How would you describe someone who refuses your offer of friendship?
I call them...
Sombong / Conceited
I can't think of any better word. Can you?
Sunflower gives the connotation of cheerfulness, bright, jolly, merry... you get the idea! However, if any content in this blog didn't fit the cheerfulness implied by its name, look at it this way... I'm putting down all the wretchedness, gloom, melancholy feeling in here so I can continue living up to the expectation of making the association to the sunflower.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Umrah Trip: The Ka'abah
Here are some photos of the Ka'abah.
The Ka'abah at Night.
Pancuran Emas
Near Makam Ibrahim
The Ka'abah Kiswah Up Close.
The Ka'abah at Night.
Pancuran Emas
Near Makam Ibrahim
The Ka'abah Kiswah Up Close.
Umrah Trip: The Construction and Demolition
The Masjidil Haram is undergoing major construction work. From our hotel, we can access the mosque through Marwah gate where the area is undergoing heavy construction.
On the way to the mosque.
From the mosque to hotel.
Now you see...
Now you almost don't...
Now it's gone...
In front of our hotel... waiting it's time.
The view as we're getting out from Masjidil Haram Marwah Gate.
Crossing the road to get to our hotel.
Soon there will be tall buildings surrounding Masjidil Haram.
On the way to the mosque.
From the mosque to hotel.
Now you see...
Now you almost don't...
Now it's gone...
In front of our hotel... waiting it's time.
The view as we're getting out from Masjidil Haram Marwah Gate.
Crossing the road to get to our hotel.
Soon there will be tall buildings surrounding Masjidil Haram.
Umrah Trip - Part 3
13 April 09 - Monday
After Subuh, we walked around the mosque. We didn't have any towels in our Madinah hotel and even here. I brought two hand towels and a face towel which we use to dry ourselves. We've walked around many shops in Madinah but couldn't find any shop selling towel. Here in Mekah there were many "Kullu Shay'in Maujud" shops which means they sell everything or "Macam-macam ada!" So we found one shop that sells a towel for 10 riyal and 2 for 18 riyal. I'm so glad now we have bigger towels to dry ourselves. It is so difficult to dry my hair with little towels.
We walked along the perimeter of the mosque thinking we would reach our hotel area but the further we walked, we saw people going to the opposite direction in their ihram clothes. So maybe the mosque perimeter were not joint together. Then we saw a tunnel right up ahead. We were tired but it didn't seem like a good idea to walk further after seeing the tunnel so we headed back the way we came. Sigh! Tired! When we reached our hotel area and saw the tunnel from this side, hubby said if we walk further we'd reach here. We just have no confidence with our logic. I told him logically in Malaysia people don't walk in the road tunnel... that's why we turn back. Who would have thought otherwise in Mekah hehehe... By the time we reached hotel for breakfast, they were not many people anymore. So we ate, rest and I washed some of our clothes. Luckily I also brought some hanger and extra soaps. There's no towel, no hanger, no wardrobe, no soap in our hotel room. I can hear hubby's voice asking why I bring so many things as if the hotel did not provide some of those things whenever I packed for our traveling trips and this time luckily I did. Except for the towel of course.
After Zohor, we wore our Ihram. Immediately after performing our Asar prayer, a group of us took a van to go to Tan'eim for Miqat Umrah. We reached Masjidil Haram about an hour before azan Maghrib so we managed to complete our Tawaf by Maghrib time. After Maghrib prayer, we continued with Saie. I probably were too tired with all the traveling and walking. This time Saie was really a challenge for me. I even asked hubby to stop for a while. Towards the last round, we heard the azan Isya'. We stopped and pray with the jamaah along the way. I was shaking and feeling feverish when we're performing the Isya' prayer.
We both do leg massage for each other when we reached hotel room, after taking our dinner. We slept early that night. I woke up at 1:30 a.m. not feeling very good. I went to the toilet, took my flu medication and go back to sleep. Hubby said my body felt hot but I can't take any Panadol so I hope I can sleep it off.
14 April 09 - Tuesday
Jabal Thur.
I felt weak so hubby went to the mosque alone for Subuh prayer. Hubby return with some medication for muscle pain. We came down for breakfast together and waited at the lobby by 7 a.m. for ziarah. Our first stop is Jabal Thur, the place where Prophet s.a.w and Saidina Abu Bakar seek refuge from the Quraisy on their way to Madinah. Our next stop is Padang Arafah and Jabal Rahmah, the place where Adam and Hawa met after being sent on earth. Singles can pray here for a life partner and couples can pray here for happiness and ever after. We prayed here together. I was thinking of taking a camel ride on the nicely decorated camel with hubby and taking photos together. It would surely be romantic but we were warned by our coordinator not to ride the camels as the ride was only 5 riyal but the guide carrying polaroid on their neck would be taking photos without our permission and charged us 10 riyal for each photos. You could end up having to pay 100 riyal for the ride. So common sense prevail. Too bad those guide thoughts conning people can sustain their business. Hubby must have felt very relief with our coordinators warning. He's not so keen with the idea when I first mentioned it.
Jabal Rahmah in Arafah.
After Miqat in Ja'aranah
Next, we passed by Muzdalifah and Mina, the place where Siti Khadijah was buried, Masjid Jin, Jabal Nur and stopped at Ja'aranah for Miqat. Hubby and I did not don our ihram. I was feeling feverish in the bus, luckily I brought my shawl. I lie down when we reached hotel, hubby went out looking for Cold and Flu Panadol. I remember a doctor prescribed me a similar medication saying the cold and flu potion in the tablet would counter effect the aspirin potion which would cause allergy to me. I can't remember if it works or not but it is worth the try. By lunch time, my eyes were swollen. Noticeable but not too bad. It means I can't continue with the medication. Hubby went to the mosque for Zohor prayer alone.
Mina.
I can't continue like this. So I tried going to the mosque before Asar and told hubby I'd like to stay till Isya'. That way I won't have to make so many trips back and forth under the hot sun and the dry weather. After prayer, we sit together reading the Qur'an or just resting in the mosque. My body still needed it rest as I feel like I need to lie down badly. So I told hubby I'm going to the ladies section to sleep. A Turkish lady gave me her sejadah folded as pillow. I slept till about 6:30 p.m. I took ablution at a quiet corner near a pillar with a cup of zamzam water. I clean the water on the floor with my tissue paper and I felt more refreshed after that. After Isya', we returned to the hotel for dinner. Someone asked if I was OK. Obviously not. I don't have appetite for dinner. Just some bread. We sleep early that night.
15 April 09 - Wednesday
We went to the mosque for Subuh prayer. Breakfast tasted bitter. Hubby went to Tan'eim after breakfast to perform Umrah. I did not follow him. I felt much better afterwards that I managed to wash some clothes. When hubby returned, I felt better and hungry but things I ate tasted bitter. We went to a shop nearby our hotel and shared a sandwich. After that we went to our hotel dining place and drink lots and lots of orange juice. We missed going to the mosque for Zohor prayer so we prayed together in the room. We went earlier to the mosque for Asar and intends to stay till Isya'. I put some dates in my bag and hubby's bag. We performed Tawaf sunat and slept early after dinner.
Hubby said I'll surely put on weight since we slept after meal most of the time. Lunch is after Zohor and we normally lie down for a while before Asar prayer. Dinner is after Isya' and if we didn't walk around to shop or stayed late in the mosque, we would have slept early too. I disagree since we were doing a lot of walking that would have burned up all those calories.
16 April 2009 - Thursday
We went to the mosque early for Subuh and went to Tan'eim at 6:30 a.m. to perform our Umrah. This time Alhamdulillah everything went well. In all our Umrah, hubby would guide me through the throngs of people and when they were so many men around, he'd put me in front while he walked at the back. My shy hubby, who is not romantic at all when we're in public, who if gotten his way wouldn't even want to have our wedding photos taken, who wouldn't hold hands so most of the time I have to hold his arm instead, asked if I still have my wudhu' and if I would like to perform any solat after Saie. I said No and wondered why he asked such question. He said he'd like to hold my hand :) So we hold hands while we're doing our Saie rounds whenever we perform Umrah together and when he don't have to run in small steps.
Saie
This time after Asar we can't stay till Isya' because there's a kuliyyah at our hotel. We stayed at the mosque for Maghrib and Isya'. This time I encounter the 4 Malaysian ladies. As we were about to pray, there's a gap in the saf. The lady next to me is sitting on a chair so instead of asking her to move, I asked the Malaysian ladies to come nearer to the left of the saf. They smile and wouldn't even budge. I was surprise with the attitude. For Isya', a more elderly foreign lady took the initiative to fill in the gap and asked me to go nearer to the Malaysian ladies. I have no problem with that. Maybe the Malaysian ladies refuse to move because it is to the left of the saf.
17 April 2009 - Friday
I encounter the 4 Malaysian ladies again during Subuh prayer. This time I sit behind them. I saw a gap in the saf and they refuse to move even this time it is to the right. So it is not the direction of the saf that makes them refuse to move. They just refuse to move. Period. For what reason, I have no idea. Hubby go to Tan'eim alone after breakfast. I did not follow him. I wanted to wash some clothes and went in front of Kaabah to pray. While performing Umrah, I can't really sit for a long time in front of the Kaabah. We would perform the Umrah and tahallul quickly to avoid doing any mistakes that would cause Dam (being fined). Hubby SMS saying he's at the hotel lobby and can't get into our room because the key's with me.
I quickly return to our hotel room and this time we went to the mosque early since Friday is a very packed time. We left at 11:15 and even then the mosque was already crowded. A lady with a cranky baby sit beside me. He played with my toes and bag. I just let him. His mother offered me biscuit but I decline preferring not to eat anything before solat. We had a good lunch afterward at the hotel. After Asar we went to Tawaf Kedai :) I'm not a good shopper and hubby's not so sure of clothes sizes so we ended up buying some perfume, sejadah and kopiah. The plan to buy jubah for his male siblings abandoned. The plan to buy tudung for his female siblings also abandoned. The designed he showed me, is out of date even for a person who didn't keep track of tudung fashion like me knows that. The design I show, he said not his sister's style. So no tudung either. We are the only members in our group whose bags did not have children and grand children. Other group members came with a small bag but return with big luggage bags bought here.
Hubby's too tired to walk some more. Probably because he performed Umrah in the morning. So I said enough with shopping. It is not our main purpose. Too bad if they don't like our gifts. Hubby saw people coming our way with ice cream in their hands. I didn't really notice as I was still looking at the shops as we were walking back. Then we tracked the ice-cream shop and have an ice-cream and lemon juice. Yummyyy... a real treat in the hot weather.
The yummy ice-cream.
After Isya' we discover the TV in our room actually worked. One of the cable was not properly connected. At least we won't feel asleep immediately after meal. I thought watching news channel would be a good idea since we've been cut out from the world during our trip. We have no idea what's happening in our country and the world. But hubby started admiring the newscaster so I changed to the movie channel :)
18 April 2009 - Saturday
Today I went to Tan'eim with hubby. Our driver is slow by an Arab standard and he followed the inner route to get to Tan'eim. Our Umrah went well and we went to the mosque for prayer as usual. I go to a different section as I don't want to meet the 4 Malaysian ladies. We had kebab after Asar prayer, and went to the dining area for some bread. Isy... makan, makan, makan.
We performed Tawaf sunat after Isya' and sleep early after dinner. I'm too sleepy to watch TV.
19 April 2009 - Sunday
Hudaibiyah old and new mosque.
After Subuh, we waited half an hour for our bus. Today we're going to the camel farm on the way to Hudaibiyah. Hubby and I shared a bottle of fresh camel milk which tasted OK but I don't fancy drinking another bottle. Look at the angry camel in the video below. Our guide also said it's good to slather the froth of the camel milk onto our face so all the ladies are quick to do so. Hubby commented if Ustaz say camel dung is good for our face we would also put it on our face hehehe... My face smelled like milk but it's OK I'm going to wash it off when I take wudhu' at our next stop.
We don our ihram at the Hudaibiyah mosque. The new mosque actually. The old mosque where the Hudaibiyah agreement was said to take place was just next to it. Can you imagine there's something left of it after hundreds of years? More than 10 centuries actually. I'm awed. Our next stop is the Ka'abah museum. We've been granted permission to enter the museum at 10 a.m. We came earlier but waited in the bus and I fell asleep for a while before I heard the angry voices of our bus driver who also switched off the aircon of the bus when he gets down. He's fuming because we're not allowed to enter even when they were only one other bus there. Hehehe... we Malaysians just waited patiently. Not the Arabs. We managed to get inside about 15 minutes earlier probably thanks to our bus driver. There were many pictures and artifacts related to the Ka'abah on display here.
The Ka'abah Museum.
We reached hotel at about 10:30 for us to freshen up and take wudhu' and immediately went to the mosque for our Umrah. This is probably the last Umrah we can do in this trip. I'm sad and really, really prayed I'll be given the opportunity to visit the Masjidil Haramain (the two Masjidil Haram) in future. During our Kuliyyah, our ustaz told the story of when Prophet Ibrahim a.s finished constructing the Ka'abah, he's instructed by God to call on to His ummat to come and visit Ka'abah. Ibrahim a.s. called to all Muslimin with the Talbiyah while standing on Jabal Abi Qubais. It's heard by everyone including our Ruh. If we replied once, we will visit Ka'abah once. If we replied twice, we would be able to reach the Tanah Haram twice and so on. The Ustaz said we were so lucky to have been able to come to Tanah Haram as Allah's guest. I feel so too and I really wish to be able to come here again. Our Umrah was completed in time for Zuhur prayer.
After Asar, we went to have an ice-cream treat :) Then I saw an old Malay men looking very confused. He's wearing Rayha tag and when I asked what is he looking for, he said he'd like to go to a hotel calledMakkatul Mawaddah Mukarramah where there's a red and green bus waiting to go to Tan'eim. We're not sure about the hotel but we have seen people with Rayha tag around our hotel. So we told him it's probably just around the corner coz many buses waited there. After the ice-cream, I said to hubby why don't we see if the old man found his bus or anybody with Rayha tag around. We walked quite far but couldn't see the old man. He must have walked really fast. When we asked our hotel if they know where is the hotel we mentioned, they said it has been demolished. Yes there are many hotels being demolished just across the road from our hotel. The old man is really a mystery to me. I hope he found his bus. I can't exactly remember his face but he looked really old with glazed eyes and wore a baju melayu with a blue pelikat just like one of hubby's. I can't seem to get him out of my mind. I kept thinking we should have followed him instead of just show him.
But we also have to rush back to hotel after that for a taklimat about going back. We reached the taklimat area 5 minutes late. We had tea after the taklimat, continue packing and went to the mosque for Maghrib and Isya' prayer. We return to the hotel right after Isya' for dinner thinking we would like to go to the mosque again to perform Tawaf sunat but once we returned to the room and I finished packing at almost 11 p.m., we're too sleepy to go back to the mosque.
20 April 2009 - Monday
We wake up early at about 3:45 a.m. We still have to pack items that we have used last night and this morning. We reached the mosque just in time for Subuh prayer. We return to hotel for breakfast, packed some more and bring our luggage down to the hotel lobby, went to the mosque to perform Tawaf Wida' and return to hotel to wait for our bus. Everyone helped carry all the bags near to the bus. The driver is having a hard time putting everything in. I have no idea other people bought so many things and there are bundles and bundles of things.
Only some of our group's bags
We begin our journey to Jeddah at 8:30 a.m., half an hour before the hotel right in front of our hotel is to be demolished. We have a quick pack lunch at Laut Merah seaside and I bought some fresh dates and nuts from an Indonesian lady. The workers are quick to come with dustbins and they got to keep the extra fruits and packet drinks we brought. They look so happy. Actually, it's not even lunch time. Only about 11 a.m. but we're so hungry already. Our coordinators give interesting info about places we passed by every time we got onto the bus. I have to commend them for that.
We reached Jeddah airpot not long after that and everyone helps unload the luggage and zam-zam water. We make sure all the bags have our tag so its easier to recognize. Our Ustaz said it's OK to carry water in hand-luggage in Jeddah flight but not a good idea to carry it in our cabin-luggage. So we dig out our water bottles and carry it in our hand luggage. Some carry extra zam-zam water, some even bring camel milk back. I asked Ustaz if it would be OK to carry water when we reached Bahrain? He said there should be no problem. The bag scanning terminal was gone when we're waiting to check in our luggage. So probably it is OK even if we did not take the water bottles out.
We have to wait for almost 4 hours for our flight so we have enough time to perform Jamak Zohor and Asar prayer. We have to enter the airport shop to get to the surau. One member from our group said brilliant marketing strategy. But not so brilliant surau. How I longed for the many comfortable surau in our Bolehland. Hubby pulled out his laptop and with a wifi from a Bakery Shop, started working already. I also managed to browse my email for any important email. Seems like all can wait so I browse the local news since we have no idea what has happened in the country for the past 12 days. Nothing much has changed it seems. We're hungry again by now but we only have 16 riyal left and changing currency now is not a good idea. I browsed the eateries and discover we can buy 1 meal that cost 15 riyal which we can share. If they have taxes then we may not have enough money to pay. It felt so funny actually. Hubby's still working on his laptop and suddenly he can't make phone calls from his handphone as it was barred. We go online to check the bills, there is some outstanding amount but not too much so the time got nearer to boarding time as he tried to resolve the problem. We ate the fruits and drinks we brought so we're kinda full and did not bother buying any meals after that.
I got seat 22A and hubby's 44K. I managed to change seat for hubby with a Japanese guy who traveled alone. Then a Malay guy told me he just changed seat with that Japanese guy and now I asked the Japanese guy to change seat again. Thank God he's not angry. As our plane is landing, the pilot make announcements about the restrictions about carrying water in our hand luggage. I was like... Oh no! Now what! I don't mind throwing away plain water but this is zam-zam water in the 1.5 litres water bottle. We have two smaller bottles but we can finish it off while we waited for our next flight.
The Bahrain airport was very packed. Just like when we arrive, praying at the crowded surau was a real challenge. While waiting for our flight, we still have 16 riyal left. I was wondering what could we buy in Bahrain with 16 Riyal? My body immune system can't tolerate airport and plane very well. I was fine in the morning but sniffing with stuffed nose in the airport. No amount of balm or clarityn can resolve the problem. So since I'm running out of tissue, I said to hubby I'm going to buy some tissue paper. I saw a packet of tissue cost 0.20 Bahrain Dinnar. I took 3 packets. It's a long flight and I don't want to blow my nose on my tudung or my new jubah :) That's the most expensive tissue paper I've ever bought. I paid 6 riyal for the 3 packets.
The most expensive tissue packet.
We saw a group of Bangladeshi's lining up probably entering Bahrain on a working visa. Hubby commented how they have the buying power as we saw them carrying plastic bags bearing the logo of Bahrain airport. When I brought the tissue paper back to where hubby's sitting I said to him normally expensive items come in small packet right? So I also have the buying power because I carry a small plastic bag which must carry a small 'expensive' item hehehe...
It turned out we don't have to worry about our liquid in the hand-luggage. They didn't say anything about it when our hand luggage were scanned. I have no problem with the body checks too. Hubby has to take off his shoes and belt. Hubby said lucky he didn't have to take off more than that :) It turned out the boarding area were so packed. They shouldn't have announced for everyone to start boarding as if the plane is about to leave already. Our ticket showed we got seat 35H and 35J. I don't want to sit separately from hubby on an 8 hours flight but it turned out we're seating next to each other. We board a Boeing 777 at 8:40 p.m. and we ooohh... and aaahhh... when looking at the business class fancy designed seat. Seat no. 35 is not that very far back either. I'm glad we can fly back in a more comfortable flight. This time the Gulf air stewardess look friendlier and are more efficient in clearing up after meal. I dozed off while hubby still watch a movie.
21 April 2009 - Tuesday
Hubby woke me up for Subuh prayer in the flight. We reached KLIA at 9:15 a.m. Malaysian time, half an hour earlier than scheduled. As instructed by our Ustaz, we collect all the luggage that has our group tag irregardless of who it belongs to, including all the zam-zam water, and then he'll distribute the water to everyone. None of us lost a bag or did not get any zam-zam water. Then we proceed to the surau to qadha our Subuh prayer which was done in the flight earlier. I feel like dancing around in the wonderful looking surau with the very comfortable place for ablution and the vast space of KLIA after the cramped airport in Bahrain and Jeddah. After the prayer, we salam everyone (ladies with ladies, men with men) , exchange phone numbers and hope we'll catch up with each other again. There are many who are from Kuantan in our group so we'll probably catch up with some of them during my training trip or hubby's business trip.
So that's the end of chronological event of my trip.
After Subuh, we walked around the mosque. We didn't have any towels in our Madinah hotel and even here. I brought two hand towels and a face towel which we use to dry ourselves. We've walked around many shops in Madinah but couldn't find any shop selling towel. Here in Mekah there were many "Kullu Shay'in Maujud" shops which means they sell everything or "Macam-macam ada!" So we found one shop that sells a towel for 10 riyal and 2 for 18 riyal. I'm so glad now we have bigger towels to dry ourselves. It is so difficult to dry my hair with little towels.
We walked along the perimeter of the mosque thinking we would reach our hotel area but the further we walked, we saw people going to the opposite direction in their ihram clothes. So maybe the mosque perimeter were not joint together. Then we saw a tunnel right up ahead. We were tired but it didn't seem like a good idea to walk further after seeing the tunnel so we headed back the way we came. Sigh! Tired! When we reached our hotel area and saw the tunnel from this side, hubby said if we walk further we'd reach here. We just have no confidence with our logic. I told him logically in Malaysia people don't walk in the road tunnel... that's why we turn back. Who would have thought otherwise in Mekah hehehe... By the time we reached hotel for breakfast, they were not many people anymore. So we ate, rest and I washed some of our clothes. Luckily I also brought some hanger and extra soaps. There's no towel, no hanger, no wardrobe, no soap in our hotel room. I can hear hubby's voice asking why I bring so many things as if the hotel did not provide some of those things whenever I packed for our traveling trips and this time luckily I did. Except for the towel of course.
After Zohor, we wore our Ihram. Immediately after performing our Asar prayer, a group of us took a van to go to Tan'eim for Miqat Umrah. We reached Masjidil Haram about an hour before azan Maghrib so we managed to complete our Tawaf by Maghrib time. After Maghrib prayer, we continued with Saie. I probably were too tired with all the traveling and walking. This time Saie was really a challenge for me. I even asked hubby to stop for a while. Towards the last round, we heard the azan Isya'. We stopped and pray with the jamaah along the way. I was shaking and feeling feverish when we're performing the Isya' prayer.
We both do leg massage for each other when we reached hotel room, after taking our dinner. We slept early that night. I woke up at 1:30 a.m. not feeling very good. I went to the toilet, took my flu medication and go back to sleep. Hubby said my body felt hot but I can't take any Panadol so I hope I can sleep it off.
14 April 09 - Tuesday
Jabal Thur.
I felt weak so hubby went to the mosque alone for Subuh prayer. Hubby return with some medication for muscle pain. We came down for breakfast together and waited at the lobby by 7 a.m. for ziarah. Our first stop is Jabal Thur, the place where Prophet s.a.w and Saidina Abu Bakar seek refuge from the Quraisy on their way to Madinah. Our next stop is Padang Arafah and Jabal Rahmah, the place where Adam and Hawa met after being sent on earth. Singles can pray here for a life partner and couples can pray here for happiness and ever after. We prayed here together. I was thinking of taking a camel ride on the nicely decorated camel with hubby and taking photos together. It would surely be romantic but we were warned by our coordinator not to ride the camels as the ride was only 5 riyal but the guide carrying polaroid on their neck would be taking photos without our permission and charged us 10 riyal for each photos. You could end up having to pay 100 riyal for the ride. So common sense prevail. Too bad those guide thoughts conning people can sustain their business. Hubby must have felt very relief with our coordinators warning. He's not so keen with the idea when I first mentioned it.
Jabal Rahmah in Arafah.
After Miqat in Ja'aranah
Next, we passed by Muzdalifah and Mina, the place where Siti Khadijah was buried, Masjid Jin, Jabal Nur and stopped at Ja'aranah for Miqat. Hubby and I did not don our ihram. I was feeling feverish in the bus, luckily I brought my shawl. I lie down when we reached hotel, hubby went out looking for Cold and Flu Panadol. I remember a doctor prescribed me a similar medication saying the cold and flu potion in the tablet would counter effect the aspirin potion which would cause allergy to me. I can't remember if it works or not but it is worth the try. By lunch time, my eyes were swollen. Noticeable but not too bad. It means I can't continue with the medication. Hubby went to the mosque for Zohor prayer alone.
Mina.
I can't continue like this. So I tried going to the mosque before Asar and told hubby I'd like to stay till Isya'. That way I won't have to make so many trips back and forth under the hot sun and the dry weather. After prayer, we sit together reading the Qur'an or just resting in the mosque. My body still needed it rest as I feel like I need to lie down badly. So I told hubby I'm going to the ladies section to sleep. A Turkish lady gave me her sejadah folded as pillow. I slept till about 6:30 p.m. I took ablution at a quiet corner near a pillar with a cup of zamzam water. I clean the water on the floor with my tissue paper and I felt more refreshed after that. After Isya', we returned to the hotel for dinner. Someone asked if I was OK. Obviously not. I don't have appetite for dinner. Just some bread. We sleep early that night.
15 April 09 - Wednesday
We went to the mosque for Subuh prayer. Breakfast tasted bitter. Hubby went to Tan'eim after breakfast to perform Umrah. I did not follow him. I felt much better afterwards that I managed to wash some clothes. When hubby returned, I felt better and hungry but things I ate tasted bitter. We went to a shop nearby our hotel and shared a sandwich. After that we went to our hotel dining place and drink lots and lots of orange juice. We missed going to the mosque for Zohor prayer so we prayed together in the room. We went earlier to the mosque for Asar and intends to stay till Isya'. I put some dates in my bag and hubby's bag. We performed Tawaf sunat and slept early after dinner.
Hubby said I'll surely put on weight since we slept after meal most of the time. Lunch is after Zohor and we normally lie down for a while before Asar prayer. Dinner is after Isya' and if we didn't walk around to shop or stayed late in the mosque, we would have slept early too. I disagree since we were doing a lot of walking that would have burned up all those calories.
16 April 2009 - Thursday
We went to the mosque early for Subuh and went to Tan'eim at 6:30 a.m. to perform our Umrah. This time Alhamdulillah everything went well. In all our Umrah, hubby would guide me through the throngs of people and when they were so many men around, he'd put me in front while he walked at the back. My shy hubby, who is not romantic at all when we're in public, who if gotten his way wouldn't even want to have our wedding photos taken, who wouldn't hold hands so most of the time I have to hold his arm instead, asked if I still have my wudhu' and if I would like to perform any solat after Saie. I said No and wondered why he asked such question. He said he'd like to hold my hand :) So we hold hands while we're doing our Saie rounds whenever we perform Umrah together and when he don't have to run in small steps.
Saie
This time after Asar we can't stay till Isya' because there's a kuliyyah at our hotel. We stayed at the mosque for Maghrib and Isya'. This time I encounter the 4 Malaysian ladies. As we were about to pray, there's a gap in the saf. The lady next to me is sitting on a chair so instead of asking her to move, I asked the Malaysian ladies to come nearer to the left of the saf. They smile and wouldn't even budge. I was surprise with the attitude. For Isya', a more elderly foreign lady took the initiative to fill in the gap and asked me to go nearer to the Malaysian ladies. I have no problem with that. Maybe the Malaysian ladies refuse to move because it is to the left of the saf.
17 April 2009 - Friday
I encounter the 4 Malaysian ladies again during Subuh prayer. This time I sit behind them. I saw a gap in the saf and they refuse to move even this time it is to the right. So it is not the direction of the saf that makes them refuse to move. They just refuse to move. Period. For what reason, I have no idea. Hubby go to Tan'eim alone after breakfast. I did not follow him. I wanted to wash some clothes and went in front of Kaabah to pray. While performing Umrah, I can't really sit for a long time in front of the Kaabah. We would perform the Umrah and tahallul quickly to avoid doing any mistakes that would cause Dam (being fined). Hubby SMS saying he's at the hotel lobby and can't get into our room because the key's with me.
I quickly return to our hotel room and this time we went to the mosque early since Friday is a very packed time. We left at 11:15 and even then the mosque was already crowded. A lady with a cranky baby sit beside me. He played with my toes and bag. I just let him. His mother offered me biscuit but I decline preferring not to eat anything before solat. We had a good lunch afterward at the hotel. After Asar we went to Tawaf Kedai :) I'm not a good shopper and hubby's not so sure of clothes sizes so we ended up buying some perfume, sejadah and kopiah. The plan to buy jubah for his male siblings abandoned. The plan to buy tudung for his female siblings also abandoned. The designed he showed me, is out of date even for a person who didn't keep track of tudung fashion like me knows that. The design I show, he said not his sister's style. So no tudung either. We are the only members in our group whose bags did not have children and grand children. Other group members came with a small bag but return with big luggage bags bought here.
Hubby's too tired to walk some more. Probably because he performed Umrah in the morning. So I said enough with shopping. It is not our main purpose. Too bad if they don't like our gifts. Hubby saw people coming our way with ice cream in their hands. I didn't really notice as I was still looking at the shops as we were walking back. Then we tracked the ice-cream shop and have an ice-cream and lemon juice. Yummyyy... a real treat in the hot weather.
The yummy ice-cream.
After Isya' we discover the TV in our room actually worked. One of the cable was not properly connected. At least we won't feel asleep immediately after meal. I thought watching news channel would be a good idea since we've been cut out from the world during our trip. We have no idea what's happening in our country and the world. But hubby started admiring the newscaster so I changed to the movie channel :)
18 April 2009 - Saturday
Today I went to Tan'eim with hubby. Our driver is slow by an Arab standard and he followed the inner route to get to Tan'eim. Our Umrah went well and we went to the mosque for prayer as usual. I go to a different section as I don't want to meet the 4 Malaysian ladies. We had kebab after Asar prayer, and went to the dining area for some bread. Isy... makan, makan, makan.
We performed Tawaf sunat after Isya' and sleep early after dinner. I'm too sleepy to watch TV.
19 April 2009 - Sunday
Hudaibiyah old and new mosque.
After Subuh, we waited half an hour for our bus. Today we're going to the camel farm on the way to Hudaibiyah. Hubby and I shared a bottle of fresh camel milk which tasted OK but I don't fancy drinking another bottle. Look at the angry camel in the video below. Our guide also said it's good to slather the froth of the camel milk onto our face so all the ladies are quick to do so. Hubby commented if Ustaz say camel dung is good for our face we would also put it on our face hehehe... My face smelled like milk but it's OK I'm going to wash it off when I take wudhu' at our next stop.
We don our ihram at the Hudaibiyah mosque. The new mosque actually. The old mosque where the Hudaibiyah agreement was said to take place was just next to it. Can you imagine there's something left of it after hundreds of years? More than 10 centuries actually. I'm awed. Our next stop is the Ka'abah museum. We've been granted permission to enter the museum at 10 a.m. We came earlier but waited in the bus and I fell asleep for a while before I heard the angry voices of our bus driver who also switched off the aircon of the bus when he gets down. He's fuming because we're not allowed to enter even when they were only one other bus there. Hehehe... we Malaysians just waited patiently. Not the Arabs. We managed to get inside about 15 minutes earlier probably thanks to our bus driver. There were many pictures and artifacts related to the Ka'abah on display here.
The Ka'abah Museum.
We reached hotel at about 10:30 for us to freshen up and take wudhu' and immediately went to the mosque for our Umrah. This is probably the last Umrah we can do in this trip. I'm sad and really, really prayed I'll be given the opportunity to visit the Masjidil Haramain (the two Masjidil Haram) in future. During our Kuliyyah, our ustaz told the story of when Prophet Ibrahim a.s finished constructing the Ka'abah, he's instructed by God to call on to His ummat to come and visit Ka'abah. Ibrahim a.s. called to all Muslimin with the Talbiyah while standing on Jabal Abi Qubais. It's heard by everyone including our Ruh. If we replied once, we will visit Ka'abah once. If we replied twice, we would be able to reach the Tanah Haram twice and so on. The Ustaz said we were so lucky to have been able to come to Tanah Haram as Allah's guest. I feel so too and I really wish to be able to come here again. Our Umrah was completed in time for Zuhur prayer.
After Asar, we went to have an ice-cream treat :) Then I saw an old Malay men looking very confused. He's wearing Rayha tag and when I asked what is he looking for, he said he'd like to go to a hotel called
But we also have to rush back to hotel after that for a taklimat about going back. We reached the taklimat area 5 minutes late. We had tea after the taklimat, continue packing and went to the mosque for Maghrib and Isya' prayer. We return to the hotel right after Isya' for dinner thinking we would like to go to the mosque again to perform Tawaf sunat but once we returned to the room and I finished packing at almost 11 p.m., we're too sleepy to go back to the mosque.
20 April 2009 - Monday
We wake up early at about 3:45 a.m. We still have to pack items that we have used last night and this morning. We reached the mosque just in time for Subuh prayer. We return to hotel for breakfast, packed some more and bring our luggage down to the hotel lobby, went to the mosque to perform Tawaf Wida' and return to hotel to wait for our bus. Everyone helped carry all the bags near to the bus. The driver is having a hard time putting everything in. I have no idea other people bought so many things and there are bundles and bundles of things.
Only some of our group's bags
We begin our journey to Jeddah at 8:30 a.m., half an hour before the hotel right in front of our hotel is to be demolished. We have a quick pack lunch at Laut Merah seaside and I bought some fresh dates and nuts from an Indonesian lady. The workers are quick to come with dustbins and they got to keep the extra fruits and packet drinks we brought. They look so happy. Actually, it's not even lunch time. Only about 11 a.m. but we're so hungry already. Our coordinators give interesting info about places we passed by every time we got onto the bus. I have to commend them for that.
We reached Jeddah airpot not long after that and everyone helps unload the luggage and zam-zam water. We make sure all the bags have our tag so its easier to recognize. Our Ustaz said it's OK to carry water in hand-luggage in Jeddah flight but not a good idea to carry it in our cabin-luggage. So we dig out our water bottles and carry it in our hand luggage. Some carry extra zam-zam water, some even bring camel milk back. I asked Ustaz if it would be OK to carry water when we reached Bahrain? He said there should be no problem. The bag scanning terminal was gone when we're waiting to check in our luggage. So probably it is OK even if we did not take the water bottles out.
We have to wait for almost 4 hours for our flight so we have enough time to perform Jamak Zohor and Asar prayer. We have to enter the airport shop to get to the surau. One member from our group said brilliant marketing strategy. But not so brilliant surau. How I longed for the many comfortable surau in our Bolehland. Hubby pulled out his laptop and with a wifi from a Bakery Shop, started working already. I also managed to browse my email for any important email. Seems like all can wait so I browse the local news since we have no idea what has happened in the country for the past 12 days. Nothing much has changed it seems. We're hungry again by now but we only have 16 riyal left and changing currency now is not a good idea. I browsed the eateries and discover we can buy 1 meal that cost 15 riyal which we can share. If they have taxes then we may not have enough money to pay. It felt so funny actually. Hubby's still working on his laptop and suddenly he can't make phone calls from his handphone as it was barred. We go online to check the bills, there is some outstanding amount but not too much so the time got nearer to boarding time as he tried to resolve the problem. We ate the fruits and drinks we brought so we're kinda full and did not bother buying any meals after that.
I got seat 22A and hubby's 44K. I managed to change seat for hubby with a Japanese guy who traveled alone. Then a Malay guy told me he just changed seat with that Japanese guy and now I asked the Japanese guy to change seat again. Thank God he's not angry. As our plane is landing, the pilot make announcements about the restrictions about carrying water in our hand luggage. I was like... Oh no! Now what! I don't mind throwing away plain water but this is zam-zam water in the 1.5 litres water bottle. We have two smaller bottles but we can finish it off while we waited for our next flight.
The Bahrain airport was very packed. Just like when we arrive, praying at the crowded surau was a real challenge. While waiting for our flight, we still have 16 riyal left. I was wondering what could we buy in Bahrain with 16 Riyal? My body immune system can't tolerate airport and plane very well. I was fine in the morning but sniffing with stuffed nose in the airport. No amount of balm or clarityn can resolve the problem. So since I'm running out of tissue, I said to hubby I'm going to buy some tissue paper. I saw a packet of tissue cost 0.20 Bahrain Dinnar. I took 3 packets. It's a long flight and I don't want to blow my nose on my tudung or my new jubah :) That's the most expensive tissue paper I've ever bought. I paid 6 riyal for the 3 packets.
The most expensive tissue packet.
We saw a group of Bangladeshi's lining up probably entering Bahrain on a working visa. Hubby commented how they have the buying power as we saw them carrying plastic bags bearing the logo of Bahrain airport. When I brought the tissue paper back to where hubby's sitting I said to him normally expensive items come in small packet right? So I also have the buying power because I carry a small plastic bag which must carry a small 'expensive' item hehehe...
It turned out we don't have to worry about our liquid in the hand-luggage. They didn't say anything about it when our hand luggage were scanned. I have no problem with the body checks too. Hubby has to take off his shoes and belt. Hubby said lucky he didn't have to take off more than that :) It turned out the boarding area were so packed. They shouldn't have announced for everyone to start boarding as if the plane is about to leave already. Our ticket showed we got seat 35H and 35J. I don't want to sit separately from hubby on an 8 hours flight but it turned out we're seating next to each other. We board a Boeing 777 at 8:40 p.m. and we ooohh... and aaahhh... when looking at the business class fancy designed seat. Seat no. 35 is not that very far back either. I'm glad we can fly back in a more comfortable flight. This time the Gulf air stewardess look friendlier and are more efficient in clearing up after meal. I dozed off while hubby still watch a movie.
21 April 2009 - Tuesday
Hubby woke me up for Subuh prayer in the flight. We reached KLIA at 9:15 a.m. Malaysian time, half an hour earlier than scheduled. As instructed by our Ustaz, we collect all the luggage that has our group tag irregardless of who it belongs to, including all the zam-zam water, and then he'll distribute the water to everyone. None of us lost a bag or did not get any zam-zam water. Then we proceed to the surau to qadha our Subuh prayer which was done in the flight earlier. I feel like dancing around in the wonderful looking surau with the very comfortable place for ablution and the vast space of KLIA after the cramped airport in Bahrain and Jeddah. After the prayer, we salam everyone (ladies with ladies, men with men) , exchange phone numbers and hope we'll catch up with each other again. There are many who are from Kuantan in our group so we'll probably catch up with some of them during my training trip or hubby's business trip.
So that's the end of chronological event of my trip.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Umrah Trip - Part 2
I'm into my 5th laundry trip already :)
11 April 2009 - Saturday
Our hotel.
We woke up at 4 a.m. That's considered late here. Azan is at 4:46 a.m. and we normally have to be at the mosque at least 10-15 minutes before the azan to get inside the mosque peacefully. So we reached the mosque quite late and by the time I reached the female praying area, there's no doubt I have to pray outside. After prayer we walked around the shops and bought perfume and tasbih. The shops open very early and closed very late at night. We had our breakfast at the hotel and have to wait at the lobby by 7 a.m. with ablution. We're going to Masjid Quba', the first mosque built by Rasulullah, and it is said whoever takes wudhu at home and performs 2 rakaat of solat sunat at the mosque is equivalent to 1 umrah.
Masjid Quba'.
After the Quba' mosque, we went to Jabal Uhud where 70 syuhada' in the Battle of Uhud were buried here. After the trip to Jabal Uhud, we went to dates farm. People said the price of the dates were slightly expensive here as compared to the market. But since the bus can't enter the market area now, they decided to visit the farm instead of the market. We only bought 2 kgs of dates thinking we might go to the market on our own to purchase more. Then our coordinator discouraged us from going to the market reminding us our purpose here is to perform as much prayer as we can.
Jabal Uhud.
The Syuhada' Grave.
We make an extra trip to the Qur'an factory. Everyone has to pay an extra 10 riyal to our bus driver. Only men can enter the factory. Ladies have to content ourselves with the gallery. The men who visited the factory were all given an al-Qur'an for free. All the Al-Quran in Masjid al-Nabawi and Mekah comes from this factory. If you bring an Al-Quran from other publications to be put in the two mosques, it will be removed and sent to other mosques. They also have al-Qur'an in all kinds of translation. The Malay translation were amongst the thicker ones. We probably need more words to describe something as compared to some other languages including English.
Al-Qur'an Factory.
We passed by some other mosques on the way back including Masjid Tujuh but did not stop. We reached the mosque late again for Zuhur. This time I prayed outside under the sun. I can't get inside the mosque to get zam-zam water as well. The lady guard saw my handphone and uttered something in Arabic that I don't understand. We returned to our hotel for lunch and then rest while I audited our purchases figuring how much more dates we needed and other stuff as gifts to family members.
We went for Asar prayer early and promised to meet again at 5:30 so we'll have some time to iktikaf at the mosque. My watch still shows Malaysian time. Hubby's watch shows local time. Sometimes I converted the time wrongly so I quickly went out when I thought it's already 5:30. After waiting for a while and hubby didn't appear I looked at the clock tower nearby and saw the actual time which is only about 5 p.m. No wonder hubby did not come out. So I went into the mosque compound again and walk around to take some pictures. By the way, the lady guard saw my handphone on the way to the mosque earlier so she shouted something and I stood there looking blur. I can't leave the mosque since I'm waiting for Asar prayer. She shouted again, "Amanaat... amanaat..." and I still look blank so she said "office". Oh no wonder. I discovered the office just beside the entrance and there's a locker to keep our handphone there. I wonder what's the big deal about not allowing us to take any pictures inside the mosque. My handphone ran out of battery but I still have to put it in the locker. Anyway that's why when I returned to the mosque, I decided to walk around instead of going in and facing the lady guards again.
We went early for Maghrib prayer and I suggested to hubby we stayed late until after Isya' where the ladies can get into Raudhah again. I waited and waited for our turn and there were so many people I thought this is getting ridiculous already. We can pray anywhere in the mosque and still gets the benefit without having to get ourselves trampled trying to get into a small area to pray. But to leave would be difficult too as the area has become a one-way area. We have to get to the Raudhah before we can leave. Hubby gave me a call as I was about to enter the Raudhah. I answered with the handphone under my telekung and the guards didn't notice. I told him I'll be out in a short while.
This time, I only stood in one place and do'a instead of solat. I'm trying very hard to concentrate with all the pushing and shoving all around me. I left Raudhah and called hubby on my way out. One of the lady guard saw my handphone and decided to check my photos. I told her "only outside" but she's adamant about going through all my pics. Sigh! I managed to meet hubby around 11:40pm and both of us have not taken any dinner. Hubby has this one kind of look whenever he's hungry. He didn't speak much too. So we walk around looking for food. We found a stall selling kebab so we bought two with fruit punch, mango and strawberry. I ordered the food, practicing my little Arabic. All for 14 riyal. We ate our dinner in the room and sleep not long after that.
12 April 2009 - Sunday
We went to Subuh early, perform Ziarah Wida' with hubby after breakfast, shop till we almost ran out of budget, pack, attend a taklimat near our Ustaz's room and continue packing. We have to leave our bags outside our room by 10 a.m. so the hotel staff can transfer our bags into the bus while we go to the mosque or having our lunch. We went to the mosque early for Zohor. Normally from the gate nearest to our hotel, I'll go left to enter from door no. 25 or 29. This time I went right to enter through door no. 13 if I'm not mistaken. This area is smaller and the lady guards still stood outside checking our bags. I told hubby I'm going to leave my handphone in the room this time. The hassle is just not worth it. We perform Zohor and jamak Asar prayer. The scissors I brought which I found on hubby's desk did not work properly so we went looking for another pair of scissors. The price is 5 riyal which gave me a shock for such a tiny scissors to cost that much but we decided to purchase it anyway. The shopkeeper must be trying his luck thinking we're short of time.
We had lunch at the hotel but it was very packed this time since everybody is rushing for time. We quickly changed to our ihram clothes and the bus left at 2 p.m. We reached Bir Ali at 2:40 p.m. slightly earlier than the other groups so we managed to perform our sunat ihram prayer with less crowd. We stopped at an abandoned looking place which actually has a mosque for Maghrib and Isyak jamak prayer at about 6:40, also slightly earlier so we managed to beat the crowd. Hubby's nose bleed quite badly. Both of us have been having nose bleeds since the day before I think. Mine is mostly internal. Hubby's really dripping blood we worry it might get onto his ihram clothes. Thank God it stopped after the prayer.
Bir Ali.
We reached our hotel in Mekah at about 9:30 p.m. We were ushered to have our dinner and our room keys are given at the dining area. Our room no. is 404. We collect our bags from the 6th floor and went to our room to freshen up before performing our umrah. We gather in front of the hotel and our mutawwif led us to Masjidil Haram to perform our Umrah. Alhamdulillah everything went well. Hubby and I stayed in front of Ka'abah for a while before returning to our hotel room way past midnite.
11 April 2009 - Saturday
Our hotel.
We woke up at 4 a.m. That's considered late here. Azan is at 4:46 a.m. and we normally have to be at the mosque at least 10-15 minutes before the azan to get inside the mosque peacefully. So we reached the mosque quite late and by the time I reached the female praying area, there's no doubt I have to pray outside. After prayer we walked around the shops and bought perfume and tasbih. The shops open very early and closed very late at night. We had our breakfast at the hotel and have to wait at the lobby by 7 a.m. with ablution. We're going to Masjid Quba', the first mosque built by Rasulullah, and it is said whoever takes wudhu at home and performs 2 rakaat of solat sunat at the mosque is equivalent to 1 umrah.
Masjid Quba'.
After the Quba' mosque, we went to Jabal Uhud where 70 syuhada' in the Battle of Uhud were buried here. After the trip to Jabal Uhud, we went to dates farm. People said the price of the dates were slightly expensive here as compared to the market. But since the bus can't enter the market area now, they decided to visit the farm instead of the market. We only bought 2 kgs of dates thinking we might go to the market on our own to purchase more. Then our coordinator discouraged us from going to the market reminding us our purpose here is to perform as much prayer as we can.
Jabal Uhud.
The Syuhada' Grave.
We make an extra trip to the Qur'an factory. Everyone has to pay an extra 10 riyal to our bus driver. Only men can enter the factory. Ladies have to content ourselves with the gallery. The men who visited the factory were all given an al-Qur'an for free. All the Al-Quran in Masjid al-Nabawi and Mekah comes from this factory. If you bring an Al-Quran from other publications to be put in the two mosques, it will be removed and sent to other mosques. They also have al-Qur'an in all kinds of translation. The Malay translation were amongst the thicker ones. We probably need more words to describe something as compared to some other languages including English.
Al-Qur'an Factory.
We passed by some other mosques on the way back including Masjid Tujuh but did not stop. We reached the mosque late again for Zuhur. This time I prayed outside under the sun. I can't get inside the mosque to get zam-zam water as well. The lady guard saw my handphone and uttered something in Arabic that I don't understand. We returned to our hotel for lunch and then rest while I audited our purchases figuring how much more dates we needed and other stuff as gifts to family members.
We went for Asar prayer early and promised to meet again at 5:30 so we'll have some time to iktikaf at the mosque. My watch still shows Malaysian time. Hubby's watch shows local time. Sometimes I converted the time wrongly so I quickly went out when I thought it's already 5:30. After waiting for a while and hubby didn't appear I looked at the clock tower nearby and saw the actual time which is only about 5 p.m. No wonder hubby did not come out. So I went into the mosque compound again and walk around to take some pictures. By the way, the lady guard saw my handphone on the way to the mosque earlier so she shouted something and I stood there looking blur. I can't leave the mosque since I'm waiting for Asar prayer. She shouted again, "Amanaat... amanaat..." and I still look blank so she said "office". Oh no wonder. I discovered the office just beside the entrance and there's a locker to keep our handphone there. I wonder what's the big deal about not allowing us to take any pictures inside the mosque. My handphone ran out of battery but I still have to put it in the locker. Anyway that's why when I returned to the mosque, I decided to walk around instead of going in and facing the lady guards again.
We went early for Maghrib prayer and I suggested to hubby we stayed late until after Isya' where the ladies can get into Raudhah again. I waited and waited for our turn and there were so many people I thought this is getting ridiculous already. We can pray anywhere in the mosque and still gets the benefit without having to get ourselves trampled trying to get into a small area to pray. But to leave would be difficult too as the area has become a one-way area. We have to get to the Raudhah before we can leave. Hubby gave me a call as I was about to enter the Raudhah. I answered with the handphone under my telekung and the guards didn't notice. I told him I'll be out in a short while.
This time, I only stood in one place and do'a instead of solat. I'm trying very hard to concentrate with all the pushing and shoving all around me. I left Raudhah and called hubby on my way out. One of the lady guard saw my handphone and decided to check my photos. I told her "only outside" but she's adamant about going through all my pics. Sigh! I managed to meet hubby around 11:40pm and both of us have not taken any dinner. Hubby has this one kind of look whenever he's hungry. He didn't speak much too. So we walk around looking for food. We found a stall selling kebab so we bought two with fruit punch, mango and strawberry. I ordered the food, practicing my little Arabic. All for 14 riyal. We ate our dinner in the room and sleep not long after that.
12 April 2009 - Sunday
We went to Subuh early, perform Ziarah Wida' with hubby after breakfast, shop till we almost ran out of budget, pack, attend a taklimat near our Ustaz's room and continue packing. We have to leave our bags outside our room by 10 a.m. so the hotel staff can transfer our bags into the bus while we go to the mosque or having our lunch. We went to the mosque early for Zohor. Normally from the gate nearest to our hotel, I'll go left to enter from door no. 25 or 29. This time I went right to enter through door no. 13 if I'm not mistaken. This area is smaller and the lady guards still stood outside checking our bags. I told hubby I'm going to leave my handphone in the room this time. The hassle is just not worth it. We perform Zohor and jamak Asar prayer. The scissors I brought which I found on hubby's desk did not work properly so we went looking for another pair of scissors. The price is 5 riyal which gave me a shock for such a tiny scissors to cost that much but we decided to purchase it anyway. The shopkeeper must be trying his luck thinking we're short of time.
We had lunch at the hotel but it was very packed this time since everybody is rushing for time. We quickly changed to our ihram clothes and the bus left at 2 p.m. We reached Bir Ali at 2:40 p.m. slightly earlier than the other groups so we managed to perform our sunat ihram prayer with less crowd. We stopped at an abandoned looking place which actually has a mosque for Maghrib and Isyak jamak prayer at about 6:40, also slightly earlier so we managed to beat the crowd. Hubby's nose bleed quite badly. Both of us have been having nose bleeds since the day before I think. Mine is mostly internal. Hubby's really dripping blood we worry it might get onto his ihram clothes. Thank God it stopped after the prayer.
Bir Ali.
We reached our hotel in Mekah at about 9:30 p.m. We were ushered to have our dinner and our room keys are given at the dining area. Our room no. is 404. We collect our bags from the 6th floor and went to our room to freshen up before performing our umrah. We gather in front of the hotel and our mutawwif led us to Masjidil Haram to perform our Umrah. Alhamdulillah everything went well. Hubby and I stayed in front of Ka'abah for a while before returning to our hotel room way past midnite.
Umrah Trip - Part 1
I set foot on our beloved land yesterday about 9:15 a.m. We waited for our groups' luggage, distributed the zam-zam water, qadha our Subuh prayer since we prayed Subuh in the flight and got our cab at 10:45. We reached home sweet home a few minutes before 12 p.m. I'm writing this now in between doing the laundry, drying our clothes, and cleaning up :)
Before the trip, I went to Penang with hubby. On Saturday, I went to SIL's house. There's an informal gathering. On Sunday, there's a family event on my side of the family. Then we have a small kenduri which despite being small still have so many things that needs to be done. I'm really thankful my MIL helped a lot. After the kenduri, SILs helped with the dishes and cleaning up which I really appreciate too. Otherwise I'd be swarmed with cleaning up and packing the next day, just a day before our departure. Despite that, I still stayed up until 1:30 a.m. ironing clothes while hubby has reached the dream land. We woke up at about 5 a.m. and the airport limo driver called us at 6:30 a.m. I asked the driver to wait as we're about to perform our Subuh prayer and we did say 6:45 a.m. when we made the bookings earlier. In the rush to carry things and making sure we have everything covered since we're about to leave the house for 2 weeks, hubby's jacket hit a glass vase. It broke into thousand pieces but we have no time to deal with that right now so hubby just swept it to one place beside the cabinet. The last time I checked, it's still there hehehe...
09 April 2009 - Thursday
Reached KLIA at about 7:30 a.m. We went to look for ATM to withdraw some RM just in case we need more. I've changed some money the day before at quite a good rate. Looking at the exchange rate at KLIA, we better keep our RM. Our flight is at 11:30 a.m but we were told to gather near counter K by 8 a.m. By 8:30 a.m. we're still waiting for people from hubby's group. Alhamdulillah everything went well and we reached Bahrain at about 7:30 p.m. (2:30 p.m. Bahrain time). That's 8 hours flight and I remember having to go to the washroom quite often. I can't remember what movie we watched in the flight. I dozed off in between meals and the movies.
In Bahrain, we performed Jamak Takdim for our Zohor and Asr prayer. The surau was very packed but I managed to find a space and pray. Just ignore the people walking over your shoulder or pass by or stand in front of you while you were praying. We're supposed to board the flight at 4:30 p.m. Bahrain time but we're still at the airport at 5:30 p.m. Hubby started feeling unwell. He felt cold every now and then. His forehead felt very hot to me. We walked around looking for a pharmacy. A 0.47 BD Panadol is equivalent to 5 SR. We look for a place quite far from our group for hubby to lie down. I was quite worried looking at hubby. I'm the 'selamba' type. Hubby's not. For him to lie down on the benches in a public place, he must be feeling very very unwell.
Hubby lying down at Bahrain airport.
Finally our flight arrived around 11 p.m. Malaysian time. We've been traveling for about 16 hours by now. It's so packed and people did not sit at the designated place. We were among the last to get in and there were the two front seat vacant as if reserved for us. We were very hungry by now. The meals were served, hubby took the Panadol, slept and felt better after that. The Gulf Air stewardess were not very friendly. They took a long time to clear our meals so we have to sit with the mess in front of us. I stacked our plates neatly so we only have 1 mess. If anyone of us has to go to the washroom then only hold one tray. Later the stewardess told us in a not so friendly tone that she can't clear our tray if stacked like that. Well, if you don't want people to mess with your tray you should have clear them earlier. Right! I didn't say it out loud of course. I hear similar comments from our group about how much better MAS is in terms of customer service. They deserve the award they received.
Beautiful view as we're landing at Jeddah airport.
Bahrain to Jeddah is about one and a half hour of flight journey. At Jeddah immigration counter, the Turkish were very rough. They don't bother with the queue. We were queuing when a group queue up next to us and pretend as if theirs is the proper queue. They rush to the counter and the very very slow officer who has been observing them while he took his own sweet time processing a guy's passport while the officer in the next counter has already finished with 6-7 people, told them to go and fill in the entry form. The whole group were sent away. I was secretly happy because of their attitude which also means faster processing for us. But I felt sorry for them too because there's a lady with a baby in that group. If only they were not so overbearing. So we managed to finish fast. My identity is my hubby's. The officer just glanced slightly towards me and ask for my Muhram so our passport were processed together. They took hubby's photo and fingerprints.
Everyone were asked to handover their passport after we leave the immigration area so we were wondering if that's the right procedure. Our travel agent representative met us and say it's OK they'll handle everything. We reached our bus at about 3 a.m. Malaysian time. We have another 8 hour journey by bus to reach Madinah. We stopped on the way to perform our Jamak Maghrib and Isya' prayer. The landmark is Lulu supermarket. Our coordinator prepared a packed meal so everyone just sit or stand to eat around the supermarket area. I took a packet thinking of sharing it with hubby but hubby said he's full. I don't feel like eating anyway so I put it back and just take a bottle of mineral water. We continue our journey after that and most of us fell asleep in the bus.
Lulu supermarket.
10 April 09 - Friday
Our hotel room.
We reached hotel at about 4 a.m. Madinah time. We gather at the hotel for taklimat and handling of keys while the hotel staff handles our luggage. Our room no is 305. We rest for a while, clean up and head to the mosque for prayer. Masjid Nabawi is only a short walking distance from our hotel. I felt awed and humbled to able to pray in the mosque even if its at the walkway near the zam-zam water container. We have nasi lemak for breakfast and gather at the hotel lobby by 7 a.m. for ziarah around the masjid area. It's a very short ziarah. The ladies were advice to try to get to Raudhah after that since it's opening time for ladies.
Once inside the mosque, we were segregated based on country. The lady guards would roughly know where you're from and would call "Ibu, Ibu, sini..." to Malaysians and Indonesians. The lady guards looked intimidating in their black abaya but if you look closer, they are very slim and young. Probably one of the criteria to be accepted to work there is they must have a loud voice. The Turks and Iranians were not the least bit intimidated by them. They would try to get around the guards but to no avail.
Masjid Nabawi entrance from our hotel.
We were the second last group to be allowed to enter the Raudhah. I'm very thankful and managed to perform solat sunat and do'a while in there. I have no idea what happen to the male in our group so I walked back to the hotel and called our room. Hubby's reached our room already. It's already past 11 a.m. when I reached our hotel.
We were told how lucky we were to be able to perform Friday prayer at 2 Masjidil Haram in our trip. So for Zohor, we went to the mosque as usual but the crowd was unbelievable. I tried to enter the mosque but the female guard did not allow saying it is very packed inside the mosque already. I should have gone out earlier but I didn't expect this. This morning for Subuh, I managed to get in despite being quite late. So I sit right outside the door with many other ladies who can't get in. There were a few ladies who tried and managed to get in. I was told by a young Pakistani lady who has been there for her Umrah trip the fourth time that they were Iranians of a certain mazhab who did not want to pray together with us. They wanted to pray in the mosque and then leave even before the khutbah. So I sit right outside the door doing Zikir while the female guards shouted in her loud voices trying to stop people from getting in while some Iranian and Turkish ladies still managed to go in and then we have to keep ourselves from getting trampled as they were leaving the mosque. I totally feel unsafe there. I can't really focus on the Khutbah with all the shouting and shuffling. During prayer, the Pakistani lady pulled me in so I managed to pray inside.
Hundreds of people after the Friday prayer.
I waited for hubby at the wrong place. I was getting worried as I see more and more people getting out from the mosque but no sign of hubby. For some reason, I can't call hubby but thank God I can SMS. Hubby came looking for me after that. We walked around for a while looking at shops before returning to hotel for lunch. Hubby started feeling feverish again after lunch. His body felt hot and he's shivering. So he took the panadol and rest. I put wet towel on his forehead and have to keep on washing the towel as it will not feel so cool after putting it on hubby's body. I went to the mosque alone for Asar prayer. This time I can get inside the mosque. The lady guards still stood outside every entrance door checking our bags for camera and camera phones. I didn't bring my camera. She couldn't find my handphone. I quickly return with a bottle of zam-zam water for hubby. After praying in the room, hubby lie down again. I continue putting wet towel on hubby's forehead and after a while, I make the mistake of lying down beside him. We feel asleep right up to Maghrib. Astaghfirullah. We performed our Maghrib prayer together in the room. Hubby felt better after the long rest. His body is cool to touch. Alhamdulillah.
View of the mosque at night.
We went to the mosque for Isya'. I managed to get inside, iktikaf before prayer. This time I could find hubby without any problem, we return to hotel for dinner and went out again to walk around and do some shopping. Other than the shops, there's also open market so we were spoilt for choices. In one of the shop, the shopkeeper said Malaysia... Turkey... while pointing to hubby and me. I smile and said," La! Malizia" In other shops, they would say Malaysia... Arab... while pointing to hubby and me :) I said the same thing. MasyaAllah they would say to hubby hehehe... My Arabic vocabulary is very limited. How I wish I paid more attention while I studied Arabic last time. Interestingly, some of the words I know, came to me one by one from memory. And as I was walking around, I can understand some of the road signs.
The open market.
We return to hotel at about 11 p.m. and fell asleep around 11:45 p.m. Hubby started feeling feverish again. He feels a little bit hot to me but not like in the afternoon. I jokingly told him maybe he's allergic to shopping. In the afternoon he felt feverish after shopping, now he felt the same way. Hubby's fine when we woke up for Subuh the next day. Thank God for that.
The original Masjid Nabi.
Here's the original mosque with the green dome enclosed within the grand new mosque building. From our hotel, we couldn't see this dome. We have to walk to the front of the mosque to see it. We can enter the mosque through so many entrance and there are entrance at all sides of the mosque. We were told last time the mosque were closed from midnite to 3 a.m. but now it's open for 24 hours. We can see people in and around the mosque all the time either praying, reading the Qur'an or just hanging around with their family members inside the mosque compound spending their time together, even having their meals there.
...to be continued.
Before the trip, I went to Penang with hubby. On Saturday, I went to SIL's house. There's an informal gathering. On Sunday, there's a family event on my side of the family. Then we have a small kenduri which despite being small still have so many things that needs to be done. I'm really thankful my MIL helped a lot. After the kenduri, SILs helped with the dishes and cleaning up which I really appreciate too. Otherwise I'd be swarmed with cleaning up and packing the next day, just a day before our departure. Despite that, I still stayed up until 1:30 a.m. ironing clothes while hubby has reached the dream land. We woke up at about 5 a.m. and the airport limo driver called us at 6:30 a.m. I asked the driver to wait as we're about to perform our Subuh prayer and we did say 6:45 a.m. when we made the bookings earlier. In the rush to carry things and making sure we have everything covered since we're about to leave the house for 2 weeks, hubby's jacket hit a glass vase. It broke into thousand pieces but we have no time to deal with that right now so hubby just swept it to one place beside the cabinet. The last time I checked, it's still there hehehe...
09 April 2009 - Thursday
Reached KLIA at about 7:30 a.m. We went to look for ATM to withdraw some RM just in case we need more. I've changed some money the day before at quite a good rate. Looking at the exchange rate at KLIA, we better keep our RM. Our flight is at 11:30 a.m but we were told to gather near counter K by 8 a.m. By 8:30 a.m. we're still waiting for people from hubby's group. Alhamdulillah everything went well and we reached Bahrain at about 7:30 p.m. (2:30 p.m. Bahrain time). That's 8 hours flight and I remember having to go to the washroom quite often. I can't remember what movie we watched in the flight. I dozed off in between meals and the movies.
In Bahrain, we performed Jamak Takdim for our Zohor and Asr prayer. The surau was very packed but I managed to find a space and pray. Just ignore the people walking over your shoulder or pass by or stand in front of you while you were praying. We're supposed to board the flight at 4:30 p.m. Bahrain time but we're still at the airport at 5:30 p.m. Hubby started feeling unwell. He felt cold every now and then. His forehead felt very hot to me. We walked around looking for a pharmacy. A 0.47 BD Panadol is equivalent to 5 SR. We look for a place quite far from our group for hubby to lie down. I was quite worried looking at hubby. I'm the 'selamba' type. Hubby's not. For him to lie down on the benches in a public place, he must be feeling very very unwell.
Hubby lying down at Bahrain airport.
Finally our flight arrived around 11 p.m. Malaysian time. We've been traveling for about 16 hours by now. It's so packed and people did not sit at the designated place. We were among the last to get in and there were the two front seat vacant as if reserved for us. We were very hungry by now. The meals were served, hubby took the Panadol, slept and felt better after that. The Gulf Air stewardess were not very friendly. They took a long time to clear our meals so we have to sit with the mess in front of us. I stacked our plates neatly so we only have 1 mess. If anyone of us has to go to the washroom then only hold one tray. Later the stewardess told us in a not so friendly tone that she can't clear our tray if stacked like that. Well, if you don't want people to mess with your tray you should have clear them earlier. Right! I didn't say it out loud of course. I hear similar comments from our group about how much better MAS is in terms of customer service. They deserve the award they received.
Beautiful view as we're landing at Jeddah airport.
Bahrain to Jeddah is about one and a half hour of flight journey. At Jeddah immigration counter, the Turkish were very rough. They don't bother with the queue. We were queuing when a group queue up next to us and pretend as if theirs is the proper queue. They rush to the counter and the very very slow officer who has been observing them while he took his own sweet time processing a guy's passport while the officer in the next counter has already finished with 6-7 people, told them to go and fill in the entry form. The whole group were sent away. I was secretly happy because of their attitude which also means faster processing for us. But I felt sorry for them too because there's a lady with a baby in that group. If only they were not so overbearing. So we managed to finish fast. My identity is my hubby's. The officer just glanced slightly towards me and ask for my Muhram so our passport were processed together. They took hubby's photo and fingerprints.
Everyone were asked to handover their passport after we leave the immigration area so we were wondering if that's the right procedure. Our travel agent representative met us and say it's OK they'll handle everything. We reached our bus at about 3 a.m. Malaysian time. We have another 8 hour journey by bus to reach Madinah. We stopped on the way to perform our Jamak Maghrib and Isya' prayer. The landmark is Lulu supermarket. Our coordinator prepared a packed meal so everyone just sit or stand to eat around the supermarket area. I took a packet thinking of sharing it with hubby but hubby said he's full. I don't feel like eating anyway so I put it back and just take a bottle of mineral water. We continue our journey after that and most of us fell asleep in the bus.
Lulu supermarket.
10 April 09 - Friday
Our hotel room.
We reached hotel at about 4 a.m. Madinah time. We gather at the hotel for taklimat and handling of keys while the hotel staff handles our luggage. Our room no is 305. We rest for a while, clean up and head to the mosque for prayer. Masjid Nabawi is only a short walking distance from our hotel. I felt awed and humbled to able to pray in the mosque even if its at the walkway near the zam-zam water container. We have nasi lemak for breakfast and gather at the hotel lobby by 7 a.m. for ziarah around the masjid area. It's a very short ziarah. The ladies were advice to try to get to Raudhah after that since it's opening time for ladies.
Once inside the mosque, we were segregated based on country. The lady guards would roughly know where you're from and would call "Ibu, Ibu, sini..." to Malaysians and Indonesians. The lady guards looked intimidating in their black abaya but if you look closer, they are very slim and young. Probably one of the criteria to be accepted to work there is they must have a loud voice. The Turks and Iranians were not the least bit intimidated by them. They would try to get around the guards but to no avail.
Masjid Nabawi entrance from our hotel.
We were the second last group to be allowed to enter the Raudhah. I'm very thankful and managed to perform solat sunat and do'a while in there. I have no idea what happen to the male in our group so I walked back to the hotel and called our room. Hubby's reached our room already. It's already past 11 a.m. when I reached our hotel.
We were told how lucky we were to be able to perform Friday prayer at 2 Masjidil Haram in our trip. So for Zohor, we went to the mosque as usual but the crowd was unbelievable. I tried to enter the mosque but the female guard did not allow saying it is very packed inside the mosque already. I should have gone out earlier but I didn't expect this. This morning for Subuh, I managed to get in despite being quite late. So I sit right outside the door with many other ladies who can't get in. There were a few ladies who tried and managed to get in. I was told by a young Pakistani lady who has been there for her Umrah trip the fourth time that they were Iranians of a certain mazhab who did not want to pray together with us. They wanted to pray in the mosque and then leave even before the khutbah. So I sit right outside the door doing Zikir while the female guards shouted in her loud voices trying to stop people from getting in while some Iranian and Turkish ladies still managed to go in and then we have to keep ourselves from getting trampled as they were leaving the mosque. I totally feel unsafe there. I can't really focus on the Khutbah with all the shouting and shuffling. During prayer, the Pakistani lady pulled me in so I managed to pray inside.
Hundreds of people after the Friday prayer.
I waited for hubby at the wrong place. I was getting worried as I see more and more people getting out from the mosque but no sign of hubby. For some reason, I can't call hubby but thank God I can SMS. Hubby came looking for me after that. We walked around for a while looking at shops before returning to hotel for lunch. Hubby started feeling feverish again after lunch. His body felt hot and he's shivering. So he took the panadol and rest. I put wet towel on his forehead and have to keep on washing the towel as it will not feel so cool after putting it on hubby's body. I went to the mosque alone for Asar prayer. This time I can get inside the mosque. The lady guards still stood outside every entrance door checking our bags for camera and camera phones. I didn't bring my camera. She couldn't find my handphone. I quickly return with a bottle of zam-zam water for hubby. After praying in the room, hubby lie down again. I continue putting wet towel on hubby's forehead and after a while, I make the mistake of lying down beside him. We feel asleep right up to Maghrib. Astaghfirullah. We performed our Maghrib prayer together in the room. Hubby felt better after the long rest. His body is cool to touch. Alhamdulillah.
View of the mosque at night.
We went to the mosque for Isya'. I managed to get inside, iktikaf before prayer. This time I could find hubby without any problem, we return to hotel for dinner and went out again to walk around and do some shopping. Other than the shops, there's also open market so we were spoilt for choices. In one of the shop, the shopkeeper said Malaysia... Turkey... while pointing to hubby and me. I smile and said," La! Malizia" In other shops, they would say Malaysia... Arab... while pointing to hubby and me :) I said the same thing. MasyaAllah they would say to hubby hehehe... My Arabic vocabulary is very limited. How I wish I paid more attention while I studied Arabic last time. Interestingly, some of the words I know, came to me one by one from memory. And as I was walking around, I can understand some of the road signs.
The open market.
We return to hotel at about 11 p.m. and fell asleep around 11:45 p.m. Hubby started feeling feverish again. He feels a little bit hot to me but not like in the afternoon. I jokingly told him maybe he's allergic to shopping. In the afternoon he felt feverish after shopping, now he felt the same way. Hubby's fine when we woke up for Subuh the next day. Thank God for that.
The original Masjid Nabi.
Here's the original mosque with the green dome enclosed within the grand new mosque building. From our hotel, we couldn't see this dome. We have to walk to the front of the mosque to see it. We can enter the mosque through so many entrance and there are entrance at all sides of the mosque. We were told last time the mosque were closed from midnite to 3 a.m. but now it's open for 24 hours. We can see people in and around the mosque all the time either praying, reading the Qur'an or just hanging around with their family members inside the mosque compound spending their time together, even having their meals there.
...to be continued.
Friday, April 3, 2009
In A Maze in Penang
We just came back from Penang yesterday evening. Hubby has a meeting there for 2 days. I've been to Penang quite a number of times but the roads in Georgetown area is like a real maze. It doesn't have much logic and sense to it. When I'm lucky, I will accidently find my way without much hassle. When I'm not so lucky, I will have to round the island a few times before I find my way. I know most of the main roads there so if I'm lost, just drive till I find a familiar road.
We tried looking for the most convenient hotel in Georgetown which is near to hubby's meeting place but the internet can be unhelpful sometimes. Some websites did not have all the hotels in its listings. Calling one by one can be a hassle so I looked at Asia Web Direct website which I think is a very convenient way of finding accommodation in Penang. You can get a good internet rate and most importantly you can get a room even if you called the hotel directly and they say they are fully booked. That's how we ended up at Berjaya Georgetown hotel which looked like its quite near to hubby's meeting place. I know its near to the Gurney Drive but getting there can be another matter.
I attended a training that day so we can only leave KL after my training ended. We reached Penang at night. A good time to drive around because there's no jam but not so good when you're relying on buildings for landmark and road names for direction. Hubby's on the phone talking with a business contact right after we enter the island through Penang Bridge. How to give direction like that? Maybe I should be the one driving.
We ended up at a not so familiar road so I asked him to stop while I try to look at the map. Maps can be deceiving. It may be on the same road but the map didn't show whether it's one-way or two-way road and there are many small roads which can make finding the right turning a headache. Hubby's Garmin can be unreliable sometimes with message "Awaiting better satelite reception" for minutes and minutes and even hours. Probably difficult to detect the satellite on cloudy days.
Anyway, we found our way after about half an hour of driving around. The hotel and the room is acceptable but we have two complains.
Berjaya Georgetown Hotel is a 4-star hotel. It didn't have wifi in its room. You have to go to their hospitality center and pay for the wifi service. RM5 per hour, RM15 for half a day and RM25 for one day. We have stayed in many smaller hotels in the East Coast and the hotels provide a free wifi service. Can't a 4-star hotel afford giving their customers free wifi service?
I thought Penang is getting wifi-ed. Is it not working yet? Hubby and I paid for one hour service for ourselves and I later discovered a free wifi connection. Hubby tried the same connection earlier but it didn't work. Connected but no internet access. Lucky us it worked after that and we use it to our hearts content.
I hate going to hotels where they don't send iron to your rooms. I want to do my ironing in my pyjamas. Not fully clothed with tudung in a hot room. And for hotels with ironing rooms or area, some make it convenient for you by having ironing room on every floor. Some make your life difficult by putting it on one floor only. Berjaya Georgetown Hotel falls under the later categories.
They provide two ironing rooms for male and female but the female ironing room is locked. I ended up using the male ironing room. If you can't afford to send iron and ironing board to individual rooms, at least make sure the iron and ironing board looks decent. This is what I found. May I double check if this is a 4-star hotel or hostel?
Hubby didn't get to try Nasi Kandar on our first trip to Penang together so I'm making sure he gets one this time. Hubby has something going on with Mamak food hehehe... I remember when we just knew each other, it was fasting month and whenever I ask what he's getting for breaking of fast, his answer was always beriani from our now favorite Mamak restaurant. Other than breakfast where you can also get toasted bread or nasi lemak from the Mamak restaurant, no continuous Mamak food for me please.
We make our way to Penang Road. I'm quite familiar with that area. Later that night, hubby's craving for Pasemboq so we make our way to Gurney Drive. We reached there at midnight and the hawkers were already packing. We saw a fire show by the road side but hubby didn't stop long. He's probably worried he didn't get to taste any Pasemboq that night. Luckily, the stalls at Padang Kota Lama still opens. I also thought that was the first time we went out at midnite to eat something. specifically went out to find food that is.
The next day after hubby's meeting, we went to Penang Road again for Nasi Kandaq lunch at a different restaurant. I started the drive home while hubby dok lepak tersandaq after eating the nasi kandaq :) Hubby's a light sleeper. He's very sensitive to braking. That would wake him up. I almost reached G. Semanggol when hubby woke up. He asked if we've left the bridge. Hubby must have not thought he could sleep that long so soundly while I drive. Could be due to the nasi kandaq or our late night out the night before.
We tried looking for the most convenient hotel in Georgetown which is near to hubby's meeting place but the internet can be unhelpful sometimes. Some websites did not have all the hotels in its listings. Calling one by one can be a hassle so I looked at Asia Web Direct website which I think is a very convenient way of finding accommodation in Penang. You can get a good internet rate and most importantly you can get a room even if you called the hotel directly and they say they are fully booked. That's how we ended up at Berjaya Georgetown hotel which looked like its quite near to hubby's meeting place. I know its near to the Gurney Drive but getting there can be another matter.
I attended a training that day so we can only leave KL after my training ended. We reached Penang at night. A good time to drive around because there's no jam but not so good when you're relying on buildings for landmark and road names for direction. Hubby's on the phone talking with a business contact right after we enter the island through Penang Bridge. How to give direction like that? Maybe I should be the one driving.
We ended up at a not so familiar road so I asked him to stop while I try to look at the map. Maps can be deceiving. It may be on the same road but the map didn't show whether it's one-way or two-way road and there are many small roads which can make finding the right turning a headache. Hubby's Garmin can be unreliable sometimes with message "Awaiting better satelite reception" for minutes and minutes and even hours. Probably difficult to detect the satellite on cloudy days.
Anyway, we found our way after about half an hour of driving around. The hotel and the room is acceptable but we have two complains.
Berjaya Georgetown Hotel is a 4-star hotel. It didn't have wifi in its room. You have to go to their hospitality center and pay for the wifi service. RM5 per hour, RM15 for half a day and RM25 for one day. We have stayed in many smaller hotels in the East Coast and the hotels provide a free wifi service. Can't a 4-star hotel afford giving their customers free wifi service?
I thought Penang is getting wifi-ed. Is it not working yet? Hubby and I paid for one hour service for ourselves and I later discovered a free wifi connection. Hubby tried the same connection earlier but it didn't work. Connected but no internet access. Lucky us it worked after that and we use it to our hearts content.
I hate going to hotels where they don't send iron to your rooms. I want to do my ironing in my pyjamas. Not fully clothed with tudung in a hot room. And for hotels with ironing rooms or area, some make it convenient for you by having ironing room on every floor. Some make your life difficult by putting it on one floor only. Berjaya Georgetown Hotel falls under the later categories.
They provide two ironing rooms for male and female but the female ironing room is locked. I ended up using the male ironing room. If you can't afford to send iron and ironing board to individual rooms, at least make sure the iron and ironing board looks decent. This is what I found. May I double check if this is a 4-star hotel or hostel?
Hubby didn't get to try Nasi Kandar on our first trip to Penang together so I'm making sure he gets one this time. Hubby has something going on with Mamak food hehehe... I remember when we just knew each other, it was fasting month and whenever I ask what he's getting for breaking of fast, his answer was always beriani from our now favorite Mamak restaurant. Other than breakfast where you can also get toasted bread or nasi lemak from the Mamak restaurant, no continuous Mamak food for me please.
We make our way to Penang Road. I'm quite familiar with that area. Later that night, hubby's craving for Pasemboq so we make our way to Gurney Drive. We reached there at midnight and the hawkers were already packing. We saw a fire show by the road side but hubby didn't stop long. He's probably worried he didn't get to taste any Pasemboq that night. Luckily, the stalls at Padang Kota Lama still opens. I also thought that was the first time we went out at midnite to eat something. specifically went out to find food that is.
The next day after hubby's meeting, we went to Penang Road again for Nasi Kandaq lunch at a different restaurant. I started the drive home while hubby dok lepak tersandaq after eating the nasi kandaq :) Hubby's a light sleeper. He's very sensitive to braking. That would wake him up. I almost reached G. Semanggol when hubby woke up. He asked if we've left the bridge. Hubby must have not thought he could sleep that long so soundly while I drive. Could be due to the nasi kandaq or our late night out the night before.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)