Hamdan Hamid Travel Site: Umrah April 2013

The four of us me, wife, Hazim & Humairah signed up with Alfjar Travel & Tours from 01 - 11 Apr 2013 for the Umrah package to Medinah & Makkah. The package of RM4,990 includes airfare on Malaysia Airlines, lodging and food and ziarah. We left KLIA at 11am and arrrived at Medinah International Airport at 2.30pm. There were 31 people in the group of 10 men.

Ajim n Humaira

We were put up on the 9th Floor of Elyas Residential about 600 meters from Masjid Nabawi. The walking route entered the mosque via gate 16 and gate 17. Me and Hazim (the men) shared a four-bed room with other two group members Yusri who works at Majlis Sukan Negara and Khairi from RTM. Foods were served along the corridor just outside the room right after morning, zohor and isya prayers. Apart from spending time at the mosques, we were also taken to places of historical importance namely, masjid Quba (first mosque erected by the prophet upon his hijrah fro Makkah to Medina), Masjid Qiblatain (the prayers direction were moved from facing masjidil Al Aqsa to Masjidil Haram)and Bukit Uhud(famous battle being fought). We also visited the Quran printing office and ladang korma Bani Hashim.

The route taken from the hotel to the mosque passes thro' the streets vendors selling clothes and souvenoirs. The clothes were of various fashion and varieties. The items sold were very much cheaper than those in Malaysia.

Finally after 5 nights in Medina, we were ready for the great day to enter Makkah. We packed up and took the bus right after zohor prayers on Saturday 06 April. We put on the umrah attire for Bir Ali enroute to Makkah. The bus trip to Makkah took 7 hours. After checking in our luggage, we walked to Masjidil Haram to complete the umrah. Me and Hazim took turns to assist Pakcik Ariffin on his wheel chair. We complete the Tawaf and Saie by 1.30am and walked back to the hotel. We washed and freshen up to return to the mosques for the morning prayers. After breakfast, I took a long nap. For the 5 days stay, I normally stayed at the mosque from asar until isya for extended prayers and performing the tawaf sunat.

Sadly, we have to leave the holy cites after 10 nights stay. We performed Tawaf Wida' at 3.30am Saturday morning, returned to the hotel ready to leave for Jeddah Airport for our flight back to Malaysia. Due to the flight delay rescheduled to 6.30pm, we were taken to Jeddah floating mosque for the zohor and asar prayers.

We safely arrived in Kuala Lumpur at 8.45am on Friday morning. We bade good bye with the umrah members and promised to visit them insyaAllah.