my name is dinie. i am 15. i enjoy drawing. i like to make new friends :)

16thoctober1995

I was perspiring profusely by the time I reached home after a tiring day at school. I slacked on a chair, worn out. Then the phone rang. It was my uncle. He asked me whether or not I wanted to tag along. My aunt and uncle, together with my grandma and sister had planned on going for umrah since last year but it was postponed as there was congestion in makkah and some visa problems.

I was in a dilemma. Should I go or should I not? I know it was a once in a lifetime opportunity but olevels are just around the corner! I knew I would miss 2 weeks of school if i were to go but I wouldnt want to miss the fun as well. My parents urged me to go. They said that I would be able to catch up with school and it is a big waste if i were to not go.

My uncle registered my name two days after that. Although some teachers were really mad at me for going umrah, I was convinced that to tag along would be a better option rather than to miss the golden opportunity.

On the 12th of March,
I reached Changi Airport at around 9pm as i would be checking in at 10. It was very thoughtful of my friends to come as it was late at night.

I flew with Emirates Airlines and it took off at 1am. The food served was yucky! It tasted like dog food but some were still edible. I was not able to see anything from the window as it was pitch-dark outside.

I reached Dubai Airport for transit and then flew straight to Jeddah. By the time I was in Jeddah I was beat. It was in the morning around 8am but in Singapore, it would have been 1pm. There was a slight delay as the bus we were supposed to take went to the wrong airport and some people from our group had lost their luggage. I managed to take some pictures there at the airport as i had nothing better to do.







After several hours on the bus, we reached our hotel. It was located around 100m away from Masjidil Haram. There was a lot of people there. Millions of them.

We ate our breakfast in our room. The room was really big and spacious and it was really nice. We went out after that to perform umrah in Haram(Masjidil Haram). Haram was really cool! It was exceptionally exceedingly ginormous. I was captivated by the beauty of the mosque, from its complicated structure to its minute details. The Holy Kaabah in black kiswah. Muslims performing the tawaf in an anticlockwise motion. Subhanallah. Glory be to Him, the Creator of mankind... Labbaikallahumma labbaik. It was scorching hot, with little humidity, the sky was glaring, the heart humbled by God's grace.

Days bled into one another
Dates i couldnt remember
Of course, i had no bother
Just to bow before my Creator

The best thing about Haram, to me, is its cleaning services. They have a lot of cleaners, mostly from Bangladesh and Indonesia. The cleaners over there are being highly respected rather than being looked down upon. They are extremely fastidious people who would wipe the same Quran twice every 5 minutes. You will never see even a speck of dust over there as everything is being polished continuously 24/7. the cleaning of haram is the the fastest process of cleaning in the most difficult place in the world which can be cleaned. Here is a video of the cleaning outside haram.




I also visited some prominent places in both Mecca and Medina, like Ma'la, Jibil Uhud, Thur, Rahmah, dates plantation, some camel (herding?)(breeding?)(rearing?) place-tasted some camel milk at my father's insistence-it was smell free and a bit too watery for my liking. I even climbed Jabal An-Nour.

here are some pics:







It was very exhausting! I reached at the peak an hour later. It was freezing on top but it was worth it. The view was splendid.






I managed to get in Ghar Hira'. It can occupy around 2 men inside. I had muscle cramps after that. My legs hurt a lot and my body ached all over.

I really like how the turks dress.


Iranians wear full burqa. There are a few strange things that I saw.
A LOT of old egyptian and arab women had tribal tattoos on their faces like this:

I even saw people wearing metal plates on their faces and I later knew that it is called metal burqa.


After a week in Mecca, we went to Medina by bus. It was a seven hour drive and I slept throughout. We checked in Taibah Hotel which is a lot smaller than the one in Mecca.

The next day, we headed to Nabawi Mosque to perform fajr prayers. Although it is not as big as Haram, it is equally as beautiful. It is very colourful and completely air-conditioned. Al-Masjid anNabawi is the mosque which is built by our prophet Muhammad s.a.w himself. But it had undergone several expansions so that it can hold more people. The mosque enclosure is 100 times bigger than the first mosque and can accommodate more than half a million worshippers. It has rooftops that slide open after maghrib prayers.

Masjidin Nabawi is magnificently beautiful and I was awestruck with its beauty.(word repeat,lol) It was NOTHING that I imagined it to be~cool[airconditioned], tranquil, red-carpeted[God is in the details], clean, neat, spacious, its marble pillars donned with many Qurans, Muslims praying, reciting the Quran, doing zikr, resting, the many coolers of zamzam water lined up waiting to be drunk :), the full-hijabed women guards, the babies and kids who cried when their mothers prayed.

The security within Nabawi Mosque is very tight. Everyone had to be scanned for security purposes before entering the holy mosque. in the Mosque.Things like cameras, camera phones, large water bottles, shopping bags, etc are not allowed in the mosque.

Medina is a very calm and serene city. Things there are sold at a higher price. The people there are not as friendly either.


Masjid anNabawi

my uncle; ghar hira

ghar hira

mekkah

medina

Bought some abayas in Medina and books in Mecca... Oh, and had rice and pitas from the street vendor it was okay, i guess, the bread was a bit dry but otherwise, okay, and had a lot of ice-cream (blueberry, lime and old fashioned butter pecan) from baskin 31 robbins.. yum! delisioso

Too soon, it was time to get back home. :(
The airplane was so cramp. Airplane seats are the most uncomfortable things EVER!!! my neck+shoulders hurt SOOO MUCH... The seats are not ergonomic at all!!! But amazingly, by some kind of miracle, I managed to get some shut-eye during the flight.
(and watched the movies you again and toy story 3 too while airborne. my grandma didnt approve of me watching movies and nudged me a few times but well/// hmm...im too stubborn to listen, and the second movie was quite interesting, haha)
At the airport-reunited with my family.

ooh, i almost forgot, i even rode on a camel

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