Le Meridien 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 ...

Well, I have just come back from a fabulous weekend away in the "summer capital of Saudi" - Taif!!!

I just so happenned to be in the recreation office at the right time, and was offerred a seat. 900 SR for the weekend away ($300 ISH AUD), all inclusive - meals, accommodation, transport, everything!

The hotel we stayed in was the Ramada Al Hada, gorgeous place actually. It was positioned right up in the mountain range, giving us fabulous views of the mountains surrounding us ...

... are the open areas around it where you see people living in cardboard huts sifting through the refuse people throw away for whatever they can sell and/or use.

We had earmarked the latter part of our stay for trips, but there was an unexpected death in the family and complications with my in-laws housing which grounded us for the remainder of our trip --I wasn't even able to visit the old part of Jeddah, which has some amazing architecture.

This is by far the most tedious part of the drive. Eight hours of virtually nothing but scrubby landscape with the occasional rocky outcrop. There are exits now and then but no cities to speak of. Fortunately the kids were sacked out sleeping, so I plugged my iPod into the car stereo and we listened to a variety of lectures and songs. This is when I am most concerned about my husband -- and only driver -- becoming fatigued and needing to pull ...

... Madinah, Madinah-Mekkah, Mekkah, Mekkah, Mekkah-Jedah, Jedah-Jakarta. Harga sudah termasuk : -Tiket pesawat ekonomi kelas Jkt-Jed-Jkt.-Akomodasi hotel-Perlengkapan Umroh-Makan 3x/hari-Air Zam-zam@10liter-Transportasi di Tanah Suci-Visa Umroh-Executive Lounge. Harga belum termasuk : -Pengeluaran pribadi seperti telepon,laundry,fax,tips,program tambahan.-Kelebihan bagasi maks 20kg-Akomodasi & tiket pesawat ...

... it made him feel unmanley. Because of this we asked for a different person for our return trip to the Airport in Jeddah. Of couse, we had the same driver, but after he had been explained that it was the speed that concerned us, he gladly slowed down to 130 km per hour, or so, and all was fine.

Once in Medina we settled in to a much larger, newer looking city, that was at least 15-20 degrees cooler. The Prophet's Mosque [PBUH] was immaculate and perhaps constituted ...

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.

... budak-budak kat bilik lain lah ;-) ) . Budak-budak kecik walau lain bangsa tapi bila sama2 berkongsi pengalaman besar macam ni, dorang memang click cepat. Paling saya kagum bila dorang dok bincang2 pasal perbezaan mazhab (kami syafi'iyyah dan dorang hanafiyyah) dan cuba banding2 apa yang sama dan apa yang berbeza dlm ibadat harian. Rehat kejap, kami ke Makkah buat Tawaf Qudum dan buat umrah sekali. Masa tu makin terasa berdebar menunggu masa nak tunaikan fardhu haji nanti.

... depan ada orangnya, ya dengan terpaksa harus turun ke lt dasar. Kata pramugarinya di bawah lebih banyak... Saat menuju toilet, DIENG!!! HAH!!! kok, gini?! BANJIR dimana-mana?! ada apa?! Oh, ternyata...para tamu pesawat tidak terbiasa dengan model kamar mandinya. Mereka membutuhkan air untuk membersihkan semuanya, untuk mengguyar segalanya. Tetapi kamar mandi pesawat tidak menyediakan cedok. Ya...dengan ...