Bismillahirrahmanirrahim .28th Mei 2013. @ KLIA
About getting ready to board Saudi Airlines to Madinah for our Umrah trip. After such a long lapse of about 6 years, I am returning to the two holy land of madinatul Munawwarah and Makkatul Mukarramah with Umi and Farah.
Farah enjoying the in flight dinner of this specially chartered Saudi Airline which departed smoothly on time @ 1655 pm. The check in was also very smoothly done for the tour agent.
oblivious to the masses in the airport, Farah...lost in her own world. Allah knows what she is thinking about. This was just moments before we departed....
.....probably feeling sad to leave her siblings back home....
Nasi Arab was served as meal for dinner. I was hungry and all these these dishes disappeared almost immidiety.The journey ws to take about 8 hours before we landed in Madinah about 10 pm local time.
Ustaz Yusuf was our mutawwif and he has been assigned to be with us from the beginning till the end. He hails from Kuantan, studid Usuluddin in Yemen and has been with Andalusia for six months. Together in our group, code named , HILTON group were 91 people.
Ustaz Yusuf Halib @ Andalusia
The immigration process and luggage collection at Madinah Airport were smooth. Alhamdulillah. All went well. A good in flight sleep still taxed us though. Although it was just 10 pm in Madinah it was 3 am back in Malaysia. Sleepy faces were every where. Ustaz Yusof delivered a short tazkirah before we entered the holy city of Madinah and recited the doa soon after we crossed the border. He we are....coming to the home of our great leader...Rasulullah SAW.
We were checked in into a three bedded room at MUBARAK SILVER HOTEL about 50 m from Al Haram. Since it past midnite by the time we settled down, Umi and Farah did their prayers in the room. I proceeded to the Grand mosque...only to pray at the outskirt as all entrances were now locked!
By the time we settled down it was almost 2 am. Fajr was about 3++ am and we really didnt have much sleep.
We rose early long before Fajr and joined the crowed for the morning prayer. Immidietly after prayer I proceeded to the front most and visited the grave of Rasulullah SAW.
"Assalamualaikum wmbk hi wabarokah tuh ya Rasulullah SAW"
As expected , the crowed was always there and every one , in an orderly manner gave respect to Rasulullah SAW, Abu Bakar R.A and Omar R.A
The next four days in Madinah was spent on prayers at the holy mosque and visits to the historical places in and around Madinah which signifies the glory of Islam since the last 1400 years.
Mubarak Silver....I would rate as a 3.5 or 4.0 star hotel.Accomodation and distance from Masjid Nabawi were superb.However the meals were much to be desired. Andalusia, known for tasty, like home cooked food really need to look into this. The dining area was cramped. Too small for the big crowed. This resulted in many people queueing for food or places to sit
The meals....catered to Ahmeid Caterers who are actually a group of Indonesians! after three days we couldnt take the overcooked vegetables and tasteless curry any more. we began to scout for outside food and we enjoyed the change of taste!
Mubarak Silver Hotel
Farah..posing in front of Mubarak Silver Hotel
Manjo (Manggo Juice)
self potrait @ Masjidil Nabawi
giant shades...keep the heat away
..after asr prayer
a group of Egyptians who requested to have photo with me
Mubarak Siver Hotel is directly behind the mosque via entrance number 25. The irony part was....as we exited the mosque we were greeted with noisy street traders who sell almost everything on earth.
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