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.
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