“It's a dream come true,” said Filipina tourist Isabel Palijon, staring in wonder at a wooden pier framed by the turquoise waters of a Swiss lake and the towering Alps behind.
And she is not alone. Ever since the hugely popular South Korean series Crash Landing on You broadcast a romantic scene shot on this very spot, the picturesque village of Iseltwald has been overrun by Asian tourists.
The Netflix hit tells the unlikely story of a South Korean billionaire heiress who accidentally paraglides into the peninsula's demilitarised zone, crash-landing on to a chivalrous army officer serving North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
Several flashbacks in the show take place in Switzerland, including a riveting romantic scene on Iseltwald's wooden pier, where the male lead plays a beautiful piano melody that echoes across the water as the girl he will later fall in love with arrives by ferry from Interlaken.
“I wish someday someone would do that for me,” said Jiah Hni Gwee, 35, from Malaysia, looking longingly at the spot on the pier where the piano stood.
“It would be amazing and romantic.”
She was among dozens of tourists milling around the lakeside on a sunny day last week, as a large steamboat bearing a giant Swiss flag pulled up to the nearby dock, teeming with visitors.
The breathtaking scenery and the romantic setting have made the pier a must-see for so-called “Cloy” fans who make it to Europe.
The 16-part series started just as the Covid-19 pandemic began and became a must-watch in much of Asia during lockdowns.
A South Korean Culture Ministry survey found that it was the second-most popular K-drama show among foreign viewers in 2021 after Squid Game.
But its success has caused an unexpected headache for Iseltwald, especially since last year when travel restrictions were lifted across much of Asia.
“The numbers have exploded,” local tourism office manager Titia Weiland told AFP.
She said it was difficult to calculate how many Cloy tourists had come but estimated that “for every local person living here, it's been 1,000 visitors”.
She stressed that “almost everybody in Iseltwald – population 400 – is happy to have many tourists,” but acknowledged “it has been quite overwhelming”.
Last summer, up to 20 coaches began arriving each day, clogging traffic and sometimes blocking access to the village. And locals complain that fans typically rush to the pier for a picture before moving on, often leaving a mess but little money.
In a bid to deal with the influx, the municipality last month announced only pre-booked coaches that pay for reserved parking spots will be let in.
And it installed a turnstile at the pier, which tourists can pass for a “selfie fee” of five Swiss francs ($5.50).
Sonja Hornung, the manager of the Strand Hotel that overlooks the pier, said the measures had made a difference and her restaurant gives customers a turnstile token.
“Last year, it was terrible, (but) it has got much better,” she said, hailing the slot system that has dramatically reduced the number of coaches.
Some tourists, however, were a bit dismayed by the turnstile – and the price.
“Oh, five francs!” Florita Lichtensteiger, 64, a Filipina living in Switzerland, exclaimed as she showed up with several visiting relatives.
She grudgingly paid for them to go through, but did not follow, saying she had been here at least 10 times before. “All my guests want to see this place.”
“It's not worth it,” said Nayeon Park, 21, a tourist from South Korea.
Weiland insisted that the payment was needed for the upkeep of the pier, which had seen the number of people walking on it skyrocket.
“It has to be safe.”
Iseltwald “is like paradise on Earth,” she said. “We want to really try to keep it that way.”
Director: Jon Favreau
Starring: Donald Glover, Seth Rogen, John Oliver
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
RACE CARD AND SELECTIONS
5pm: Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 1,200m
5,30pm: Wathba Stallions Cup Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 1,200m
6pm: The President’s Cup Listed (TB) Dh380,000 1,400m
6.30pm: The President’s Cup Group One (PA) Dh2,500,000 2,200m
7pm: Arabian Triple Crown Listed (PA) Dh230,000 1,600m
7.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 1,400m
The National selections
5pm: RB Hot Spot
5.30pm: Dahess D’Arabie
6pm: Taamol
6.30pm: Rmmas
7pm: RB Seqondtonone
7.30pm: AF Mouthirah
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Available: Now
More on Quran memorisation:
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U19 WORLD CUP, WEST INDIES
UAE group fixtures (all in St Kitts)
Saturday 15 January: v Canada
Thursday 20 January: v England
Saturday 22 January: v Bangladesh
UAE squad
Alishan Sharafu (captain), Shival Bawa, Jash Giyanani, Sailles Jaishankar, Nilansh Keswani, Aayan Khan, Punya Mehra, Ali Naseer, Ronak Panoly, Dhruv Parashar, Vinayak Raghavan, Soorya Sathish, Aryansh Sharma, Adithya Shetty, Kai Smith
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THE BIO: Martin Van Almsick
Hometown: Cologne, Germany
Family: Wife Hanan Ahmed and their three children, Marrah (23), Tibijan (19), Amon (13)
Favourite dessert: Umm Ali with dark camel milk chocolate flakes
Favourite hobby: Football
Breakfast routine: a tall glass of camel milk
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Company profile
Date started: 2015
Founder: John Tsioris and Ioanna Angelidaki
Based: Dubai
Sector: Online grocery delivery
Staff: 200
Funding: Undisclosed, but investors include the Jabbar Internet Group and Venture Friends
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cylinder turbo
Power: 240hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 390Nm at 3,000rpm
Transmission: eight-speed auto
Price: from Dh122,745
On sale: now
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Moonfall
Director: Rolan Emmerich
Stars: Patrick Wilson, Halle Berry
Rating: 3/5
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The Details
Kabir Singh
Produced by: Cinestaan Studios, T-Series
Directed by: Sandeep Reddy Vanga
Starring: Shahid Kapoor, Kiara Advani, Suresh Oberoi, Soham Majumdar, Arjun Pahwa
Rating: 2.5/5
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
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Brief scoreline:
Liverpool 2
Keita 5', Firmino 26'
Porto 0
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
Racecard
5pm: Al Maha Stables – Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 (Turf) 1,600m
5.30pm: Wathba Stallions Cup – Maiden (PA) Dh70,000 (T) 1,600m
6pm: Emirates Fillies Classic – Prestige (PA) Dh100,000 (T) 1,600m
6.30pm: Emirates Colts Classic – Prestige (PA) Dh100,000 (T) 1,600m
7pm: The President’s Cup – Group 1 (PA) Dh2,500,000 (T) 2,200m
7.30pm: The President’s Cup – Listed (TB) Dh380,000 (T) 1,400m
Indoor cricket in a nutshell
Indoor Cricket World Cup – Sep 16-20, Insportz, Dubai
16 Indoor cricket matches are 16 overs per side
8 There are eight players per team
9 There have been nine Indoor Cricket World Cups for men. Australia have won every one.
5 Five runs are deducted from the score when a wickets falls
4 Batsmen bat in pairs, facing four overs per partnership
Scoring In indoor cricket, runs are scored by way of both physical and bonus runs. Physical runs are scored by both batsmen completing a run from one crease to the other. Bonus runs are scored when the ball hits a net in different zones, but only when at least one physical run is score.
Zones
A Front net, behind the striker and wicketkeeper: 0 runs
B Side nets, between the striker and halfway down the pitch: 1 run
C Side nets between halfway and the bowlers end: 2 runs
D Back net: 4 runs on the bounce, 6 runs on the full
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
'The Ice Road'
Director: Jonathan Hensleigh
Stars: Liam Neeson, Amber Midthunder, Laurence Fishburne
2/5
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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United States
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China
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3.
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UAE
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4.
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Japan
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5
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Norway
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Canada
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Singapore
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Australia
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Saudi Arabia
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South Korea
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More from Neighbourhood Watch:
Ain Dubai in numbers
126: The length in metres of the legs supporting the structure
1 football pitch: The length of each permanent spoke is longer than a professional soccer pitch
16 A380 Airbuses: The equivalent weight of the wheel rim.
9,000 tonnes: The amount of steel used to construct the project.
5 tonnes: The weight of each permanent spoke that is holding the wheel rim in place
192: The amount of cable wires used to create the wheel. They measure a distance of 2,4000km in total, the equivalent of the distance between Dubai and Cairo.
EXPATS
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UAE v Zimbabwe A, 50 over series
Fixtures
Thursday, Nov 9 - 9.30am, ICC Academy, Dubai
Saturday, Nov 11 – 9.30am, ICC Academy, Dubai
Monday, Nov 13 – 2pm, Dubai International Stadium
Thursday, Nov 16 – 2pm, ICC Academy, Dubai
Saturday, Nov 18 – 9.30am, ICC Academy, Dubai
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
