Dar Al Salam Hotel Makkah Mecca

One day trip we did get to make was to Makkah, to perform Umrah or the Lesser Pilgrimmage. We left at dawn to beat the crowds and the heat, and made the 45 minute drive to Makkah. It's a huge, 8-lane highway with one checkpoint (after you cross the sign for non-Muslims to exit). I can remember my earliest trips to Makkah I used to keep a death grip on my husband, afraid of becoming lost or separated. Now I prefer to be on my own, and at each stage of the ritual I ...

... our room, and particulaly the restaraunt, sitting out on the balcony by the pool, looking out over that view, watching wild monkeys roaming below us, it was hard to believe I was still in Saudi!

We left at midnight Wednesday, and travelled all night by bus to get there in time to check in and enjoy hot breakfast with a view on Thursday morning. We then had a small rest, before heading out to the Shubra Palace, once the summer residence of King Abdulaziz himself. It is now a ...

... was pretty much confined to the dates market, the gold souq (I wanted to sell some rings) and an enormous open-air market called the Heraj. Some areas sell used clothing, used furniture, used appliances, and other areas of it have new, but all are ready and waiting for haggling, at which I am terrible. I generally just select what I want, point it out to my husband, then leave and let him deal with the money end of it. The sad part of ...

... to rest.

We did stop at a rest area for the sunset prayers, which gave a nice break. We stopped at one of the larger chains -- Sapco. So there's a gas station, small playground, a mosque, a grocery store, a restaurant, and often small shops selling cassette tapes of religious lectures and music or small gift items and outdoor paraphenalia (like flower pots, water coolers, these funky riding toys for kids in the shape of birds ...

... Pesawat yang digunakan Garuda Indonesia atau Saudi Air yang terbang langsung ke Jeddah tanpa transit.-kendaraan selam di Tanah Suci menggunakan mobil GMC yang sangat lapang untuk anda sekeluarga.-Akomodasi yang digunakan merupakan hotel bintang lima yang dapat anda nikmati segala fasilitasnya.- Ada 2 pilihan paket umroh keluarga, singkat 7 hari atau Paket umroh keluarga reguler 9 hari. Harga dan Paket ...

... volunteered his services. A brother Muslim, a physician from Cairo, heard our plight and took pity on us. He walked us thru the seven circumnambulations around the Kaaba and the runnings between Safa and Marwa. These are the hillocks where Hagar frantically sought water for her infant Ishmael, all those thousands of years ago. It is now entirely enclosed and airconditioned, courtesy of the House of Saud. When we finished our Umrah, he graciously offered to pay for our ...

Amazing to be here! This is the first and original mosque to have ever been built. We believe it to have been ordered of Abraham to be built at this location by God. This is the culmination of a lot of anticipation in every Muslimīs life!

... are a newly wed at that time (we were married on April 2006, and this voyage start on June 2006), because if either me or my husband getting romantic it could undo our niyat, and we have to go back to Bir Ali to do the preparation all over again. The journey was as exciting as it was exhausting.

... kali seminggu. Saya pantau pemakanan dan kesihatan mereka. Saya mula mengajar hukum hakam berkaitan dengan urusan umrah/haji dan mengingatkan mereka supaya sentiasa berdoa agar Allah memberi yang terbaik untuk kami, diterima ibadah kami dan kesihatan yang sempurna sepanjang kami disana. Kami mengikuti satu rombongan kecil dari hajj operator yang cukup berpengalaman. Urusan dr awal hinggal akhir diuruskan dengan sempurna. Penerbangan kami tiba di Jeddah dan terus dibawa ke ...

... ama penumpang yang bakalan mereka bawa ke negeri sebrang. Wong JoWo tulen...! ora isa basa Indonesia!! apa lagi bahasa Inggris. Jangankan disapa, dideketin aja da cari cara gimana biar ga di samperin..(geleng2 kepala)..segitunya ma orang asing. Gimana mau maju! Waduh, ni nyindir diri sendiri.. :'( Selama perjalanan yang bisa diliat cuma awan2 tebal yang bertingkat2, itu yang sejajar. Bagian bawah, yang ...