For me, Tabung Haji offers a great service to the participants. The welfare of every person is taken care of very well. For my Topaz package, there are only 2 bus and each bus are provided one mutawwif. For those who are with TH Travel, they organize some kuliyyah at dinner every 2 days.

For me, the TH Travel staff are very accommodating and efficient. If you are sick or not feeling well, they will make sure you receive proper treatment until basically you get well again.

The hotel in Makkah are truly 5 star. We got what we want. For my family, being close to the Masjid is important. My parents and aunt do not have to walk far to go to the masjid. In Madinah, everyone stay at the same hotel. The food in Madinah is so good because it is Malaysian food. The management of our group is first class. We do not even have to lift a finger. They continue to assist us in any way.

My verdict? We will continue to use TH Travel as our Umrah agent in our next Umrah trip Insyallah. The service is so good that I recommend all of you go for it.

Ziarah wida'

We do a lot of visit in Madinah. We went to Masjid Quba’ which is the first mosque build. It was stated whoever take ablution from home and manage to pray in the Masjid will be granted reward as performing one Umrah.

Jabal Uhud.

We prayed at upstairs where there is no crowd in the ladies section. Outside, there were many vendors selling frozen dates and normal dates. We then go to the Date Shop and Date Market to buy some dates. Our mutawwif recommend a date name Sukari. It was delicious.

At the market, we bought two types of dates to bring home – Sukari and Ajwa (Prophet’s date). We bought 5 kilos of Ajwa back home. We bought some rosary beads for souvenirs at Madinah.

For those who went to Umrah with Tabung Haji, your flight back home will be straight from Madinah Airport, therefore you don’t need to travel long to Jeddah Airport. On the last day, we do the Ziarah Wida or final visit to the Masjid. We packed our stuff and board the bus to airport.

Madinah Airport is small. Here in the airport, we just left our luggage and the airline will take care of it. We then board the 8 hour flight back to Kuala Lumpur. The flight back has some minor turbulence but not as rough as the arriving flight – or did I sleep so well I did not notice. We arrived safe and sound at the airport at noon.

We take our bags and board the super coach for a 6 hours journey to Madinah. Along the way is some hills made from rocks and you can see houses in the middle of this desert like place. We made a stop to perform our prayers before heading to Madinah Al Munawarah the city of our Prophet Muhammad S.A.W.

We reached Madinah at night and they have just finish the Isya’ prayers. We checked in, eat dinner and sleep. Food here was all Malaysian food. Certified Malaysian food. Oh how I miss masak lemak cilia pi, masak kicap, sambal, sos cili! The itinerary in Madinah is more laid back compared to Makkah.

In Madinah, according to my mutawwiif, there is a special biryani only in Madinah. The biryani was cooked with a whole lamb inside the ground. Being a lamb fan, this excites me. The special dish is actually the lamb’s head. Okay, this sound grim but when my father brought it back to the hotel (NOTE: THIS RESTAURANT DOES NOT ALLOW WOMEN TO DINE IN, SO MY DAD PACKED THEM UP), it was actually sliced. I imagined I was eating the whole head with the skull. Kalau macam tu Nadia tak lalu la, kambing tak kambing.

It was delicious! The herbs are fragrant and the lamb are soft and succulent. This is by far the most delicious lamb biryani I have tasted ever! I think I ate the biryani like 3 times while in Madinah. Thanks to my dad and mutawif for taking a cab for this.

The beautiful petal canopy at Masjid Nabawi.

Masjid Nabawi did not change at all. It stays the same as I remembered it. However, the crowd here has increased . On 2013, we are always able to go inside the mosque during prayer hours but now this time. We are stucked praying outside in the cold especially for Subuh. We do manage to solat inside most of the time.

Satu malam, ada seorang perempuan Arab duduk di sebelah Nadia. Tiba2 dia tepuk dan Tanya macam mana nak solat jenazah. Nadia pun ajar dia dari takbir pertama sampai akhir. Dia berterima kasih dan akhirnya dia beritahu Nadia suruh doakan anak kecil dia yang sedang terlantar sakit di hospital. Kesiannya. Masa tu jugak kitorg doakan.

Raudhah in Masjid Nabawi is dubbed as one of the place where your prayers will be granted by Allah. It is also a place called Gardens of Heaven and the place of the Prophet S.A.W and his companions were buried. To get into Raudhah, you have to be aware of the timing. For Tabung haji, they provide Ustazah to guide us to the Raudhah. Allow yourself 2-3 hours because the step is a lot. First, you have to queue according to your nation. Then you will seat while the female guards give you some religious talk. Then you will enter the barricaded area by your nation. After that, you will wait and then took to the old part of Masjid Nabawi.

Here is your final wait where you can see the green dome that signify Prophet S.A.A mausoleum. Then only you will enter Raudhah. Keep on praying and reciting doa while you are inside the Masjid. Raudhah tu tandanya adalah karpet berwarna hijau kelabu atau Dusty Green. Bila kita pijak karpet warna ni, dah masuklah Raudhah. Tips ustazah adalah, jangan berdri baca doa sebab confirm kena halau cepat. Maka, solat dua rakaat banyak2 sebab guard tak kacau orang tengah solat. Sujud lama2 jadi dapat doa banyak sikit. Alhamdulillah dengan bantuan ustazah, kami senang masuk Raudhah, paling kurang dah tahu prosedur dia.

Raudhah is open for men 24 hours while for women there are designated times. This is because Raudhah is located at the men’s praying area. Alhamdulillah I managed to go to Raudhah 2 times. The second tim I went by myself. It was bearable and I got to pray inside.

We feel happy when we went to Makkah. I find that I get to go to umrah after I experienced heartache or broken heart or frustration. Which is good. This is the time I need to be close to Allah the most. Well, we covered all parts in Makkah I guess. The last day in Makkah, we perform our tawaf wida in the morning around 10 a.m. We have lunch and perform solat on the way.

This view will be missed.

These were taken a day before we leave the Holy City.

The rules of tawaf wida is that when you finish, you have to go out from the Masjidil Haram and don’t look back. No photograph, no solat, no doa. Straight out. This is heart wrenching. We always prayed that Allah bring all of us here in the future. With a heavy heart, we leave this Holy Mosque. Every step away from the Masjid generate tears and sadness in our hearts.

I truly love this place. It is irony- why? Masjidil Haram is full of people thousands at once and it seems like it is the most busy place on Earth, but, it is the only place that I feel peace. Because this land is Holy and Allah is closer to us here than what we might think.

Kami hanya mampu bersyukur kerana diberi peluand dan rezeki. Kami juga bersyukur Allah mudahkan kami sebagaimana Dia kehendaki dan beri kesihatan. Doa Nadia adalah nadia dapat ke sini lagi dengan keluarga dan mungkin ketika itu dah bertukar status isteri. Itu semua doa dan harapan. Siapa yang tak mahu 100 000 kali ganda pahala dia Tanah Suci Mekah. Semoga dapat jejak kaki ke sini lagi insyallah.

Our food was provided by Tabung haji at our hotel restaurant. Food was generous and good. You can view the Kaabah from the restaurant. However, I do venture out for food sometimes. I normally go to the next tower which is the Safwa Tower to buy lamb biryani at the food court. That is why I am not surprised why I gain weight here.

Now you tell me how I will not gain weight with these?

This was taken at the hotel's restaurant. You can see the massive construction work yet to come.

To perform solat inside the Masjid, you have to come early to get a spot inside, even in the alley or hallways. Lookout for guards that will direct you to the available space. You can either solat at the second floor, first floor or in the basement. We usually went inside for Zuhur and Asar since it is hot outside at noon.

Zam Zam Tower, where our hotel was located.

At first, we do not want to follow the visit to historical places but we follow it anyway because they will have a stop at miqat for those who wants to take niat for their umrahs. We visited the usual Jabal Rahmah, Arafah, Qiblatain Mosque.

Jabal Rahmah. Didn't climb it this time.

Mina

The Arafah sign.

I did not buy any jubbah this time. I have too many jubbah from previous umrah in my closet. This time, I bought perfumes at the perfume shop at Al Safwa. At first I was to buy for a friend but later I buy myself one because it smells good. The scent I chose was Maqam Ibrahim. Pak Arab tu siap cakap perfume ni selalu orang arab pakai untuk majlis perkahwinan diorang. Hahaha. The perfume last all day, nope, actually it still smells good after 3 days.

In Masjidil Haram, I did not try to kiss the Hajarul Aswad. It is too crowded. But Alhamdulillah I manage to go inside Hijr Ismail few times to perform doa and solat. Terlalu ramai di Hajarul Aswad, takut dari perkara Sunnah terus jadi haram sebab tolak menolak berlaku. Dapat juga masuk Hijr Ismail. Rempuh tu memang, Cuma kena sabar jelah doa.

One of the thing you must not miss is try to drink as much as Zam Zam water as possible. The zam zam is redundant here that you can even collect in plastic bottles. In Makkah, Allah will always find ways to test patience. Be it you did not get inside to perform solat or people push you out of the way or like me, a person spilled hot coffee on me while I was reciting the Quran before Subuh prayer. I just have to be patience and hope that Allah reward me for that.

For us, the best timing to do tawaf and other activities is during the morning. There not much crowd after Subuh prayers. You can even sit aligned to the multazam for hours.

Masa dulu, bolehla tawaf sunat tengah malam tapi sekarang tengah malam atau awal pagi tulah yang paling ramai manusia. Kami selalu pergi waktu pagi lepas sarapan. Masa tu orang pun kurang jadi dapat duduk depan mulatazam tu lama2. Masa ini lah nak bacakan doa dan buat solat sunat banyak2.