MAYFAIR Palm Beach Resort, Gopalpur-on-Sea

One of the luxury properties of MAYFAIR Hotels & Resorts Ltd., the MAYFAIR Palm Beach Resort is located at Gopalpur-on-Sea in Odisha.

Gopalpur-on-Sea is a picturesque beach town of Odisha.

We started from Bhubaneswar in the morning by car and covered 165 kms via NH16 to reach the resort in Ganjam district. Our journey took us less than three hours.

With a faint sound of the sea in the background and well-maintained greenery, my first impression, when we entered the resort's premises, was that we had reached nature's lap!

 

In fact, I was so enamoured by the ambiance, that I had nearly forgotten to carry my laptop bag from my father's car!

We were greeted with welcome drinks at the arrival lounge.
After completing the process at the reception, we couldn't wait to explore.
It was interesting to learn about the history of the resort.

The walk to our room was pretty impressive with Memorabilia proudly displayed everywhere.

We greeted the framed photos of important dignitaries & past guests.

I was excited to see the sea-themed flooring. I imagined that I was walking on the sea-bed!
Do you know the sea has gifted a special present? A boat that had reached the resort during the 1999 SuperCyclone !

Stationary tortoises give company too!

Pretty mermaids, pirates and sea-stories depicted in the paintings on the walls, told their own story.

We stayed in a 'Deluxe Room' that was well-furnished.

It had an exclusive balcony.

I was filled with joy to see the verdant green lawn and the sea !

The sea-view was fabulous and I instantly decided that I had to go for my maiden sea-bath!
Later, I found that the resort has dedicated life-guards who accompany guests for the sea-adventure!

There is also a huge bath-tub in the spacious bathroom for those who would rather skip the above mentioned sea-bath!

The resort shop had interesting items for sale.
There are many recreation facilities- Games Room, Sauna, Gym, Spa, Swimming Pool etc.
However, the feedback that we got from some visitors was that the access time for all these can be increased so that the rooms can be open till late evening for the interested guests.
As the resort was full, last-minute plans of an appointment at the Spa didn't materialise.

There are fountains and a temple too!

I loved the tea-shop where the resort serves complimentary tea, cookies, and a spicy and tangy snack called Jhaal Mudhi.

Jhaal Mudhi tastes extra special with the aura of the sea! It's great to savour these goodies enjoying the sea's antics!

The food at the restaurant was yummy with a large number of dishes including traditional Odia dishes.  But, I would like the resort to regularly serve some Odia specialty desserts like Rasagola and Chhena Poda.

I interacted with a family that had driven down from Kolkata.

The food at dinner was great with fabulous Hindi movie songs. At first I thought audio-tape was playing. Then I saw a singer singing Bollywood songs in the next room!

When I requested that even I wish to sing, singer Dilip politely informed me that guests are not allowed to sing! But, as I was determined, he finally agreed to hand over the mike and I enthusiastically sang 3 songs on Karaoke!

Though the room was so comfortable, yet I woke up early to witness "Sunrise At Gopalpur-on-Sea".
The fantastic experience inspired me to write a poem.

The resort has a rich plantation with many plants and trees like Curry-leaves, Coconut, Banana etc. Fresh in-house produce is used in the kitchen!

The sustainability efforts are commendable. There is garbage segregation in the resort premises.

I felt everything about the resort was in total harmony and had been intelligently presented.

It is well-lit even at midnight.

Source: Mayfair Resorts

Many places of interest are in and around Gopalpur-on-Sea in Ganjam district of Odisha.
As we have visited many of these places, this visit was exclusively spent at the resort and at the welcoming beach.

We simply loved our two-days stay there!

I strongly recommend MAYFAIR Palm Beach Resort to all. Do plan your visit to Odisha India's Gopalpur-on-Sea soon.

More posts & pics are yet to be shared!

Disclaimer- MAYFAIR Palm Beach Resort sponsored one-day stay for us, while we paid for the second-day. This is an honest review. All views are my own.

E&O Residences, Kuala Lumpur

I visited Kuala Lumpur (KUL) to participate in the 14th Global Indian Festival recently and stayed at E&O Residences for the first two nights of my stay at KUL.

For the initial part of my trip, I wanted to stay near the Petronas Twin Towers and explore the city. I had researched a few KUL hotels including E&O Residences on Expedia. I started looking forward to my trip seeing the fabulous guest ratings.

E&O Residences is a landmark property located at No.1, Jalan Tengah, off Jalan Sultan Ismail, in a prime and prestigious neighbourhood in the Golden Triangle.

The check-in time starts at 3 PM. I had informed the hotel that I would require an early check-in. The 56 kms drive from the KUL airport to the hotel took me about one hour. 

Dalma Hotel, Bhubaneswar

The food belonging to the state of Odisha i.e. Odia cuisine is very nutritious and delicious.
Though we have it everyday at home, this weekend we tried out a popular restaurant named Dalma.
This hotel is named after a famous dish of Odisha- Dalma dish is prepared using Dal (Pulses- Arhar or Moong) along with vegetables and coconut.

Dalma restaurant has three branches in Bhubaneswar and also has branches in other cities like Delhi, Kolkata & Bengaluru. We visited the Unit-4, Madhusudan Nagar branch in Bhubaneswar.

Here is my post about Dalma Restaurant for www.askme.com

Dalma Hotel, Unit-4, Bhubaneswar

I was excited to find Saura Art on the walls leading to the restaurant. Saura Art is a beautiful tribal art of Odisha that depicts humans, animals and nature.

Hyatt Regency Kolkata Experience

We co-cordially invite you for an experiential tour of ‘Food & Beverage’ outletito join us in celebrating our inaugural Culinary Competition.

Kindly consider this as an official invitation for the ‘Hyatt Culinary Challenge’. 

An initiative conducted by Hyatt hotels to engage with people who are passionate about cooking.

The passionate foodie in me was very delighted to find the above email invitation last week. This was followed by a telephonic invitation too and I found myself with some other Bloggers and Social Media influencers in Hyatt Regency Kolkata. 

This was my second visit to Hyatt Regency Kolkata and unlike my first visit that was for a Software Conference, I got to spend more time this time.

We got to experience the Hyatt hospitality. The close-knit team made us feel very comfortable as they took us around for the experiential tour. We observed that apart from great food, Hyatt Regency Kolkata has aesthetic interiors. Needless to say, we went click-happy! 

It was amazing to find 80 labels of wine with the wine cellar on display!

I loved the Bakery section with so many pastries, cakes, fresh bread etc.

One section of the Bakery with yummy fare!