Day 1 (continued): 30 Dec / Afternoon and Evening at the resort
Sipping though the cool welcome drinks, we quickly completed the check in formalities at the reception and were briefed about the various facilities and the event timings for the next 2 days
The golf carts then took us along with our luggage to our respective tents
Tents lined up one beside the other . .
. . with a porch outside . .
. . and all modern facilities inside . .
. . and an all-wow view at the front with Mahanadi river gorge and hills in the backdrop
We freshened up and sat out in the porch enjoying the warmth of the afternoon sun along with the view
And he started what he does best, drawing up the landscape
It was almost quarter to 3 when we headed for the restaurant to break for lunch
The food quality and the unexpectedly high varieties in the buffet was a surprise, catering of Mayfair Bhubaneshwar instantly impressed us
Post lunch we headed back again for our tents
Life on the Mahanadi was beautiful
local villagers were controlling herds grazing on the grass field below, the resort is at a height from the river level during this time. We were told by the house keeping staff that this resort is operational for only 3 months a year when water levels are low
It was almost 5 pm, after some rest in the afternoon we came out hoping to get the complementary shallow water boat ride
We headed for the boating point . . .
. . . only to know that post 5pm boats do not ply and we have to wait until the next day. But the horizon post sunset was showing up some stunning colors
We headed for the archery zone and everyone of us tried our hands at it, starting with him who even found another willing guest from the resort as his guide
The beauty of the final tinge of orange, all while the pathway was lighted up was magical
The line up from tents from a distance lighted up during the blue hour looked like a necklace of pearls around the hill in the background
The resort looked beautiful lighted up in the evening
From 7-30 pm to 10-30 pm all the guests were cordially invited at the special new year cultural program hosted by the resort
A glimpse of the cultural show held
Since our little one was growing impatient we headed for dinner by 9 pm over an equally great buffet spread and they even took care of our special orders for the kid.
After dinner, a little warming up at the DJ dance floor where our kid danced out with few others, we headed back for the tents and called it a day. While we used AC during the day, during the evening and night we had to use the heaters that helped keep the tent cosy since it was cold outside.