Jeddah: The First 3 Days
Posted by: amellie
1 year, 9 months ago
Alhamdulillah, I arrived safely in Jeddah. The trip from Brisbane to Jeddah took almost 1 day which includes 6-hour and 2-hour transits in Singapore and Abu Dhabi respectively. Fortunately I met some of my friends who took the same flight as me from Brisbane to Singapore. They are Jo-Ann, Vane, and Nadia. I spent the first 2 hour of transit with them, slept for 1 hour on the couch in front of the big screen :D, had breakfast, and accessed internet. It was very tiring. I was so tired of sitting soooo long!
When I arrived at the King Abdul Aziz International Airport, there were 3 people who approached me to make sure I wasn’t a stranded TKW who should be at the domestic airport. I told the last person that somebody already checked my passport and he shouldn’t waste his time checking my passport again. Before reaching the immigration booth, I saw my dad waiting at the baggage claim area. If his friend who works at the airport was not busy, he usually would wait for me before the immigration booth so that I could avoid the long queue :P. When I reached the immigration booth, the officer asked me where I work. I told him that I’m a student. He seemed didn’t believe what I just said, so he asked me the same freakin question again. Then he asked me where I study and whether or not my dad works here. Fortunately, no more questions were asked.
Anyway, we got a new driver! Ever since we live here in Saudi Arabia, we never had a driver. We were so dependent on our dad. Back then, if he was too busy to pick me up at school, my mom would sometimes asked my friends’ dads to pick me up. But he is now much busier compared to the previous years. I’ve only stayed here for 3 days, but he’s gone to Mekkah twice since my arrival to prepare for Hajj! The bad thing about having a driver is that we frequently go on our separate ways and hardly go out together as a family. Hopefully everything would change to normal again after Hajj.
I went to Mekkah yesterday to perform Umrah. My mom and bro only performed Tawaf with me and I did the Sa’i alone. I had the opportunity to perform Maghrib prayer and hear Sudais again :). Before I left the Grand Mosque, I took some pictures of Ka’bah from the first and second floor. Honestly it was the first time I did this!! Previously, I had no gut to do it; but the picture of my cousin posing inside the Grand Mosque encouraged me to take the pictures of Ka’bah. I was damn scared. I looked around in case the police, Muttawa, or men with beard (no offence!) were standing nearby. I didn’t want people shouted at me and reported my action to the police, so I tried to hide it from “conservative” people… just for this time! 
I couldn’t get the best shot coz I wasn’t brave enough to turn on my camera light. The pictures turned out to be blur. I hope that I could go back again during the day to take a better shot! 
I haven’t had time to go to the malls coz my sister is busy with her school. So I have to wait til weekend. My family will also attend the barbeque gathering with the Jeddah’s Sulawesi community on Thursday (or is it on Friday?? I forgot). I hope I could meet some of my elementary and junior high friends as well as my teachers. I’ll post the pictures here later on.
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Designed by Amalia Sanusi aka amellie © 2006
ga ada junk nya kok, gambar paling kanan bagus tuh, lainnya emang rada nge-blur
selamat berlibur, mudah - mudahan ketemu sama temen2 lama =) and have some quality time with them
actually those are nice shots ..
btw udah umroh berapa kali mel sampe saat ini?
huehehe…
ituu dah sampe singapore kenapa ga sekalian nyeberang ke jkakarta?
btw udah umroh berapa kali mel sampe saat ini?
huehehe…
ituu dah sampe singapore kenapa ga sekalian nyeberang ke jkakarta?
btw i’ve move my domain http://i-bebek.net
Alhamdulillah udah sampai dengan selamat
Itu cape duduk di pesawat kenapa ngga lompat-lompat aja? hehehe…
Trus selama di pesawat udah abis berapa buku Mel?
Have fun ya disana
Disana ngga makan jagung rebus sama ice cream malam-malam kan? hihihi
Have a nice trip, sist.. Enjoy!!
ternyata…di negara yang suka ngimpir TKW, perlakuannya sama aja ya Mel…
Makanya aku lebih suka di OZ sini, abis waktu di Singapore, makan hati deh…! wajar aja sih, cuma yang gak aku gak suka, ya semua yang pake jilbab masak disamain ma TKW ? atau diperlakukan sewenang-wenang itu loh…!
he he he kok jadi curhat begini ya ?
Salam buat keluarga ya Mel
waaaaaa … pic-nya keren2!!
meeel..dah lama nih aku ga mampir..ternyata dirimu lagi mudik..sampe kapan mel?..apa skalian mo haji juga??..nanggung kan tuh..duh, iri bgt deh aku..
btw, dulu waktu ke masjid nabawi sempet bawa kamera juga..tp kameranya dititipin ke tas mbah putri-ku(biasalah nenek2 kan kl bawa tas gede tuh)..huaa, akhirnya justru mbah putri-ku yg dimarahin sama mutawa itu..huaaaa, maaf kan daku mbaaah..sampe skrg msh merasa bersalah niiiih sama mbah putri-ku..
bebek: umroh berapa kali? duh ga tau
gak pernah ngitungin hehe. Tinggal nyebrang aja??? ahaha.. bayarin deh.. ntar aku ke jkt hehehe.
Belutz: Bukunya belom selese dibaca… baru satu. nonton mulu sih soalnya..
ina: hehe emang deh dimana2 gt.. sedih yeee jd org indo :P.
senaz: disini cuma 10 hari aja kok, insya Allah tgl 30 nov balik. Oh, kalo ke mesjid haram, kameranya jangan ditaro di tas. aku selalu taro di kantong celana hehehe. gak bkl di periksa. kadang hp yang ada kameranya gak boleh dibawa masuk lho… jadi ati2 aja, taro di kantong aja aman.. trus ntar pas udah lewat pemeriksaan, baru deh ditaro di tas.
seems like u’re enjoying ur holiday mel!
Tiap liburan harus lintas benua ya mel?
senangnya bisa umrah…
imam sudais emang istimewa banget ya
Wah senengnya yang lagi liburan dan bisa umroh (udah sering) pula. Nice photos Mel
They prevent people from taking pictures for good reason (I think). They do that to prevent people “converting” the holy ka’bah as a meager tourist spot
Gosh, trans-continent holiday… cool!
pak pol … pak pol … ini loh orang yg ambil gambar Ka’bah. bandel, ya … hihihi …
amel … amel … keringet dinginan, ga?
btw, cuma sampe tgl 30 nov? ga sibuk-sibuk kayak musim kemaren dong.
pssst, nitip doa dong buat si dedek … ^_^ …
met berlibur, yaaa …