Overdue Piccies from Makkah

I have been procrastinating on this...and my three days' hiatus is due to work and family commitments which are unusually too big for my plate at the moment.

I know I owe the prawn briyani recipe (please be patient as I will get wifey to post on her blog or email me the recipe - when you read this dear wifey, as a gentle reminder, please post on your blog or email me the recipe..LOL; wonders of technology!!!!) and a meme to do (D I will do it this week!).

In the meantime, enjoy the piccies.

p/s BTW D-I-L was finally discharged yesterday evening! He's doing well and thanks for all your well wishes.



The house where the Prophet (pbuh) was born


One of my stops everyday on the way back from Masjidil Haram for kebabs, fresh fruit juices and sandwich

One of those days longing for ice cream - Movenpick ice cream whilst enjoying the view of Fatah Gate of Masjidil Haram

View of Fatah Gate from Movenpick ice cream stall. A triplet-tower-building under construction next to Makkah Hilton

A sign at Jabal Thaur where the cave which the Prophet (pbuh) hid when he fleed his home

Jabal Thaur

Jabal Rahmah - where Adam and Hawa were runited after 400 years

Fully adorned Jamal (camel in arabic) at the foot of Jabal Rahmah. I rode one in the year 2000

Ji'ranah Mosque - one of the meeqat place

An interesting sign at Ji'ranah Mosque

Where Gua Hira' situates - the first revelation

One of the biggest Camel farms outside Mekkah (near Houdaibiah). Milking the Camel!

Close up - smile!!!

The camels at the farm

More camels

Tasting and buying fresh camel milk - i bought three bottles; yummy! Tastes a bit like light cocunut milk but sweeter

One of the arches of the original Houdaibiah Mosque

What's left of Houdaibiah Mosque

Where artefacts from the two holy Mosques are displayed

A very old mobile staircase to the Ka'abah door made of teak

Kibash briyani cooked by wifey's cousin, Najwa, whose mom has been staying in Mekkah since the mom was 13. Their house is 10 minutes' drive from Masjidil Haram. Can't wait for them to visit us this July.

The "floating" mosque in Jeddah. The mosque which Malaysians will stopover before adjourning to the airport before departing for Malaysia

This machine gun greeted us at the airport entry.......

Yathrib

Sand storm at Medinah airport which subsided after we reached the terminal bulding

Left for Medinah on 30th April 2007 rather than the scheduled 29th April as flight SV821 was delayed for 12 hours due to some technical fault at Jakarta Airport. Saudi Air housed us at Pan Pac KLIA for the night. Wifey and the kids left me alone (mmm...not really - let me with with my 13 aunts and uncles whom I had to co-ordinate for the 6.45am boarding) at the hotel with plenty of hugs and kisses to last them for the next 13 days.

Initially, I wanted to follow them back and asked wifey to drop me off the folowing morning but decided against it as it would involve a lot of re-scheduling.

Arrived King Fahd International in Dammam (north east of KSA) about 11.10 local time to drop off Indonesian workers/maids and finally reached Prince Mohd Bin Abd Aziz Airport, Medinah at roughly quarter to 2 in the afternoon.

We had to go through a sand storm prior to landing and imagine the 747 swayed right to left for a good 30 minutes before it landed which left some of the passengers whose seats were towards the tail of the plane airsick!

Checked in at Dallah Taibah Hotel just across of Medinah Hilton and quickly visited the Prophet soon after all the luggages were settled which was an hour before Maghrib prayers.

I have never been able to describe my ziarahs to Medinah well and to write what I experienced will do injustice to this holy place. Hence I will not attempt to write about it. Honestly, the feeling is indescribable, one has to experinece it oneself. In one short sentence - It was a spiritually uplifting trip!

Our stay in Medinah was only two nights.....bidding farewell to the Prophet was an emotional one for me

Zam zam water dispensers placed all around the mosque

Raudhah area

Queuing up to make salam to the Prophet

The mini domes at the Prophet's mosque (masjid Al-Nabawi)

Quba' Mosque

One of the two dates orchards, Quba' orchard (the other one being Awali Orchard) blessed by our Prophet

Young dates

Jabal Uhud area

The hill which the Prophet stationed the bowmen during Uhud war

The largest Quran printing factory in the world privately financed by the King of KSA

The Quran printing area