Thursday, September 27, 2012

Jeddah-Madinah: extreme heat, heatsroke, immigration,etc

After 11 hours flight, we arrived at King Abdul Azis Airport, Jeddah.  A little worried about my last name and, err yes, the immigration officer called me. He asked me some question in Arabic, which i didn't understand. So he called another officer, a very good looking officer btw, to ask me. And he asked me question, like do I have a mahram along, and I called my parents and my brother. And all is well.

Then we went outside and welcomed by an extreme heat. Like, seriously hot out there. I started to feel dizzy. So I drank so many water. But seriously it's very hot here.

After so many inspection we were heading out to Medina. There I saw the real Saudi Arabia. Desert...desert everywhere. Stopped a while to do Dzuhur & Ashr prayer and the extreme heat just made my headache getting worse. Don't ask me what kind of scenery I saw because I was asleep.

We entered Medina around 5.30 pm and head straight to hotel. My mom looked at my face and realized how pale it was. "are you alright" she asked me. I couldn't do anything but  shake my head. So she asked me to sit down and gave me a meal. Then I ate dates. And bread. And milk. And so many water. And I felt better.

Then we heading to our room, and planned to go to Nabawi to join Isya prayer. But we were very tired so we decided to rest and go to Nabawi the next day.

And that was my first day in Saudi Arabia.

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Hajj

Labbaik Allahumma Labbaik. Labbaikala syarikalaka labbaik. Innal hamda wan ni'mata. Laka wal mulk laa syarikalak.

Hello.

So from about 40 days ahead, me and my family will go hajj, the final thing of principles of Islam.

It's my first time to do Hajj, and my first time to go overseas. Of course I feel anxious. Nervous and excitement all over me. Will I be alright there? Will I be a better Moslem? Will I encounter some miracles? I don't know. All I know is I have to answer God's call.

Labbaik Allahumma Labbaik

PS: I'm planning to do a daily journal for this journey.