Last year, I took five days’ leave and checked into a famous Swiss spa, Clinique La Prairie on Lake Geneva. The spa had come highly recommended for years, but, since I was mostly fit and healthy throughout my 30s, I was almost waiting for an opportunity to make the most of it. So it was that I braved an overnight economy flight from Abu Dhabi to Geneva, to make sure that I felt the full effect.
I’d booked onto a five-day “Master Detox” programme, the details of which will come in the next issue of The National’s luxury travel magazine, Ultratravel, next month. But there were 10 things which struck me as being immediately pertinent:
1. There's a reason the Swiss have a reputation for diplomacy. From hotel staffing to medical diagnosis, they had a delightfully light touch compared to spas in France, Germany or Eastern Europe.
2. What is normal to us in the Gulf is unbelievable to Europeans. I'm talking about eating and exercise habits.
3. Restaurant and takeaway food is covered in fat. Until you eat healthily, which you most certainly do at La Prairie, you don't always notice that most of the food we are served in restaurants and takeaways is literally covered in fat. This has a frighteningly cumulative effect.
4. We are creatures of habit. When you are there with a group of other spa-goers, you don't want to over-indulge in bad stuff. Often, apparently, you eat the wrong things because your body is lacking something else. When you eat a perfectly balanced healthy meal, you don't have these cravings.
5. It's better to find out about the state of your health than worry about it for no reason or leave it too late. If like me you don't go to the doctor and hate blood tests, the worries start to surface after a while. Go for a full MOT to get a clear picture, so you can focus on what needs changing. I found out I had high cholesterol, but other results were more positive.
6. Take your own pillows. It always surprises me that places can go to so much effort to provide luxury, but fall down on the basics. This spa was no exception, and next time I would take my own pillow.
7. Forty is still young. I was told I was "much too young" for the spa's most popular programme, which involves cellular therapy. I was almost a decade under the average client age. Satisfying.
8. Cheap really is expensive. Unless you're very active, eating cheap food is a false economy. It costs from €7,000 (Dh35,000) a week to check-in here.
9. Advanced medical testing is now mostly painless and offers almost immediate results. An electronic heavy metals screening can tell you in seconds if you've ingested too much mercury from your fillings, silver or gold from your jewellery or aluminium from tinned food and cheap pots and pans. Most of us have high levels of aluminium: liquid artichoke can help to rid the system of such toxins.
10. Liquid artichoke tastes disgusting.
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Read more:
Is Instagram 'sucking the life and soul' out of travel?
On the move: modern air safety is a wonder in our fractured world
On the move: how to book a holiday
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Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
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The biog
Favourite colour: Brown
Favourite Movie: Resident Evil
Hobbies: Painting, Cooking, Imitating Voices
Favourite food: Pizza
Trivia: Was the voice of three characters in the Emirati animation, Shaabiyat Al Cartoon
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Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
- Join parent networks
- Look beyond school fees
- Keep an open mind
The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
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Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
FULL%20FIGHT%20CARD
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Pox that threatens the Middle East's native species
Camelpox
Caused by a virus related to the one that causes human smallpox, camelpox typically causes fever, swelling of lymph nodes and skin lesions in camels aged over three, but the animal usually recovers after a month or so. Younger animals may develop a more acute form that causes internal lesions and diarrhoea, and is often fatal, especially when secondary infections result. It is found across the Middle East as well as in parts of Asia, Africa, Russia and India.
Falconpox
Falconpox can cause a variety of types of lesions, which can affect, for example, the eyelids, feet and the areas above and below the beak. It is a problem among captive falcons and is one of many types of avian pox or avipox diseases that together affect dozens of bird species across the world. Among the other forms are pigeonpox, turkeypox, starlingpox and canarypox. Avipox viruses are spread by mosquitoes and direct bird-to-bird contact.
Houbarapox
Houbarapox is, like falconpox, one of the many forms of avipox diseases. It exists in various forms, with a type that causes skin lesions being least likely to result in death. Other forms cause more severe lesions, including internal lesions, and are more likely to kill the bird, often because secondary infections develop. This summer the CVRL reported an outbreak of pox in houbaras after rains in spring led to an increase in mosquito numbers.
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Founders: Abdulmajeed Alsukhan, Turki Bin Zarah and Abdulmohsen Albabtain.
Based: Riyadh
Offices: UAE, Vietnam and Germany
Founded: September, 2020
Number of employees: 70
Sector: FinTech, online payment solutions
Funding to date: $116m in two funding rounds
Investors: Checkout.com, Impact46, Vision Ventures, Wealth Well, Seedra, Khwarizmi, Hala Ventures, Nama Ventures and family offices