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1/26/09 9:11:31 AM 9:11:31 1/26/09 1 l5.indd 2 Option FEB @DOTWNEWS February 2012 STYLE CENTRAL Designer living in Kuwait UGANDA UNTAMED Safaris without the crowds 24 HOURS: MADRID Home of tapas and flamenco SPEND IT Valentine’s Day getaways NORTHERN EXPOSURE Helsinki takes centre stage as it becomes World Design Capital 2012 INTERVIEW SUITE DREAMS CONNOISSEUR Gulf Craft’s Erwin Bamps Qasr Al Sarab Desert Resort Hot ticket to Hamburg 00 CoverFINAL.indd 2 30/01/2012 17:27 004_005_SHIFTED4MM_OP4.indd 2 PG 004_SHIFTED 4MM_OPPS4_CMYK 2/26/10 12:18 AM 004_005_SHIFTED4MM_OP4.indd 3 PG 005_SHIFTED 4MM_OPPS4_CMYK 2/26/10 12:18 AM 004_005_SHIFTED4MM_OP4.indd 3 PG 005_SHIFTED 4MM_OPPS4_CMYK 2/26/10 12:18 AM MarryMe_ADV_071_470x335_DPS_DotWNews.indd 1 25/05/11 18:11 MarryMe_ADV_071_470x335_DPS_DotWNews.indd 1 25/05/11 18:11 Your playground. For life. It is a fact that children will always express their unique personality through play. 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Ads.indd 3 28/11/2011 13:36 RCRiyadh hotel ad DOTW.pdf 1 1/29/12 5:53 PM ContentsFebruary 2012 On the cover 38 Helsinki creative The World Design Capital of 2012 celebrates the best creative talents from across Finland, says Andy Round 46 Style in Kuwait Designer stores, fashionable coffee shops and a very colourful hotel make Kuwait a great weekend escape, says Ulrike Lemmin-Woolfrey 54 Uganda safari Joe Mortimer goes off the beaten track in search of an authentic safari experience without the crowds in Murchison Falls National Park 61 Madrid: 24 Hours If time is short in Madrid, dedicate as much as you can to tapas and C flamenco, says Nicci Perides M Y CM MY CY CMY K 46 Bold and beautiful Kuwait makes an ideal escape for shopping, spas and indulgence 10-13 Contentscc.indd 10 30/01/2012 17:32 RCRiyadh hotel ad DOTW.pdf 1 1/29/12 5:53 PM C M Y CM MY CY CMY K cornucopia ilan_ocak2012.indd 1 1/18/12 4:58 PM ContentsFebruary 2012 70 In the news 18 Retrospective Shanghai welcomes in the Year of the Dragon 34 20 Europe Questions remain in wake of Costa Concordia disaster 22 Middle East & Africa Beach club set to open on ‘The World’ 26 Asia & Oceania Maldives escapes costly spa ban 30 Americas Luxury is all in the (personalised) details 34 Debut Hot hotels, chic boutiques and exclusive new resorts 36 Interview Gulf Craft COO Erwin Bamps on pirates and possessions 36 62 Insider 62 Diary Out and about this month? Don’t miss these events 64 Spend it Romantic breaks and intimate offers for Valentine’s Day 70 Suite dreams Believe your eyes at Qasr al Sarab Desert Resort 72 On the road Sometimes we’d rather keep our feet on the ground 74 Trends New travel and tourism concepts making headlines 78 Connoisseur Mary Gostelow picks three classic hotels in Hamburg 80 Album Amy McDonald, founder, Under A Tree spa consultancy 82 Final Word Hatem Chatter, The Leading Hotels of the World dotwnews.com February 2012 13 10-13 Contentscc.indd 13 30/01/2012 17:31 Letter from the Editor When a Whole city comes together Splitting her time between the stylish walls of the hotel missoni to celebrate a special occasion, the results are often Kuwait, the city’s designer malls and more than one choco-cafe, spectacular, and the chinese new year celebrations Ulrike found a destination where the absence of bars doesn’t in Hong Kong last month were certainly no excep- mean there is no fun to be had. Read her story on page 46. tion. Chinese New Year is celebrated all across the Last November I had the pleasure of being one of the passengers world each year with parades, decorations, and the aboard Qatar airways’ inaugural flight from Doha to Entebbe in exchange of gold or red ‘Lai See’ envelopes with a Uganda. There I spent an amazing week bumping along narrow small amount of money inside, but I was far more dusty roads in Uganda’s little-visited murchison Falls national interested in displays of the combustible kind. Park, where a handful of luxury safari lodges provide a tranquil The annual festivities in hong Kong are ranked base for some of the most unspoiled wildlife viewing in Africa. among the best in the world, with three days of public Whether you’re watching hippos wallow on the banks of the holidays that include a colourful parade of floats and nile with a cocktail in hand, or knee-deep in swamp looking for dancers and one of the best fireworks displays in the one of the country’s 10 (now 11) white rhino, Uganda is a laid- world. This year, I was at the heart of the action along back and intimate place to visit, one that I hope to revisit soon. with half a million others who turned up to watch the Read more about the journey on page 54. fireworks on January 24. Despite the unusually cold Back in Hong Kong, the city is preparing for the third day of weather, hundreds of thousands of people lined both festivities and joining hands once more as we go to press. I’ll sides of Victoria Harbour to watch the spellbinding shortly be toasting the year ahead at Sha Tin Racecourse for the 23-minute display, set to the photogenic backdrop of prestigious Chinese New Year Race Day. I haven’t checked the Hong Kong’s Central District (or Kowloon, depending papers yet, but the odds are, the Year of the Dragon is going to on which side of the harbour they were on). be a good one. Kung hei Fat choi – Happy Chinese New Year – The insipid drizzle dampened neither the fireworks from all of us at Destinations of the World News. nor the spirits, as most of Hong Kong turned out to join in the celebrations to herald the arrival of the year of the Dragon – an auspicious year according to the Chinese zodiac calendar – and the festivities continue as I pen this missive. Earlier in the month, helsinki had its own reasons Joe Mortimer to celebrate as it entered 2012, the year in which it Editor adopts the accolade of World Design capital. The [email protected] Finnish capital has a long relationship with all things cool (literally and figuratively) and this is the year in which it is given the recognition it deserves. Our man in Europe Andy Round set off to get the lowdown on what the year has in store for visitors, and spoke to some of the leading lights in Helsinki’s booming design scene. The celebrations are a city- wide effort, as galleries, boutiques, restaurants and even hotels ramp up their attempts to make 2012 the most creative year yet for the city (page 38). If Helsinki has joined imaginary hands to celebrate design, Kuwait city, it seems, has given a collec- tive nod to all things indulgent. Keen to dispel the Kung hei fat choi myth that all middle eastern cities except Dubai are The Cathay Pacific Chinese New Year business hubs and little more, Ulrike Lemin-Woolfrey Parade welcomes travelled to the tiny city-state of Kuwait for a girls’ in the Year of the weekend away. Dragon in Hong Kong 14 February 2012 dotwnews.com 14 Editors Letter.indd 14 30/01/2012 17:31 opening march 2012 Classic elegance in historic Kyiv Fairmont Hotels & Resorts offers our guests an extraordinary collection of iconic luxury properties around the world, including The Plaza in New York, The Savoy in London and Fairmont Peace Hotel in Shanghai.