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Shangri-La Abu Dhabi Will Have Arabic Gondolas

Go To The Hotel's Web Site Where: Qaryat Al Beri, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
March 26, 2009 at 1:26 PM | by | Comments (0)

Prior to these last couple years of explosive construction in the United Arab Emirates, we had only thought of Abu Dhabi as the mystical location where Garfield would ship Odie the dog when he was being especially annoying. Now, thanks to the proliferation of grandiose hotels in the area, it's somewhere to which we'd gladly ship ourselves, especially since the Shangri-La Abu Dhabi is about to get a sister with a Traders Hotel next door.

Due to open later this year with 301 guest rooms and suites, the Traders (under the Shangri-La umbrella of hotels) is a small step down from the over-the-top opulence and high pricing of the Shangri-La, but it will nonetheless have access to all of the complex's amenities.

To reach any of the Qaryat Al Beri attractions, which include an Arabic souk, numerous swimming pools, CHI Spa at Shangri-La and Chinese, Vietnamese and French restaurants, you'll have to hop into either a club car or a short abra (Arabic gondola) for a ride on the waterway. Reminds you of Vegas' Venetian Hotel, doesn't it?

So long as they don't force the gondoliers to sing and take our picture for tips, then we're totally cool with gondolas appearing outside of Venice and Vegas, especially if they're to be used as actual transportation.

[Photo: Shangri-La Hotels]

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