed and refreshed, Emirates has developed this collection of helpful travel tips.

Regardless of whether you need to rejuvenate for your holiday or be effective at achieving your goals on a business trip, these simple tips will help you enjoy your journey and time on board with Emirates today.

SMART TRAVELLER

DRINK PLENTY OF WATER Rehydrate with water or juices frequently. Drink tea and coffee in moderation.

TRAVEL LIGHTLY

WEAR GLASSES

USE SKIN MOISTURISER

KEEP MOVING

Carry only the essential items that you will need during your flight.

Cabin air is drier than normal, therefore swap your contact lenses for glasses.

Apply a good quality moisturiser to ensure your skin doesn’t dry out.

Exercise your lower legs and calf muscles.

This encourages blood flow.

BEFORE YOUR JOURNEY Consult your doctor before travelling if you have any medical concerns about making a long journey, or if you suffer from a respiratory or cardiovascular condition.

Plan for the destination – will you need any vaccinations or special medications?

Get a good night’s rest before the flight.

Eat lightly and sensibly.

AT THE AIRPORT

MAKE YOURSELF COMFORTABLE Loosen clothing, remove jacket and avoid anything pressing against your body.

DURING THE FLIGHT

Allow yourself plenty of time for check-in.

Avoid carrying heavy bags through the airport and onto the flight as this can place the body under considerable stress.

Once through to departures try and relax as much as possible.

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Chewing and swallowing will help equalise your ear pressure during ascent and descent.

Babies and young passengers may suffer more acutely with popping ears, therefore consider providing a dummy.

Get as comfortable as possible when resting and turn frequently.

Avoid sleeping for long periods in the same position.

SHARPS BOXES Sharps boxes are available on board all Emirates flights for safe disposal of medical equipment. Please ask a member of your cabin crew for more information.

WHEN YOU ARRIVE Try some light exercise, or read if you can’t sleep after arrival.

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Guide to us customs & immiGration Whether you’re travelling to, or through, the United States today, this simple guide to completing the US customs form will help to ensure that your journey is as hassle-free as possible.

CUSToMS DECLARATIoN FoRM All passengers arriving into the US need to complete a Customs Declaration Form. If you are travelling as a family this should be completed by one member only. The form must be completed in English, in capital letters, and must be signed where indicated.

ElEctronic SyStEm for travEl authoriSation (ESta) If you are an international traveller wishing to enter the United States under the Visa Waiver Programme, You must apply for electronic authorisation (ESTA) up to 72 hours prior to your departure.

ESta factS: Children and infants require an individual ESTA. The online ESTA system will inform you whether your application has been authorised, not authorised or if authorisation is pending.

A successful ESTA application is valid for two years. However, this may be revoked or will expire along with your passport. apply onlinE at www.cbp.gov/ESta nationalitiES EligiblE for thE viSa waivEr*: Andorra, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brunei, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Malta, Monaco, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom** * SubjEct to changE ** only britiSh citizEnS qualify undEr thE viSa waivEr programmE. | 76 |

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Cut the queue at JFK with quiCK ConneCt If you’re connecting through New York JFK, you can avoid long waiting times in US immigration and queues for connecting flights with the Quick Connect service. US Customs and Border Protection Agency created the special service for passengers who have a connecting flight within three hours of arrival at New York JFK.

Follow theSe StePS:

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2

3

4

have your boarding card or ticket for your connecting flight ready for the ground staff as you exit.

You’ll be given a Quick Connect card. Continue to the Quick Connect queue in the Arrivals hall.

After passport clearance, claim your baggage and clear US customs, regardless of your final destination.

If your bag is tagged to your final destination, hand it to emirates staff at the transfer counter for your onward flight.

quarantine in australia Australia has strict biosecurity laws, so when you arrive you’ll need to declare certain food, plant or animal items on your Incoming Passenger Card.

You also need to declare equipment or shoes used in rivers and lakes or with soil attached. All aircraft food must be left on board. Please take particular care when you complete your Incoming Passenger Card – it's a legal document and false declarations may result in a penalty.

quarantine in Japan Japan has strict rules around exposure to livestock and bringing in livestock items.

You will need to go to the Animal Quarantine Counter if: • you have recently been to a livestock farm • are bringing livestock products into Japan • your visit to Japan will involve contact with livestock the counter is in the baggage claim area. If you’re bringing meat and livestock products into Japan without an import certificate, you must see the animal quarantine officer. | 78 |

U A E

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G A T E

BE SMART! USE UAE SMART GATE AT DUBAI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

NATIONALITIES THAT CAN USE UAE SMART GATES

UAE

Andorra

Australia

Austria

Bahrain

Belgium

Brunei

Canada

Denmark

Finland

France

Germany

Greece

Iceland

Ireland

Italy

Japan

Kuwait

Liechtenstein

Luxembourg

Malaysia

Monaco

Netherlands

New Zealand

Norway

Oman

Portugal

Qatar

San Marino

Saudi Arabia

Singapore

South Korea

Spain

Sweden

Switzerland

*UK

USA

GO THROUGH IMMIGRATION IN SECONDS AND GET YOUR VISIT TO DUBAI OFF TO A FLYING START Citizens of the countries listed on the right and UAE residents can speed through Dubai International airport by using UAE Smart Gate.

If you hold a machine-readable passport or E-Gate card you can check in and out of the airport within seconds.

Just look out for signs that will direct you to the many UAE Smart Gates found on either side of the Immigration Hall at Dubai International airport.

USING UAE SMART GATE IS EASY

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Have your E-Gate card or machinereadable passport ready to be scanned

2

Place your passport photo page on the scanner. If you are a UAE resident, place your E-Gate card into the E-Gate slot

OK!

3

Go through the open gate, stand in the blue footprint guide on the floor, face the camera straight-on and stand still for your iris scan.

When finished, the next set of gates will open and you can continue to baggage claim

*UK citizens only (UK overseas citizens still require a visa)

REGISTERING FOR UAE SMART GATE IS EASY To register, just follow the above process and then spend a few moments having your details validated by an immigration officer. That’s it! Every time you fly to Dubai in future, you will be out of the airport and on your way just minutes after you landed. | 80 |

UAE SMART GATE CAN BE USED BY:

• Machine-readable passports from the above countries • E-Gate cards

R O U T E

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VIP ACCESS • RESORT STYLE AMENITIES • INTERIOR DESIGN BY DEBORA AGUIAR • HYDE STYLE SERVICES OUTDOOR THEATER & LOUNGE • POOL TERRACE & TENNIS CLUB • ORIGINAL WORKS OF CONTEMPORARY ART

HYDEBEACHHOUSE.COM ®

Related Realty & Key International Sales in collaboration with Fortune Development Sales

T +1 954.889.5787 Visit one of our sales offices:

75 SE 6th St, Ste. #101 Miami, FL 33131 2801 E Hallandale Beach Blvd, Hallandale Beach, FL 33009 USA

Oral representations cannot be relied upon as correctly stating representations of the developer. For correct representations, make reference to this brochure and the documents required by Section 718.503, Florida Statutes, to be furnished by a developer to a buyer or lessee. This offering is void where prohibited by law. Your eligibility for purchase will depend upon your state or territory of residency.

This Condominium is developed by PRH 4000 SOUTH OCEAN, LLC (“Developer”). This offering is made only by the Prospectus for the Condominium; no statement should be relied upon if not made in the Prospectus provided to you by the Developer. Developer expressly reserves the right to make modifications, revisions, and changes to the Condominium design and to amenities as the Developer deems desirable or necessary as a matter of code compliance, or otherwise. Developer, pursuant to license or marketing agreements with each, has a right to use the trade names, marks, and logos of: The Related Group, SBE Licensing, LLC and SBE Hotel Group, LLC, which licensors are not the Developer. HYDE® is the registered trademark of SBE Licensing, LLC. In the event the license to use HYDE® terminates, or is not renewed, HYDE can no longer be associated with the Condominium. Any art depicted or described may be exchanged for comparable art at the Developer’s discretion. Consult the Prospectus for all terms, conditions, specifications, and Unit dimensions. This condominium is not beachfront.Reproduction for private or commercial use is not authorized. 2015® PRH 4000 SOUTH OCEAN, LLC, unless otherwise noted, with all rights reserved.

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CORPORATE & COMMERCIAL LEGAL SERVICES LITIGATION, ARBITRATION & ADR BUSINESS SETUP & COMPANY REGISTRATION OFFSHORE & FREE ZONE COMPANY FORMATION INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY & E-COMMERCE LAWS BANKING, INSURANCE & MARITIME LAWS REAL ESTATE & CONSTRUCTION LAWS MEDICAL NEGLIGENCE DRAFTING & CONTRACT REVIEWS LEGAL TRANSLATION DEBT COLLECTION TRADEMARK & PATENT REGISTRATION PROTECTION & ENFORCEMENT

DUBAI

EMIRATES TOWERS 14th Floor, Sheikh Zayed Road P.O. Box: 9055, Dubai-UAE T+971 4 330 43 43 F +971 4 330 39 39

ABU DHABI

JABEL ALI

SHARJAH

INTERNET CITY

TEL: +971 2 639 44 46 auh@emiratesadvocates.com TEL: +971 6 572 86 66 shj@emiratesadvocates.com

TEL: +971 4 887 16 79 jafz@emiratesadvocates.com TEL: +971 4 390 08 20 dic@emiratesadvocates.com

RAS AL KHAIMAH

TEL: +971 7 204 67 19 rak@emiratesadvocates.com

UAE | SAUDI ARABIA | QATAR | BAHRAIN | KUWAIT | OMAN

EMIRATES FLEET

Our fleet of 261 aircraft includes 246 passenger aircraft and 15 SkyCargo aircraft

AIRBUS A380-800

This month:

2 arriving

2500+ 17% All Emirates A380 aircraft are fitted with Wi-Fi, Mobile Phone and Data Roaming services. 16 (17%) of the A380s are now equipped with Live Television, with more coming soon.

95 in fleet. Up to 489-615 passengers. Range of 15,000km. L 72.7m x W 79.8m

BOEING 777-300ER This month:

up to

2500+ 75% 97 (75%) of Emirates Boeing 777-300ERs are equipped with Live Television, Wi-Fi, Mobile Phone and Data Roaming services, with more coming soon.

129 in fleet. Up to 354-442 passengers. Range of 14,594km. L 73.9m x W 64.8m

BOEING 777-200LR 2500+ 90% 9 (90%) of Emirates Boeing 777-200LRs are equipped with Live Television, Wi-Fi, Mobile Phone and Data Roaming services, with more coming soon.

10 in fleet. Up to 266 passengers. Range of 17,446km. L 63.7m x W 64.8m

EMIRATES SKYCARGO

BOEING 777F

The most environmentally-friendly freighter operated today, with the lowest fuel burn of any comparably-sized cargo aircraft. Along with its wide main-deck cargo door which can accommodate oversized consignments, it is also capable of carrying up to 103 tonnes of cargo non-stop on 10-hour sector lengths.

13 in fleet. Range of 9,260km. L 63.7m x W 64.8m For more information: emirates.com/ourfleet | 88 |

1 arriving

CONNECTIVITY AND ENTERTAINMENT SERVICES AVAILABLE

# Live Television

Wi-Fi

Mobile Phone GSM

Data Roaming GPRS

Channels of inflight entertainment

BOEING 777-300 1500+

10 in fleet. Up to 364 passengers. Range of 11,029km. L 73.9m x W 60.9m

BOEING 777-200ER 1500+

1 in fleet. Up to 274 passengers. Range of 14,310km. L 63.7m x W 60.9m

AIRBUS A319 550+

1 in fleet. Up to 19 passengers. Range of 7,000km. L 33.84m x W 34.1m

The Emirates Executive Private Jet takes our exceptional service to the highest level to fly you personally around the world. Fly up to 19 guests in the utmost comfort of our customised A319 aircraft with the flexibility of private jet travel. Further information at emirates-executive.com

EMIRATES SKYCARGO

BOEING 747 ERF This aircraft is capable of carrying up to 117 tonnes. The deck-side cargo door, with a height of approximately three metres, allows the uplift of oversized shipments that cannot be accommodated in the belly-hold of passenger aircraft. The nose door allows the carriage of long pieces.

2 in fleet. Range of 9,204km. L 70.6m x W 64.4m Aircraft numbers accurate at the time of going to press | 89 |

K n o w l e d g e

destination rEBUILdInG THE ACroPoLIS

how a city works. this month: athens

It aimed to undo the damage done by a previous restoration attempt between 1898 – 1940, and Venetian bombing in the 17th century.

So far, 2,675 tons of stone have been restored, with 686 stones reassembled from fragments, 905 patched with new marble, and 186 re-carved.

It’s expected to be completed in 2020.

Source: Acropolis Museum

IllustratIons by ralph Mancao

rAndoM fACTS

The Acropolis Restoration Project began in 1975.

Europe’s hottest ever day occurred in Athens on 10 July, 1977 when temperatures reached 48 degrees Celsius.

Athens has 148 theatre stages, the most of any city in the world.

Source: Greek Tourist Board

On average, the Acropolis Museum attracts 1.3 million visitors a year, compared with 990,000 visitors to the actual Acropolis.

Source: BBC Weather

Source: Acropolis Museum

1

2

3

4

5

London 3 (1908, 1948, 2012)

Athens 3 (1896, 1906, 2004)

tokyo 2 (1964, 2020)

LA 2 (1932, 1984)

PAris 2 (1900, 1924)

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Source: IoC

SPORTING GLORY: SummeR OLYmPIcS hOST cITIeS