We spoke for ages. He told me that 200,000 Indonesians have come this year and that Hajj is booked out for 6 years in advance back home.He had a beautiful little mat to place his head on in sujood. At the end of the salah we shook hands and he gave me the mat! I was gutted I didn’t have anything to give him. Truly gifts warm the heart and to give a gift to someone you met half an hour ago is even more amazing.
Just carried my standard issue 10 litre Zam zam water from designated filling station to hotel. 10 litre in each hand. Sweating, aching and proper pain but I made it.
Anyhow they lose my water now at the airport and I will beat someone to death with my slipper.
Amazing night. It truly was. As if the tawaf was all mine. Huge gaps would appear in the hardest of places. So much ease yet so many people.
My dreams are not making any sense. They are going at 100mph and contain everything. I think my brain cannot compute so many experiences all happening at once.
I really hate this new huge clock. I hate anything towering over the Ka’bah. The only plus for me is that it’s easy for mum to use as a landmark to find her way back. The shopping mall under our hotel is a rip off. They have Next, Starbucks, Mothercare, Monsoon and lots of other shops here but people walk in, see the prices and walk right back out. At least twice the price we get them for in England.
It’s Friday and the crowds have come well early. It’s an hour and a half before salah and they have closed the entrances to the Haram. Top floor is empty due to the heat and lack of shade but that will soon change. On the streets everyone sitting in shade and waiting.
I truly cannot believe how relaxed mum is here. It is like she does this every day. This truly is doing her the world of good. Now all I have to worry about it how much luggage she going to try to sneak back into the UK!
I could not have picked a better group for me and mum.
By sheer chance I stumble onto the fith level of Sai. I have never been up here before. It’s funny watching people on the third floor watching the tawaf.
One of our roommates comes out of the bathroom soaked clothes soaked top to bottom with water. Me and another room mate from Manchester almost crying with laughter.
I am so grateful to the brothers in our room here. Everyone looks out for each other, helps each other and always puts the others first. A true blessing from Allah.
Before I came I spoke to brothers who had been with the same group the year before and it was upon their recommendation that we signed up. They said that after the Hajj they sat and discussed what they would have changed if they had the chance and they could not think of a single thing.
I also feel the exact same way. Everything has been far, far more than I could have expected or wished for. The accommodation, the food, the roommates are just a few of the countless blessings we have experienced.
I feel like we should have paid a lot more for what we have been given.
Wake up with eyes stinging real bad. I guess that’s what you get when you rely on 2 hours sleep before Fajr.
Got me a new partner in crime.
Lad from Manchester is up for whatever and whenever. We spend some quality time in the Haram before we go carry chin wag with the staff at Bin Dawoods. When then attempt to find Bin Dawood himself.
It seems if there are laughs to be had we going to have them but we remind each other also of the favours of Allah.
We find some awesome food places and decide we going to take all the guys from our floor for a munch.
Also we going to sneak sleeping bags into the Haram and kip on the fifth floor Sai.
My dreams are getting more detailed now.
I hook up Manchester lad with a Radox bath salt foot soak. I didn’t hear a word from him for the next ten minutes.
Thinking of starting a business by taking my bucket and bath salts to Marwa.
My biggest Hajj tip to date: Radox Bath Salts.
No comments:
Post a Comment