Umrah: Makkah [2/2]

I left off the last post with miqat at Masjid Bir Ali. Sadly (or not really) we didn't take any picture the first time we did umrah (we did thrice in a week or so - I don't know if it was just me but waaay back during my first umrah trip, I thought we'll only do umrah once. Turns out the travel agent will guide you from miqat to bertahlul 3 times). I did take some pictures during our 2nd and 3rd umrah so scroll away!

This picture was taken while we were waiting for the Asar prayer. It may look like there weren't a lot of people, but trust me, it was pretty packed. It was SUPER hot in the afternoon, hence the significantly less number of people.

Rasulullah Sallallahu Alayhi Wa Sallam pernah bersabda; “120 rahmat turun ke atas Kaabah setiap hari dan malam, 60 rahmat bagi mereka yang melakukan tawaf, 40 rahmat bagi yang mendirikan solat, 20 rahmat untuk mereka yang hanya memandang Kaabah.” 

Taken from the second floor. The view was so, mesmerizing. Seeing people tawaf, and praying... you feel so small.

Jabal Rahmah
Where Prophet Adam Alaihis Salam and Eve met after years of being separated. Famously known as the most ideal place to doa for your jodoh *cough cough.

It's technically not THAT high, but the climb was quite a challenge!

Especially with a lot of people.

Preclimb mandatory pose.

Mamma mia. If you hadn't noticed our  family just really like to hug each other. ...Which all family should do?

Me and my younger brother. I am officially the shortest in the family but who cares! Hmph.

Always looking out for her children aww lol not really I think my mom went back inside the bus because it was too hot outside xD

The rocks (especially near the top) were badly vandalized with people writing their name and their partner's -_- For what purpose? I have no idea. Sometimes it feels like it's borderline khurafat when it comes to these things but wallahualam.

Umrah - Miqat di Masjid Tanaim
The last time we do umrah together with people in our group, sobs. However as a family we did it again on our own by taking the van to the same masjid. More on that later.

Everytime we have to take the bus to go somewhere, it's always a little confusing and chaotic because there were a lot of buses outside so we didn't know which one is ours, and the road is always jammed! But you just stick with your group and wait for instructions from your mutawwif and it'll be fine. Also my sister can always sense when there's a camera around.

Hahahaha sengih takleh bla

....Do I even need to put caption on this I don't think so.

Aww love this picture of me and my dad! :)) Hashtag cute.

Before this picture was taken there was a beggar at the back photobombing omg it was creepy but this picture turned out nice :D

Let me just say doing umrah during the day, under the hot sun was not the easiest thing to do (the first time we did umrah was during midnight, like 12.30 a.m. I think so it wasn't too hot). And I remember I didn't eat breakfast because I was rushing but Alhamdulillah, I drank some air zamzam and prayed for strength to complete my umrah that time and everything went well :) 

Sa'ie. I just remembered I wasn't in this picture because I did the whole umrah with our group. My parents like to do it on their own, separate from the group as my dad said he likes to use that time to reflect on his life, more personal liddat.

I mean the mutawwif IS there to lead, that is his job but it's up to you if you want to do it yourself, especially if you've done it before and you know the drill. But I decided to join the group because all this time I've done it with my family, so ya know just trying something new. And I definitely prefer doing it with the group with our mutawwif leading the pack instead of doing it on our own, because: 

1) The ustaz reads out the doa from the book so you just repeat what he said and don't have to fumble with the book - great for those mak cik pak cik that cannot really read the small font in the book and might read the doa wrong, tajwid-wise.

2) This feels a little selfish lol but okay during tawaf, when you're IN your group, and you stand in the middle, your groupmates around you sort of form a, shield? 'Kubu pertahanan' lol so like you don't get pushed too hard by strangers. So this is great for perempuan but lelaki, sorry la you have to on the 'border' of the group and protect us ladies (◡‿◡✿) Jasamu dikenang.

3) Idk my group is just fun to be around so :)

Me and my sister were absolutely jakun over our brother's bald head. It's the first time he shaved it all and idk I just like touching it? Hahahah

Exhausted.

The masjid IS pretty and all but with the white tiles, it reflects the sun and you can barely keep your eyes open from the silau! Sunglasses helps, A LOT.

All the constructions going on. In fact the hotel we stayed at won't even be there in the near future! All to be demolished for new buildings (and more expensive hotels)

Jabal Nur (Gua Hira') - in which I may never ever conquer Gunung Everest but hey Jabal Nur has more of Allah's blessings, isn't it?
This trip was optional and you have to pay extra (25 riyal per person) if you want to climb Jabal Nur. Way back in Malaysia before we came here, my dad already asked us to bring appropriate clothes for the ~adventure~ but back then I didn't even think of going, no thanks I'll pass. But somehow, kuasa Allah, I just felt compelled to do it. Might as well go up while I'm still young and able-bodied, ey? So I did. The trip was purposely done at night (bus left at 10 p.m.) as the temperature was a little cooler and the sun is not boiling you up. Only me, my dad and brother went, my mom and sister stayed at the hotel.

Did I regret it? Not even a tiny bit. Was it hard? Heck yes. It was the most physically demanding thing I have ever done in my life. Jabal Nur is 642 meter, and that is higher than KLCC which is only at 452 meter!! It was like taking the stairs up alllllll the way to the tip of KLCC, by stairs. It took us about an hour. If anybody's reading this and planning to go, please please please please do. It was SO worth it. We struggled to get a good picture when we go up omg it was frustrating but just the feeling, knowing that this is the place where Rasulullah used to pray, he used to be here. And gotta say the view was pretty spectacular.


Before the climb. For some reason the bottom of the mountain was located in some secluded, dangerous-looking neighborhood and there have been cases where jemaah got their stuff stolen.. welp. So us ladies really have to be careful!
OOTD: Shirt: My dad's. | Track pants: My brother's. | Sandal: My sister's. Tudung: My own.
Di mana ada kemahuan, di situ ada jalan! ;) Tapi ada je mak cik lain pakai jubah naik, sampai jugak Gua Hira' tu. So ladies, kalau takde seluar pun, YOLO je!
Ah the tongkat, you ask? Well my dad has climbed Jabal Nur before and he said some part of the mountain will be hard to walk, so the tongkat will become really useful. Nope. Turns out it wasn't much of a use as the whole way was paved with cement stairs. Baru fefeling nak rock climbing, takde maknonya. Macam naik tangga je! Just that the stairs were not the same size, can be steep, etc but they are still stairs. Point is: no need to buy tongkat.

An hour later we reached the top! Alhamdulillah. Berpeluh boleh perah baju lolz. There were stops and benches along the way so you can really take your time! :) There was this mak cik in our group who was 56 years old and she managed to climb it. What's your excuse? Wink. ALSO don't forget to bring a bottle of water!!!! In our case the mutawwif actually belanja everyone (but I think that was part of the 25 riyal.... lol)

I was the first female in our group to reach the top! Haha (just telling a fact here, not bragging by any means). Though to be fair I think I was the youngest. I know I've tweeted this but while climbing Jabal Nur, dengan mengah separuh pengsan (literally), all I could think in my head was: Cintanya Siti Khadijah kepada Rasulullah mendaki gunung ni hari-hari untuk memberi baginda makan. Sekarang ada tangga, dulu batu dan pasir je. Gelap pulak tu. Masya Allah, kagum sangat. Aku yang muda ni pun tercungap-cungap toksah cakap, apatah lagi Siti Khadijah yang dah agak berusia. I can only hope one day I'll love someone half as much (ceh).

Look at how sweaty my brother was hahaha he reached the top faster than any of us bleh show off

Flash is too bright no flash is too dark we had no idea what to do?? I didn't pray inside the gua itself because I didn't bring my telekung and I'm kinda regretting that now. Next time, insya Allah. There weren't too many people when we reached the gua, but more and more people were coming so you have to take turns to pray.





The view! This picture did not do JUSTICE AT ALL how pretty it was.

There was an area you can hang around and rest before the journey of going back down. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE being there. It was so peaceful and calming. I wanted to stay there for hours.

See that cat sitting beside my brother? That was where I sat for a few minutes before the cat came by and start ...bergesel behind my back and I'm so ticklish!!! So I moved. But honestly I called that cat Kucing Fearless because he just hop around here and there even though we're on the edge of a mountain??!? Cat?? U ok??

When you see it.... (you'll find my brother).
Ladang Unta
This trip (ladang unta + muzium below) was also optional and you need to pay 25 riyal per person. Long story short, only me and my brother went for it. We had fun though!

Baru jumpa dah jadi kawan baik ok
LOL I WAS TOO SCARED TO GO NEAR THE UNTA because he bites!!! Look at that smug.


Ustazah by day, rapper by night.
Muzium Mekah
We got to see some of the older stuff that used to be part of Kaabah (the doors used, telaga air zamzam zaman dahulu, etc.) It was pretty short and sweet.




Nak sentuh Makam Ibrahim yang sekarang ni susah, ramai orang, so sentuh yang lama punya pun jadi la










Umrah: The last time and how I ended up walking with a limp
We went for miqat on our own since we were not really doing anything that day, so my dad stopped a van (there were plenty of them along the road outside our hotel) and we were lucky to get a pretty comfortable one with aircond. Some were in pretty bad condition. I can't remember how much the ride cost us but it was pretty cheap. DON'T take the taxi! They rip people off big time. Or so I've heard.

I just found out The Clock Tower is the second tallest building in the world right now lol when I was there I noticed how tall it was, but had no idea about the said fact!


Selesai tawaf.

If anybody's wondering what that orange drawstring bag is, it's where we put our shoes in. My mom bought one for each of us and before we enter the masjid, we'll put our shoes in that. DEFINITELY recommend everyone going for umrah to bring one (I mean technically you can bring just a plastic bag buuuut a drawstring bag lasts longer.) We got ours at Mr DIY, but I've seen similar ones at Daiso :)
STORY TIME - the long version
Basically I was having the unluckiest day of my life. I was fine during tawaf, but then while I was doing sa'ie I had a bad stomachache and I had to leave the sa'ie place to go outside and find a toilet. I walked probably around 20 minutes, following the sign to the toilet and it's allllll the way on the other side of the masjid. Sabar je la. THEN. As I was about to enter the toilet, I look up and there were a few birds on the roof of the toilet entrance. I look down and saw a lot of birds' poo (crap? idk what's the word to use here). So I walked really fast in order to avoid getting crapped on.

Guess what.

I felt something fell on my head. Bird's crap. It was teeny tiny, just at the side of my telekung, but IT WAS STILL POO. AND GREEN. AND GROSS. Haih, sabar je la. So I washed it away, and I couldn't use soap because of the pantang-larang ihram, and went to the toilet, and walked back inside the sa'ie place. Luckily the crap stain did not look too obvious. I was separated from my family but that's fine, we'll meet up at the end of the sa'ie place on second floor. However the problem was, I was not sure I was at Safa or Marwah end of the long hall. And I was too much of a chicken to ask stranger so yay me. I walked to the nearest end of the hall but there was no sign saying it's Safa or Marwah. Then because I was on the second floor, they had this big 'doughnut' opening that looks like a well/telaga and you can look down on the first floor (sort of like at shopping mall, where you can look down on what's happening on the ground floor). So I did, in the hope of finding if it's Safa or Marwah. And I wanted to see if there's anything interesting to look at. Nothing.

And I was about to turn around, this woman on an electronic wheelchair came out of nowhere and hit me, at full speed. The wheelchair's heavy wheels ran over my left feet and rammed it to the wall. For a few seconds I was shocked, then I felt the pain. And I crouched down and do what other girls would do: cry. The woman on the wheelchair came to see me and touched my left feet to see if it was okay but I totally just pushed her away while sobbing my eyes out. I DON'T KNOW MAN I WAS IN PAIN. AND ALONE. AND A BIRD JUST POOPED ON MY HEAD. I was not having a good day. But I have to admit, that was a bitchy to do :/

Then this one akak, probably 4 or 5 years older than me came by and asked how am I doing, and who did I come here with, etc. She's from Malaysia but not from our travel agent. She was so nice!!! She stayed with me till my parents finally came and saw me crying there lol. Kebetulan pulak, she has a friend who is a nurse... hmph cantik sangat. I took off my socks and phew, so relieved there was no blood. It didn't look that bad, just minor bruises really and I even tried to stand up to continue my sa'ie, but I took 2 steps and I cringed in pain and sat down and cried, again. Anyway, the nurse asked me to move my toes and at first I COULDN'T AND I PANICKED but I managed to move it a little. Then she asked if I can bend my feet and I could, so she concluded nothing was broken. Just soft tissues affected. So huge relief there.

Cutting story short (lol Anis really), my dad paid 50 riyal for the automatic wheelchair and my brother yang terlebih excited to drive the thing around for me to complete my sa'ie. Suami akak tu cakap patut orang yang langgar tu bagi wheelchair dia to me which I AGREE. Speaking of that woman, she eventually came around again and apologized, saying 'You are my daughter' and kissed me on the forehead. I forgave her. I may sound bitter but I really wasn't. I was 100% sure ada hikmah kenapa benda ni terjadi. Maybe as a punishment. Ramai cakap kalau sakit-sakit kat Tanah Suci ni benda yang baik. So kalau kena langgar ni apatah lagi kannnn lolol. But honestly, I saw the whole thing on a positive note.

Sooooo then it took me 10 minutes longer to walk to the hotel from the masjid because I was limping. I put some ointment on my feet and later that evening we went to the Andalusia Office to ask about bringing me to the clinic. Since we were gonna home the next day and the clinic's pretty expensive, we just settled on borrowing a crutch - which was wakaf-ed by someone THE DAY BEFORE. Macam tau-tau je hamba Allah ni memang amat memerlukan benda tersebut :P

But because we didn't go to the clinic, my feet was not bandaged or anything and it looked normal when I put my socks on. It's just so awkward when I walk around using that crutch and people automatically look down to see what's wrong with my feet and it looked totally fine..... THE PAIN IS INSIDE. INTERNAL. YOU KNOW NOTHING, JON SNOW. Buuuut the story spreads pretty fast around the hotel, especially among people in our group. People were genuinely concerned and cared for me, so that was nice :')

I believe I was asking for a hug from my mom in this picture. Also orang tengah sakit but my brother and sister were arguing because they both wanted to sit on the wheelchair haiz


Aww look at my brother and sister carrying me :') Lol sekejap je tu sebab papah lagi sakit so I just walk, limping. Last day in Makkah - tawaf wida' on a wheelchair
We borrowed the wheelchair from our travel agent, whom we were so thankful for because to rent a wheelchair would cost probably 25 riyal.

Our hotel! Hera Hotel. It was a nice hotel, tucked in a corner. Most importantly it has free WiFi at the lobby and that's where you'll find people with smartphone hang out (read: youth). What my sister dubbed "muka budak suci" ahahaha



Make way for the youngest person on a wheelchair, people




I owed so, so much to my sister, my dad, and my mom for pushing the wheelchair because it must've been hard under the hot sun and a lot of people and let's be honest I'm not exactly light.
However because I was 'shorter' on the wheelchair than everybody else, I did feel a little claustrophobic (read: looking at people's butts). But on that last round of tawaf, the last one I'll ever do in a while, I cried. No, I bawled my eyes out. Honestly if you don't cry looking at Kaabah for the last time there's something seriously wrong with you. I kept thinking, what if this is the last time I'll ever come here? Adakah rezeki untuk aku datang lagi, haih ya Allah. Sayu dan teramat sebak. Memikirkan bertuahnya aku dapat menjadi tetamu Allah kali ini. Walaupun diri hina bergelumang dosa. Hanya boleh berdoa segala ibadat yang aku lakukan di Tanah Suci ini diterima Allah.


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Some random/interesting/funny stories that I do not know where to put in this post so I'll just put them all in one space:
1) Hotel lobby:
a] I was with my mom and I used my crutch to get out of the lift. Then there was this one pak cik (probably 40-ish) who asked how I got injured, and later said: "Ingatkan Siti Nurhaliza yang patah kaki tadi." I've never facepalmed so hard oh my god...... sejak bila muka aku macam Siti ni pak cik oiii jauh benar bezanya macam langit dan bumi! Nak flattered pun tak boleh sebab terlalu ridiculous??!?!? Lolz

b] I couldn't go to the masjid due to my injured feet, so I decided to go to the lobby to watch the tv there that usually air the live broadcast of people praying at Masjidil Haram. The lobby was empty except for this pak cik who was honestly 4 or 5 years younger than my dad and we started talking and that's fine but he used 'I' and 'you'?? Like???? He asked me 'you study kat mana' and like 'Masa I pergi Germany dulu bla bla bla' and I'm just (。・_・。) IT WAS SO WEIRD. Geli pun ada lolz

2) Lift:
a] Lift hotel ni cepat overload. Walaupun ada ruang untuk orang masuk lagi, kadang-kadang dah bunyi alarm menandakan kena keluar la sesiapa dalam lift tu. Lawak pun ada, jadi macam game pun ada bila orang akan cuba masuk, nak tengok bunyi ke tak lift tu heh. One time I was standing at the back of the lift, holding a plate of nasi with some lauk from dewan makan to eat in my room. Bila lift tu berbunyi, sorang pak cik ni cakap: "Nasi tu yang berat" which I thought was hilarious hahahahh sorry la sesiapa yang kena keluar time tu :P

b] I was going up from the lobby to my room and there was this guy around my age in the lift as well and he asked me something tawaf but I couldn't hear so I just said yes lol. Turns out he asked tawaf sunat perlu pakai kain ihram ke so I answered no (which is true). But I'm still puzzled why would he ask me out of all people zomg I've never worn kain ihram in my life? Maybe I looked ustazah enough at that time (｡◕‿◕｡)

3) Sa'ie: Doing sa'ie with my group was thebomb.com. IDK MAN I JUST LIKE MY GROUP THEY WERE NICE AND FRIENDLY. So anyway. Ketika pusingan ke-5 sa'ie, our mutawwif announced ada 2 pusingan je lagi. Then bila dah pusingan ke-7, pusingan terakhir, he jokingly announced again ni pusingan ke-5, ada 2 round lagi sabar sikit eh. Some people in our group were confused and then this pak cik said: "Lima kali dua tujuh la" omg HAHAHAHAH I'M SORRY I'm bad at telling stories but it was so funny at that time you had to be there. Pak cik ni matematik mesti A+ la. Also we stopped by to drink air zamzam during the last round (7th) and even then our mutawwif said to drink because jauh lagi perjalanan lolz I like that everybody was, not uptight and just take everything light and easy nomsain

4) Gua Hira': Along the way to the top, there were quite a lot of peminta sedekah. They clearly know we're Malaysians and one beggar said 'Malaysia Boleh' and I'm just so confuzzled HOW IN THE WORLD does he know that phrase. Even *I* haven't heard it in awhile. This Kelantanese guy in our group said kat atas tu ada tv kot dia tengok lolol.

b] There was this one mak cik who couldn't even walk up to the bottom of the hill and our mutawwif was already waaaay ahead and us at the back called him and then he came back down. While laughing. Kuang asam punya ustaz lol orang dah tua, sakit kaki boleh gelak pulak : P But then he stayed to take care of her I think, so.

5) Masjid: We were waiting for azan and we sat beside these 2 women from, I'm not even sure, Turkey? And they asked my sister where we're from. And by ask I mean they just list some random countries because they do not speak English. My sister said 'Malaysia'. They didn't understand. Then somehow somebody pronounced Malaysia as 'Malizia' and THEN they finally get it. So now we know how to pronounce it so others could understand :P

6) When we left the hotel to do our tawaf wida', I was sitting on the wheelchair and then I heard somebody asked 'kenapa ni, apa jadi?' then one guy answered 'kena langgar masa sa'ie' and we had NO IDEA who that guy was. Like he was not in our group or anything. I REALLY wonder how far the news of me getting injured has traveled around the hotel o_o Orang Melayu, bab-bab sebar cerita ni nombor satu heh biasa ler.

Sigh there were so many little stories that happen everyday that I wish I could write and tell but I'm sure I've forgotten some. Some I'll just keep to myself. Sometimes it all comes back in flashes and I'd smile to myself :') It was awesome being there. The whole hotel was occupied by Malaysians and it TOTALLY felt like we were in one small kampung. Good times, good times. I definitely feel umrah this time around was, spiritually fulfilling than the first one. Alhamdulillah. Words cannot describe how much I miss being there and I can only pray I'll be invited to be His guest once again.


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I HAVE FINALLY FINISHED WRITING THIS BLOG POST. IT TOOK ME A WHOLE WEEK (OR MORE).
Yes it's long and yes I am 100% sure nobody reads the whole thing word by word - but I will. In 5, 10 years from now and thank myself now for all the effort (ceh). Because honestly I might remember how I got my feet injured, but I'll forget the little details. I might forget the people I pass by and have little conversation in dewan makan, or at the lobby, so this blog post serves as a reminder.

With that, I am done writing about my umrah experience! Hope this was useful or at least entertaining to somebody. If anybody's planning to go for umrah and stumbled upon this blog, feel free to ask me any questions! Phew. Also one last note lip balm and sunglasses were VITAL during the trip so... yeah. That's that.


I want to apologize if I made any fact error (grammatical error tu toksah cakap ler memang banyak). Sesungguhnya yang baik itu datang dari Allah dan yang buruk itu datang daripada diri saya sendiri (I'VE ALWAYS WANTED TO SAY THIS LINE I guess it's quite appropriate here).

Assalamualaikum and minggu depan raya!!!!!