My Life's Journey; UMROH

I wrote this blog when I was waiting for delayed train. My train was scheduled at 19.25 but delayed for uncertain time. OK...time to think of writing something to kill the time.

OK...let's started. I want to write my experiences during umroh on January 2016. Yup....it's kind of latepost but I think it's not too late...better late than never, Right?

I was going umroh with my hubby; only the two of us. Using First Travel as our umroh agent. We were using kind of budget umroh with FT, under agent Bu Vonny at Bintaro2. It was such a pleasing journey with Bu Vonny. All the things were well organized by her and her husband. They gave name tag for all jamaah on our luggages. They gave different colors for different groups. Oya...I forgot to tell you. We had 7 groups at this 7th January's umroh.

We flew with Garuda Indonesia and the flight scheduled at 9 pm from Soekarno Hatta International Airport. We did Maghrib and Isya pray at the umroh lounge.

Then, finally we got into the airplane, and the started to flew direct to Jeddah, scheduled arrived the next day in the morning; Jeddah time.

It was all brand new Garuda aircraft. The seats were very comfortable for the economic class. It was Boeing 777 and I was sitting on its seat. Love it very much lah....

I was sleeping all the way to Jeddah, unless for eating, sleeping, and to the toilet. We had meals twice. Amazing wasn't it. Twice meal for 9 hours flight at night. Alhamdulillah...big feast 😆

We took miqat 1 hour before Jeddah. So, it mean, we had to take miqat while we still in the aircraft. For women, umroh's outfit should cover all over the body unless the palm and the face. But for men, they had to use a special outfit called ihram. Ihram consist of only 2 pcs of wide clothes, 1 pc for covering the upper body, and 1 pc for covering the belly until the feet; like sarong. My husband already wore the 1st pc as a sarong, and wore an ordinary shirt when getting on the aircraft. So, by the time the pilot announced that we had to took miqat, all men change the outfit into ihram outfit.

Finally.....we arrived in Jeddah at dawn. We had Fajr prayer before the immigration thing. Immigration proccess was well organized and fast. Alhamdulillah ya Allah for this.

At 8 am...we left Jeddah for Makkah by bus. The buses were all high concourse bus. They had high deck for the passengers. So, it had wide enough space for placing all the luggages.

It was Friday, 8th January. We arrived safely in Makkah before Jumuah time. Alhamdulillah for the blessing ya Allah because we had the opportunity to do Jumuah Prayer in Masjidil Haram-Makkah...such a blessing for us 😍😢

After jumuah prayer, we all had lunch in the hotel. All the meals were provided by the Indonesian catering. For the information, our group of 7th January were divided into 3 different hotels which were standing side by side on the highway near Masjidil Haram. My husband and I stayed at the Al Qadasiya Hotel. I forgot to recall the other 2 hotels. Sorry 😆

The first Umroh, was scheduled after Ashar prayer. We had little time to pick our luggages up and set up our room. Then, the time came. Its time to go to Masjidil Haram. Ya Allah....my heart was beating faster and faster as my feet got closer to Masjidil Haram. Ya Allah....alhamdulillah I got this opportunity to come visit your HOME ya Allah. My eyes got wet when I see the Kaabah for the very first time. I cried. Alhamdulillah. I was in Masjidil Haram. Thank you so much ya Allah.....

We did jamaah pray for Ashar prayer. The first experience having sholat inside the Masjidil Haram. Alhamdulillah....I felt blessed. Alhamdulillah ya Allah....

Then time to do Tawaf. We had 1 person as a leader to teach us how to do tawaf. We did tawaf under his supervisor.

Tawaf was a procedure to walk around the Kaaba for 7 times. While we walked, we pray guided by our leader or we could read from the manual book hanged on our chest.

After walking around the Kaaba for 7 times, we were allowed to take a break a bit by drinking zamzam, and then it was time to do Sai. Sai was a procedure to walk 7 times back and forth from Safa to Marwah.

About zamzam water, it was so amazing experience that we finally drink zamzam water. The pure water and its freshness killed our tiredness. Alhamdulillah ya Allah finally I could drink zamzam water as much as I want to 😇

The umroh finished right before maghrib. So we could do maghrib prayer inside the masjidil Haram. There was a funny experience here, we got lost inside the Masjidil Haram 😆 Our leader gave us free time and free to do everything we want to do 😆

But finally we could get out safely from Masjidil Haram, after walking for many kilometer (I guess) 😆

We had isha prayer at the hotel because we want to have a bath first after not having a bath 24 hours. After dinner, we went to bed, sleep early, because we want to do Tahajud at the next day.

Day 2
We went to Masjidil Haram 30 mnt before Fajr time. Wow...amazing...we were late. We could not enter the Masjidil Haram because it was already full. But we still had time to do Tahajud.

OK...the adzan came. Fajr adzan was very beautiful. The man who sang for adzan had a beautiful voice. I love adzan. Love it so much. Then, time for Fajr prayer. The Imam masjidil Haram read the Al Quran verses very beautiful 😍😍 It was like I was in the peacefull heaven hearing his voice 😍 Soooo peacefull 😍 I thought I wanna cry....

Then, finished for Fajr prayer. Time to go back to hotel for bath and breakfast. Oya....the weather showed 22 degree on Celcius.

After having breakfast, we went to a tour and took miqat; at least one hour drive from Makkah city. We went to a historical place which had historical masjid and stories. We took miqat, we did prayer, and we ate a very delicious arabian bread, called 7. Haha...it was really really delicious. A must buy bread to be brought to Indonesia!

Then we came back to Makkah and doing the 2nd umroh. This time I did umroh for my beloved Mom who already passed away in 1996. My husband did umroh for his beloved Papa who already passed away in 1991.

After the 2nd umroh, we straight go back to the hotel. We were not lost this time. We already knew the fastest way to get out from Masjidil Haram 😆 We did maghrib prayer in the hotel, had a bath and got back to Masjidil Haram for isha prayer and we had a plan to have dinner at the mall near Masjidil Haram 😆

After isha prayer, we went to the stores and bought something. We bought parfumes 😆 and other stuffs to be brought to Indonesia.

Okay..let's talked about dinner. Actually I want to eat something arabic. But my husband didn't like the aroma of arabic meal 😑 So....after a long negotiation, we had Burger King for our dinner 😂😂😂

Ya Allahu Rob...masha Allah....Burger King for dinner? Wasn't that too funny? Eating things that already in Indonesia? Wkkwwkwk....my God...but that's Okay lah...no problem.

After dinner, then we got back to the hotel and sleep. We want to go to Masjidil Haram earlier then yesterday.

Day 3
We got up earlier then yesterday. We went to Masjidil Haram at 3 in the morning. We did Tahajud longer than before. Read Quran, and finally Fajr time.

We went back to the hotel, but we bought ice cream on the way to hotel. Ya Allah..it was the best ice cream we ever taste. A very best one. A very delicious ice cream ever!

Same as yesterday, we want to do the third umroh. We took miqat near the camel farm outside Makkah. Before we went to the masjid to take miqat, we went to this farm, and drank camel milk. It was said that there were many advantages from drinking camel milk. I bought one to be drink by me and my husband. Hmmmm....it was plain milk. No taste at all. Hmmmm...compare to cow milk, cow milk was even better than camel milk (to me...) 😆

Then we got back to Makkah city to do umrah. This time, umroh for myself.

We did maghrib prayer at the hotel, but we got Isha prayer at the Masjidil Haram. Then we went to look for another dinner at the mall. This time, we tried KFC. Kwkwkwwkkw....wasn't that too funny? But no...Arab KFC was slightly different from Indonesia KFC. We bought the rice bowl, and the taste was very arabian taste. My husband didn't like it ahahaha...oya, the arab rice was longer than Indonesian rice.

Day 4
This time, we went to Masjidil Haram at 2 am in the morning. We want to touch the Kaaba. The Kaaba was not too full at 2 am but still we could not reach the Kaaba's Black Stone 😭😭😭 We can only touch the Kaaba...Masha Allah...Alhamdulillah for this blessing ya Allah....finally we could touch the Kaaba ya Allah...alhamdulillah. We could not stand not to cry. I cried, my husband cried as our hands touch the Kaaba. Our tears drop down to our cheeks. Alhamdulillah for the blessing ya Allah.

This time, we went to some tours, visiting several historical places, and showing the other place for Hajj. Then we went back to the hotel and had free time. We went to the mall again, bought some gifts to be brought to Indonesia.

This last night at Makkah, we went to search Al Baik. The very famous for arabic fried chicken. The arab people said that it was close to Masjidil Haram. We walked for almost 1 hour and we almost gave up hahaha...but then finally we found Al Baik! Finally!

We only bought 1 pack and ate it at the hotel. Al Baik was very delicious and also too big for our portion ahahaha....It was slightly different from KFC or McD. We had chicken like a nugget, a portion of french fries, and a bread. They had no chilli sauce, but garlic sauce. Hmmmm....a bit weird to our tounge about this garlic sauce 😂😂

Day 4
First thing in the morning, we left Makkah after breakfast, went to Madinah.

Bye Makkah...see you again soon.....

It was so sad leaving Makkah...so sad...

We came to Madinah at dinner time. We stayed at a hotel not far from Masjid Nabawi. After having dinner, we set up the room and had isha at the Nabawi. After isha, we went back to the hotel and sleep.

We got up early, 30 minuter before Fajr prayer. We had a place inside the Nabawi.

Oya...Nabawi was separated into 2 zones. Women zone and men zone. So, my husband and I could not do prayer close to each other. But before entering the Masjid Nabawi, we had promise each other to wait at the Gate 17.

After having breakfast, our leader lead us to Rosullulloh's home and maqam; we called it Raudhah. It was a long queue there. Many jamaah want to visit Raudhah. Finally, we were at Raudah. It was a very crowded place. And we had to had a trick to do prayer here in Raudhah. Raudhah's zone for women was very small area. So we found it very difficult to pray, but we could do it, alhamdulillah!

After doing Dhuhur prayer, we went to the hotel and having lunch. After lunch, there was a tour, visiting masjid Quba; the first Masjid in Madinah.

Masjid Nabawi is beautiful for its architecture. Amazing design of its facade and its interior. I really love the design! I took many pictures of Masjid Nabawi.

After Maghrib, it was free time for us. Then we went to the mall nearby. We bought many thing to be brought to Indonesia. There was a Starbuck stall near Masjid Nabawi, right in front of it. We went inside and bought 3 tumblers.

And finally, it was time for leaving Madinah after 3 days in here.

We had a bad news. We should leave Madinah earlier because the flight schedule was changed! It was scheduled earlier 😭😭😭 So that's why we could not visit the beach and floating Masjid in Jeddah 😭😭

Soooo sad 😭😭

And.....finally we arrived safely in Indonesia. Safely and tired. But we had so many experiences. I missed Makkah already 😭😭

Okay...this is all for Umroh experiences....I can take this as a lesson learned one day I could visit Makkah and Madinah again someday. I must! I must go back there again!

Aamiin.....

KUALA LUMPUR

I'm so thankful to Allah S.W.T that my pray was done by Allah one by one, one of it is going abroad though it's only in South East Asia : Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.
I was here in KL and Singapore with my friend, Nisa. She's very cooperate girl. What a great experience we had !
But even though so many people traveled there, still I want to share all my experience while I was in KL and Singapore.
Information we got from internet were completes and we've print it out on our notes.
With the Air Asia tickets, hotel voucher, passport, notes, ringgit money, and schedules on our hands, we were READY to GO !


First Day

We were very glad touching my feet in this KL's airport. " Horray ! I'm in KL !" I said so :D
We were having Air Asia flight that was booked 6 months before our departure, you know, as a backpacker traveler, we had to find a cheap flight, and we were very thankful to Air Asia.
Too bad I was not taking its interior pictures, but I have the exterior, here it was:

KL Airport Terminal 3

Getting out of the airport building at 16.30 KL's time, we straight forward looking for Air Asia airport bus, direct to KL Sentral, where all the public mass transports were all pointed together.
We were waiting for half an hour at Air Asia airport bus, then finally the bus was showed up, and we were straight get on there and find our best seat.
One hour later, we were in KL Sentral, and based on schedule we've made, we have to find LRT going to Masjid Jamek; our hotel was 10 minutes walk form Masjid Jamek station.

LRT Station KL Sentral

KL Sentral

 We stayed in Chill In Hotel, Yap Ah Loy Road 5, Chinatown, Kuala Lumpur. Nice hotel, with Indians as a receptionist.
We booked our hotel 2 weeks before our departure, we got cheap discount from Agoda.com , and this is where we bought our hotel voucher : http://www.agoda.web.id/asia/malaysia/kuala_lumpur/chill_inn.html
After check in, had our private room (but shared bathroom), then had a shower, we went out to seek for dinner.
From our notes, we found out that our hotel was near Central Market, we though that it would be easy to find small restaurants there.
Central Market was 5 minutes walk from our hotel. It was really ethnic market, real Melayu, many artifacts, and so on. Here you can see Central Market below.

There were many ethnic stalls, restaurants, and food stall stood around Central Market, but most of them were not halal. There was also KFC, but we said no to KFC, we should find something real Melayu. We kept walking and found several halal restaurant and we also see the price for each menu. Hahahahaaaa.... since we had a small budget, so we had to find another cheap one :D
Since the market was closed at 9.00 pm, so we first having sight seeing and window shopping there. We were not plan to buy anything because from the info we got, we got cheaper price for souvenirs if we bought in Petaling Street market ( we discuss it later).
Finally; pleased with our window shopping, we walk outside the market and we saw a medium restaurant, it was indian restaurant, and the price made us happy ! Cheap ! Imagine, a glass of hot tarik tea was only 1,2 RM similar to Rp. 3500,00 , hahahahahaaaaa..... that was the cheapest menu in that restaurant. Another cheap menu was Roti Canai; only 1,5 RM :D
What a heaven. Then we bought tarik tea and roti canai for dinner. Nice !
The restaurant's name was Restoran Yusoof and Zakhir as seen below.

Indian Restaurant

And these were the roti canai with lamb curry and tarik tea :D

Roti Canai with Lamb Curry

Hot Tarik Tea

There were many menus of Roti Canai, and we should go back here again and again :D
Tired of this first day, we went to our hotel to have a good night sleep :D

Second Day
We planned to go to Batu Caves and I-City on the second day. The Batu Cave was outside KL city, so we have to take a commuter train there. Commuter train is a state owned public train, so we had to go to KL Train Station, that was 5 minutes trip by LRT.

FYI, LRT is a light rapid transit that are widely service around KL over the road of KL.

LRT Over The Highway

Back to laptop (Tukul style).... after having fast self-serviced breakfast in our hotel, we went to 7Eleven across our hotel to buy mineral water (here in KL, mineral water is cheap, same with what we have in Jakarta), then we walk to Masjid Jamek station to get on KL train station.
We had to wait for half an hour to wait for the commuter train in KL station. This commuter train had only few train, not like LRT that had many crafts.
The KL stasion was an old building like what we have in Jakarta old train station. But this KL station was absolutely very very very clean and free of cigarette smoke !

Old KL Train Station

 The trip to Batu Cave take 1 hour by train, and we saw many Indians inside the train.
Then finally we got of to Batu Cave station. We have to walk only 10 minute to Batu Cave. Just follow the path, the people, and the direction stated in the station's wall.

If you want to know about Batu Cave completely, then you can see this link : http://www.malaysiasite.nl/batucaveseng.htm

We have to walk several minutes and we saw a big green statue like the picture below.

Hanoman

 And then we walk in front of a temple where there was an Indian's wedding accidentally. We should not lose this opportunity watching this occasion.

Indian's Wedding

Finished taking pictures of the temple  and the Indian's wedding, we went to the caves. Below the stone hill, there were so many pigeons surrounded their food spread by the monks, and they were not afraid to human.

Pigeons

The weather was very hot and sun shined very bright with the clear sky above. Perfect time to have a picnic ! :D

It was amazing natural stone where the caves inside this stone hill. We had to climb hundreds of steps to go to the caves inside that hill.

On Top of The Last Step

And finally, we were inside the huge caves. The interior was so high above us. It was just too amazing to see.

Inside The Cave. Far away, to the last cave, there were many monkey asking for food. If you're afraid of those mongkey, please, do not go up there :D

One of The Small Temple

There were also many temples inside the this huge cave. And many Indians went here to celebrate something.

Then, we had many pictures from this huge caves. Satisfied taking pictures, we went down the stairs and we forgot all the tiredness. Climbing down the stairs was much easier than climbing up those steps :D

It was almost 13.00 pm when we touch our feet down the stairs. We looked for restaurant immediately since our tummy was calling us. Once again, we met Indian restaurant again. We enter the restaurant and we order Indians food that was quite cheap. But the taste was real Indians. I didn't enjoy it, but we had to eat it up because we had to continue our journey to I-City.

We should take city bus to I-City. So we had to go to KL Sentral first to catch the city bus. So, we went back to Batu Cave station to go to KL Sentral.

We didn't know the way or what bus number going to I-City. So we had to ask many people and officers at KL Sentral. Luckily, the officers were good persons to be asked, and we straight got our city bus. We had to change twice to the I-City. Quite confusing, but we finally at I-City before dark. So we had time to do Dhuhur and Ashar together in a small masjid near the I-City park.

I-City is a technology park located on the outskirts of Shah Alam. At night the place comes alive with an amazing forest of man-made trees brightly illuminated with millions of colourfull LED lights.

They call this the City of Digital Lights, and for children it is a fairytale wonderland and even for young women like us the effect is very impressive. There is no entrance fee to see the City of Digital Lights.

Artifial Tree inside The Park

Artifcial Tree

Artificial Animals

Those tree and animals were illuminated from a bulb in every leaf on its tree. I didn't know how they were very neatly put those bulbs inside it.

The Detail of A Leaf

We were very satisfied taking pictures and enjoy the beauty of this park. But we had to got out of this park soon. Before 20.00 , we got out to catch the bus going back to KL Sentral. We had to wait half an hour for the bus, and be in KL Sentral at 21.30 , and catch the LRT to Central Market because we want to eat another canai at Yusoof restaurant.

Roti Canai with Red Onion

 I didn't like canai with red onion, but my friend; Nisa did. I ate tisu bread that night.

Roti Tisu eat with Lamb Curry

End of the second day, we went back to our hotel on foot from Yusoof restaurant. The clock showed at 22.30 , it was rather late to the hotel. But the city was peaceful and safe. We had a quick bath and go laid down our back to our cozy bed.

Third Day

On the third day, we went to Petronas and its surrounding, like Bukit Bintang and Ain Arabia. We recognize that there would be a long city walk, so we got to set up ready.

We went to Petronas using LRT , just a direct way from Masjid Jamek station to KLCC station. Just a few minutes trip and we were at Petronas.

How beautiful these two twin buildings. We saw it in amazed. We took many picture of it, as many as we could. Hahahaha.... 

The tourists might visit the bridge that laid between the two towers, but when we were there, it was still under-construction, so we had to get a little bit disappointed about it, and we had to be satisfied enough taking picture the outer buildings. Also. we didn't forget to take picture in front of the Suria Mall.

We were there almost one hour, and we had to move on another target : Bukit Bintang. And we start moving  our feet going to Bukit Bintang. We saw many interesting view and clean city and wide pedestrian ways to Bukit Bintang, so we were not so tired. 

Monorail Train On The Way To Bukit Bintang

Bukit Bintang is well-known as the main branded stores in Kuala Lumpur. There are many boutiques with antiques building-shaped to attract the tourists.