UMRAH TRIP 2014

Assalamualaikum to my Muslim brothers and sisters and  hello alls!

Imma blog about my umrah trip on 02022014. Alhamdulillah, dengan izin Allah swt, my parents and I were selected to be one of "tetamu Allah" this year, dapat pergi melawat Nabi Muhammad saw, mengerjakan umrah dan beribadah di Tanah Suci. Syukur...

Previously, each time somebody tells me that they went to perform their umrah, my first question will be, "Seronok tak?" and to my surprise, their response would be, "Seronok sangat-sangat. Kalau boleh taknak balik". To be frank, I never did understood what's so fun about these two historical cities, except for the fact that I've always been mesmerised with the holy Kaabah @ Makkah and knowing the fact that our last prophet's 'makam' is in good care but other than that, I don't get kenapa orang sampai tak nak balik Malaysia. Again, that was what that had been lingering around my head before I went there myself.

Oh, I lost my phone as soon as I reached Madina. Accidentally left it on the bus from Jeddah heading to Madina. Had this strong feeling that this is going to happened thou. Ibu and Ayah said it's a sign that He wants me to focus on my ibadah, no doubt. I felt the same way too.
But being the spoiled brat I am, I ALWAYS get what I want. Did the same trick like when I lost my MacBook and iPad
->sit and stare on the bed without blinking not knowing what to do in life lead me to an iPhone5S, replacing my iPhone5. Alhamdulillah. Thank you, Ayah :* 

A few of my friends were performing their umrahs as while I was there, but we didn't crosspass each other since we all left on different dates. Anyhoo, as for us, we went to Madina first instead of Makkah. As soon as we arrived Jeddah, we took the bus to Madina and reached there around 3 or 4am. Perfect timing for us since Subuh was around 4:45am. Checked-in and went straight to Masjid Nabawi (which was so beautiful btw! Everything about it was perfection including the big electronic shelters!

Masjid Al-Nabawi, Madina

Subuh. The shelters were closed before solat.

and it bloomed right after!

Alhamdulillah,  after one of our solat Subuh there, we had the chance to visit and solat sunat at Raudhah. Raudhah is a place in between mimbar and makam Rasulullah saw, and its the place where Rasulullah had performed his solat till his last breath. 

There were A LOT of people waiting for the gate to open. Like seriously, ramai sangat-sangat you can even have this mental image of you might get the chance of kena pijak if semua sekali masuk Raudhah (sizing at 22 x 15m).

I had goosebumps all the way while I was there. There's something about the place where you feel somehow rather "weird" in a good sad way thou. People were running and crushing one another towards the tiangs for solat sunat. And yes, kepala kena pijak and sepak, no one cares. Kagum, sedih, terharu semua ada bila tengok.

entering Raudhah 

Raudhah

Men's side of Raudhah

pakcik sugi since forever ada dekat pagar masjid jual sugi tak bergerak-gerak.

if you're a Starbucks-holic like me, you can still get your cuppa coffee in Madina, it's at the mall next to H&M
(from Masjid Nabawi, exit gate 1)

I enjoyed the burgers at Hardee's oh so much cuz twas the almost the size of my face when my face wasn't as huge as a watermelon, mind you. Hardee's is the brotherline of Carl's Jr except for the fact it's awesomer. 

Iced Caramel Macchiato. Not so sure whether it's just me or what, but the expresso shots are so gooooooooood there... 

...and I had two CMs inna day!

random person helping out the olderly.

Ziarah

This is a gugusan of buah kurma freshly picked and freezed. Serious sedap sangat no words can describe! Must try! tak ada dekat Makkah.

an evening at Masjid Nabawi. Click to enlarge.

Makam para sahabat Rasulullah.

After four amazing days at Madina, it was time to say goodbye and Assalamualaikum to Rasulullah and proceed with our main intention, umrah. I felt sad, not wanting to leave this amazing city just yet, but whatodo... Hopefully rezeki lebih tahun depan boleh visit and do umrah lagi. InsyaAllah. Aamiin.

Makam Rasulullah.

This is where we did our Miqat. It's at Masjid Dzulhulaifah Abyar 'Ali. 

Arrived Makkah around 1:30am, went straight for our first umrah. First impression when I saw Kaabah? No words can describe how fascinated I was. Cantik, besar. Kagum when tengok semua orang keliling dia, sujud, solat. Lagi terharu when selama ni kita solat kesatu arah, which is arah Kaabah, but sekarang it's in front of me. Macam tak percaya. Tears couldn't stop streaming.

gambar tangkap curi-curi after tawaf and solat sunat. hehe. 

the 3rd floor for the handicaps to tawaf. 

prolly my fave Kaabah-and-I shot hihi

Again, if you're a Starbucks-holic, you can find Starbucks at the ZamZam Mall.
This is a shot of my iced CM in front of Masjidilharam =)

Masjidilharam at night. Dunno why the photo wasn't centered. haiya!

At Jabal Rahmah. The place where Nabi Adam and Siti Hawa met lepas diturunkan from Syurga.

Ladang unta.

In between solat. Since there were A LOT of people (cuti sekolah Saudi Arabia) there, we decided not to go back to the hotel from Zohor till Isya'.

Recited alQuran, Surah al-Baqarah. It has been awhile since the last time I read the holy Quran. Syukur Alhamdulillah I had the chance to do a recitation at Masjidilharam.
(I started alQuran when I was 12 years old and khatamed before I turned 13)

If you're  into calligraphies, do get a customized phone covers at the malls there. Pricing at 15-25riyals a piece! I did three! TAMAK!

Last night at Makkah, my mom decided to stayback at Masjidilharam for a bit to perform solat hajat, solat tahajjud, solat sunat etc and to stare at the holy Kaabah. Me being the fatard I am, bawak bekal kebab and sandwiches and asked my mom if we could "camp" in front of Masjidilharam just like everyone else. She agreed and paw-ed my bekal. pfffft! :P

My parents and I.

selfie!

I personally didn't wanna go back home just yet. I had so much fun there, 12 days wasn't enough. My dad asked me, "seronok tak?", I shook my head and said, "the best ever!". He kinda promised to bring me again for the next umrah and I so hope they do! I don't travel much but I've been to places, tagging my parents going here and there on earth and trust me, Madina and Makkah are two magical cities that you'll be fascinated by. Before planning a trip across Europe or to the land down under or to anywhere around the globe, do come here visit Rasulullah, visit the historical places that our prophets and Rasul had went and perform your umrah first. 

On that note, I just wanna say thank you, ibu and ayah for bringing me here to perform my umrah and terima kasih, ya Allah kerana telah membuka ruang untukku menjadi salah seorang tetamu di Tanah Suci-Mu. Alhamdulillah.