I know this is really crude tapi due to shortage of time and since I do n0t have access to a proper pc in Makkah, I guess that this will do for a start.
Other than making sure that you attended (if possible) all training provided masa kursus Haji, Insya Allah you would not face great difficulty when you arrive here.
Just to share some pointers that I, being a seasoned traveller pi overseas dok selalu buat.
1. As in a war, preparation is key to everything. Always travel prepared for any eventualities.
2. Stock up on all whatsoever medicines & vitamins. A botle of sunscreen / petroleum jelly helps prevent kaki/tumit/mulut kita pecah. Just don't use it masa dlm Ihram... nanti kena dam! Be wary of the dry weather. It can be very cold in Madinah during its dry winter season.
3. Don't forget your high quality sun glasses or clip-ons. Silau mata den sebab dah tertinggal benda ni!
4. Realising that berjuta ummat Islam menjadi jemaah Haji tahun ini, I am really afraid that I will get separated from my dad. I brought along a pair of working walkie talkie and many spare batteries. I bought those a couple of years ago and it helped me in all my overseas travels (its illegal to use one in Singapore).
5. Do bring along some el-cheapo cloth pegs & hangers. They are live savers!
6. Food may not not palatable . I packed my own small packets of serunding daging & borrowed a plastic sealer to keep each and every package hygienically sealed and enough for only 1 meal. per package. Masa kat Malaysia, kena komen ini idea mengarut, but dah sampai sini, the efforts were greatly appreciated.
7. On the itinerary masa kat Madinah, beware of tourists traps. Percayalah segala apabala kurma etc JAUH lebih murah kat pasar kurma di Madinah compared dgn apa yg depa jual kat Quba' or Kebun Kurma. Pi sana makan & minum free je but beli hanya di pasar Kurma Madinah. Kurma Ajwa will set you back cuma 50 Riyal.It is not far from Masjid Nabawi. Buku2 agama pun boleh bargain kat kawasan pasar malam Madinah yg berdekatan. Kalau pi beli kat dedicated kedai... "Masya Allah...Ghalli jiddan-jiddan" (Mahal banget).
8. Kalau berani pi sendiri ( a bit of working arabic is required), usahakan ziarah sendiri ke Masjid Quba' menaiki teksi. Pastikan anda ada wuduk sejak dari hotel. Sampai sana terus solat tahiyatul Masjid or kalau mai pagi boleh Solat dhuha terus. Ganjarannya sama dgn 1 pahala umrah - sumber dari Hadith Nabi. Penulis mencuba pi berjalan kaki tapi hahaha.... tersampai ke lain destinasi... terlajak ke Makam Shuhada kat Uhud. Tengok sendiri besarnya bukit Uhud - itu baru satu Qirat - separuh pahala menyertai solat jenazah. So anda tau apa nak buat kan?
9. Kalau pi Masjidilharam / Masjid Nabi dan bukan dalam Ihram (bagi lelaki) usahakan pakai setokin kaki. Why? They use strong chemicals to wash the floors. Selamatkan kaki anda dari bahan yang mengkakis ini! Jgn lupa bring a sejadah utk lapik tempat solat... sejuk!
10. Nak keluar pi renew wuduk yg terbatal payah. So pls bring along the spray bottle. it can be very handy. Tak cukup air or kalau habis isikan aje dgn air zam-zam. Else bila kita balik tempat kIta dok Tadi dah org lain dah "camping"! Penulis bantai aje ambil wuduk kat tempat minum air zam-zam (piped water).
11. Bila nak tukar currency to Riyal? Tak payah! To be safe anda ada 2 pilihan. Keluarkan duit Tabung Haji anda menggunakan kad smart-tag yg ada barcode akaun anda (TH akan kasi kat Kelana Jaya) atau anda buka akaun dgn Rajhi Bank. Penulis dah ada akaun Debit Card Visa Rajhi Bank dah lebih 3 tahun. Thanks to Bro Amir Alfatakh yg cadangkan kat aku masa reunion Maahaad dulu. Saja buat camni sebab taknak que lama kat kaunter TH di Madinah & Makkah. Lagipun kaunter depa ni bukan beroperasi setiap masa. Rahji Bank banyak cawangan. Kalau ATM down pun Percayalah ada aje ATM lain a few blocks away. Jgn takut..menu in english and in Bahasa Malaysia pun ada.
12. A trip as exiting as this one would be a photo treasure hunt. Don't get caught with a malfunction gears. Extra batteries & memory cards could be handy. For this trip I bought 2 fully manual point and shoot film camera (the Golden Half and the Ultra Wide and Slim); 1 Nikon 200 point and shoot film camera fully automatic; and my trusted pocket Sanyo Video Cam cum still camera. So far I had already send 2 rolls of film for development only - kosnya 5 Riyal Utk 1 gulung. Balik Malaysia nanti I will hantar the duly developed film negatives for scanning @ RM5 per roll. Caution : ladies jgn bawak masuk any form of camera/phones dlm Masjid. Wajib Kena rampas! No restrictions utk kita kaum Adam.
13. Prepaid Telephone lines. Sampai je kat Jeddah or Madinah banyak ulat jual simcard. Ramai dah jadi mangsa. Harga simpack berbeza-beza. Isi dalam pun berbeza-beza. Call rate pun berbeza-beza. Ramai tak sabar to call their loved ones back home main Beli aje. Bersabarlah. Lebih baik Beli simcard kat kedai telekomunikasi in Makkah or Madinah yg proper. Kalau Beli kat tepi Jalan or melalui org tengah eg pekerja hotel expect to pay some premium. For me I simply bought a dataline MOBILY for my pocket pc. Good for 5gig of data for Facebook and I am actually writing this whilst being connected to Mobily.
Other than making sure that you attended (if possible) all training provided masa kursus Haji, Insya Allah you would not face great difficulty when you arrive here.
Just to share some pointers that I, being a seasoned traveller pi overseas dok selalu buat.
1. As in a war, preparation is key to everything. Always travel prepared for any eventualities.
2. Stock up on all whatsoever medicines & vitamins. A botle of sunscreen / petroleum jelly helps prevent kaki/tumit/mulut kita pecah. Just don't use it masa dlm Ihram... nanti kena dam! Be wary of the dry weather. It can be very cold in Madinah during its dry winter season.
3. Don't forget your high quality sun glasses or clip-ons. Silau mata den sebab dah tertinggal benda ni!
4. Realising that berjuta ummat Islam menjadi jemaah Haji tahun ini, I am really afraid that I will get separated from my dad. I brought along a pair of working walkie talkie and many spare batteries. I bought those a couple of years ago and it helped me in all my overseas travels (its illegal to use one in Singapore).
5. Do bring along some el-cheapo cloth pegs & hangers. They are live savers!
6. Food may not not palatable . I packed my own small packets of serunding daging & borrowed a plastic sealer to keep each and every package hygienically sealed and enough for only 1 meal. per package. Masa kat Malaysia, kena komen ini idea mengarut, but dah sampai sini, the efforts were greatly appreciated.
7. On the itinerary masa kat Madinah, beware of tourists traps. Percayalah segala apabala kurma etc JAUH lebih murah kat pasar kurma di Madinah compared dgn apa yg depa jual kat Quba' or Kebun Kurma. Pi sana makan & minum free je but beli hanya di pasar Kurma Madinah. Kurma Ajwa will set you back cuma 50 Riyal.It is not far from Masjid Nabawi. Buku2 agama pun boleh bargain kat kawasan pasar malam Madinah yg berdekatan. Kalau pi beli kat dedicated kedai... "Masya Allah...Ghalli jiddan-jiddan" (Mahal banget).
8. Kalau berani pi sendiri ( a bit of working arabic is required), usahakan ziarah sendiri ke Masjid Quba' menaiki teksi. Pastikan anda ada wuduk sejak dari hotel. Sampai sana terus solat tahiyatul Masjid or kalau mai pagi boleh Solat dhuha terus. Ganjarannya sama dgn 1 pahala umrah - sumber dari Hadith Nabi. Penulis mencuba pi berjalan kaki tapi hahaha.... tersampai ke lain destinasi... terlajak ke Makam Shuhada kat Uhud. Tengok sendiri besarnya bukit Uhud - itu baru satu Qirat - separuh pahala menyertai solat jenazah. So anda tau apa nak buat kan?
9. Kalau pi Masjidilharam / Masjid Nabi dan bukan dalam Ihram (bagi lelaki) usahakan pakai setokin kaki. Why? They use strong chemicals to wash the floors. Selamatkan kaki anda dari bahan yang mengkakis ini! Jgn lupa bring a sejadah utk lapik tempat solat... sejuk!
10. Nak keluar pi renew wuduk yg terbatal payah. So pls bring along the spray bottle. it can be very handy. Tak cukup air or kalau habis isikan aje dgn air zam-zam. Else bila kita balik tempat kIta dok Tadi dah org lain dah "camping"! Penulis bantai aje ambil wuduk kat tempat minum air zam-zam (piped water).
11. Bila nak tukar currency to Riyal? Tak payah! To be safe anda ada 2 pilihan. Keluarkan duit Tabung Haji anda menggunakan kad smart-tag yg ada barcode akaun anda (TH akan kasi kat Kelana Jaya) atau anda buka akaun dgn Rajhi Bank. Penulis dah ada akaun Debit Card Visa Rajhi Bank dah lebih 3 tahun. Thanks to Bro Amir Alfatakh yg cadangkan kat aku masa reunion Maahaad dulu. Saja buat camni sebab taknak que lama kat kaunter TH di Madinah & Makkah. Lagipun kaunter depa ni bukan beroperasi setiap masa. Rahji Bank banyak cawangan. Kalau ATM down pun Percayalah ada aje ATM lain a few blocks away. Jgn takut..menu in english and in Bahasa Malaysia pun ada.
12. A trip as exiting as this one would be a photo treasure hunt. Don't get caught with a malfunction gears. Extra batteries & memory cards could be handy. For this trip I bought 2 fully manual point and shoot film camera (the Golden Half and the Ultra Wide and Slim); 1 Nikon 200 point and shoot film camera fully automatic; and my trusted pocket Sanyo Video Cam cum still camera. So far I had already send 2 rolls of film for development only - kosnya 5 Riyal Utk 1 gulung. Balik Malaysia nanti I will hantar the duly developed film negatives for scanning @ RM5 per roll. Caution : ladies jgn bawak masuk any form of camera/phones dlm Masjid. Wajib Kena rampas! No restrictions utk kita kaum Adam.
13. Prepaid Telephone lines. Sampai je kat Jeddah or Madinah banyak ulat jual simcard. Ramai dah jadi mangsa. Harga simpack berbeza-beza. Isi dalam pun berbeza-beza. Call rate pun berbeza-beza. Ramai tak sabar to call their loved ones back home main Beli aje. Bersabarlah. Lebih baik Beli simcard kat kedai telekomunikasi in Makkah or Madinah yg proper. Kalau Beli kat tepi Jalan or melalui org tengah eg pekerja hotel expect to pay some premium. For me I simply bought a dataline MOBILY for my pocket pc. Good for 5gig of data for Facebook and I am actually writing this whilst being connected to Mobily.
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