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.....