Random Rambles of Lotfi

This is what travelling does to me...the 5 hours of difference in time left me awake at 4am when I should already be sleeping. And when friends came by at around 8.30am to visit this morning, I just couldn't wake up. Nasib baik subuh prayers tak lepas...Alhamdulillah and thank goodness am still on leave til Monday. We arrived in Mekah after the 6 hours bus journey, all aching and water retentioned from the long journey. We stopped in Bir Ali ( a mosque about 6km from the Haram land) for our miqat (niat) to perform our first umrah. After we checked at the Zam Zam Grand Suites,which is like one of the best hotels in Mekah and dinner at the cafeteria, we walked the 400 meters walk to Baitullah...and nothing could prepare me and maybe all of us for the first glimpse of the Kaabah...it was almost surreal..and immediately most of us shed tears of disbelief and awe at this place that all our life we have prayed upon. And immediately all my doubts of coming here melted along...

Salam...Alhamdulillah, we reached bumi Malaysia at approximately 11.02am this morning. I slept almost the whole journey, hoping to minimise the 5 hours difference in time. Woke up properly just in time for breakfast served at almost 9am. We left Malaysia last Wednesday afternoon, a whole 2 buses of us from the office, some with families in tow, some singles and some with friends. Whatever apprehension I felt when I first decided to take on this journey melts seeing the faces that will join me on this trip. I am quite sure they have mixed feelings as I did especially the first timers. Alhamdulillah I was lucky to be joined by hubs, my eldest 'Aisyah and my first boy Imran. They say when you have made the decision to go there, it is a taqdir from Allah swt. That the doors of the Kaabah is wide opened ready for us. Imran, my son up until 2 days before we pushed off was still saying he didn't want to go, that he's not ready to go..How do you tell a 15 year old that ...