Tour to Swat-Fizaghat, Yakhtangay-Shangla September 2018

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The road from Malakand Top till Mingora is in good condition.
"A black top road with oncoming traffic, having trees on each side" what else a motorist wants on a sunny day.

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While going speedily through these surroundings; I was constantly recalling this old song
"GADDI JANDI AE CHALAANGA MARDI"

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Just after some km's we reached Timergara exit point, as we had to go Fiza ghat we kept moving straight on Kalam road.

Historic Churchill Picket on our way

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It was 5:15 pm when we reached Fiza ghat park. Since we were running out of time, our next move would be finding a good place to stay, make ourselves fresh and rush to Wedding Hall; where Zain is supposed to host his Wedding Reception.

In my opinion there are only 3 good hotels in Fiza ghat namely:
1. Burj ul Swat
2. Shelton Rezidor
3. Rock City Resort

Our search for room started with Burj ul Swat followed by Shelton Rezidor, River Green, Swat Hills and
Rock City Resort.
We decided to stay at Rock City Resort, as its compelling landscape did not allow us to search for another place.

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While Imran was busy in bargaining rates with Resort's staff, we had few clicks of us in the lawn .

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Finally we got the room and started to unpack our luggage, moreover handed over the clothes to staff for ironing. Meanwhile, Imran & Kamal were enjoying the scenery from balcony.

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After freshening ourselves, we left for Wedding Hall which was 10 to 15 km's away from our Resort.

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While returning from the Wedding Hall, we stopped at Hotel Relax Palace(Fiza Ghat bypass Road ) for tea.
(Fiza Ghat bypass road is under construction nowadays and few ice cream parlours and some nice hotels are also situated here).

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The tea was succeeded by a walk of 15 to 20 mins alongside the river bank, accompanied by breeze blowing through hairs and burbling of Swat river. Subsequent to walk, we cranked the engine and reached back to resort.

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And captured again some photographs before moving to bed:

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Next morning, we got up early, took shower and had breakfast in dining hall.
The Dining hall was decorated decently.

[rehankillbill]

Sharon bhai lovely narration with beautiful pics good going keep rolling

[sharondavid1]

Thanks for nice comments

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Following breakfast, we checked out and left for Yakhtangay.
A pic before check out:

After travelling for few Km's, we stopped in Khwazakhela bazaar to buy some fruits and cold drinks.

Some pictures of busy Khwazakhela Bazaar:

And then we found a shopkeeper who had displayed some stringent conditions for business

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Khawzakhela is also called "Centre of Swat"
From bazaar, the road splits into two; the right one leads to Shangla and the other one lands in Kalaam via Bahrain.

From this chowk, we kept right and after covering some km's had a stop at PSO for refueling .

The way this PSO station was nestled between the mountains, reminded me of the childhood memories.
Back in 1990's my city "Taxila" used to have similar landscaping as in the pic above. And there happened to be a fuel station which looked same as this one.

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From here onwards till Yakhtangay, I had been searching for an old fuel station with manual odometers so that I could take my picture with it and refresh some more childhood memories but haven't found any.

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Just before Shangla Top we found this recreational spot. Locals were bathing in the fresh water pond down the road that accumulates the dropping water from mountains.

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Moving Forward, just before Shangla Top we spotted a nice view point again and stopped there. From here, one can easily look down the hair pin bends of the road.

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After staying there for 15 mins, we headed to Yakhtangay.
As we reached there, I spotted a small hanging bridge. We parked our car alongside the road and all three of us had a walk on that bridge. As the water was flowing beneath the bridge, the view of the valley from that bridge was a real treat.

The view from bridge:

While I was busy capturing the pics above, Imran shot me!