My Saudi sim card has finally let me start texting England!

Texting off my T-mobile chip has cost me £40 so far and we have only been here four days! I need to stop taking pics and sending them to brothers to make them feel jealous!

They have got Arab boy scouts! It’s the funniest looking thing.

The old uncle in our room is raw. Doesn’t say much but when he does I wish I could Twitter it.

Don’t you hate saying goodbye to someone and then it turns out they are going the same way as you?

It’s a lovely feeling sleeping on the carpets outside the masjid, waking to the azhan and watching thousands of people come for salah. It’s even nicer when the bloke next to you keeps your space while you go redo wudu.

Isn’t it annoying when you are praying and people walk right in front with no care. I’m praying in a designated prayer area out of the way and one bloke just comes and stands there. ‘Mate the number 31 doesn’t pass here so maybe just maybe I might be praying?’


Got me some more amazing time in the Rawda again. Did everything I wanted to do. Nobody pushes me, stands in front of me or rushes me. Proper sukoon.

Learnt today that because I kept talking about our hotel being next to Masjid Ali my roommates thought I was a Shia!

My mate told me that he gave some street kid 500 riyal. I was going to tell him to keep his charity to himself until he told me he thought it was 5 riyal! Apparently the kid was well happy!

Met my first Australian Haji today.
All food is provided as part of our Hajj package and its proper tasty too but I am usually out and I don’t want to be held back by meal times so I eat out half the time. I love eating back street restaurants. You meet the most interesting people.

Mum is not well but wants to go on arranged tour of the sites. I go on the Urdu coach to be with mum. The guy on the tannoy really laying it on thick. Should have gone into sales.

Coach driver almost crashes into a car. Driver gets out and tries to go for our driver with a hammer! Amounts to nothing but road rage alive in Medina.

We arrive at Uhud. I wonder how much soil has been taken from here over the years as ‘souvenirs’.
We go to few other masjids and visit Masjid Quba again.

Still haven’t seen any stars since I’ve been here. It is quite cloudy at night.

I have the official position of tea maker for mum and the ladies in her room. Big responsibility.
Word gets round I make a mean cuppa.

I have a thing where I really don’t like eating alone. I’d rather go hungry than eat alone. I find it depressing but this evening I take my food and sit on the pavement just in front of the masjid. I am so transfixed to it that for the first time in a very, very long time I am able to eat alone. It was all the company I needed.

Palestinians have a tough time.
Was with a couple of lads from Swansea and we met one with his wife and kid who are claiming they have been robbed.
My spider sense telling me something is not right so I walk off and leave Swansea lads to deal with it. It was funny watching them explain that and get out of it themselves.
Met another the next day with wife and child in tow. Same story. Wonder how many more I will meet.


Mum bought some sandals for me. Look hard but are soft. Just like me.

Just got a text from England that little Abu Bakr needs a heart transplant operation and every time this message is forwarded the phone company will donate 2p towards the operation. I wonder…
1. Which phone company?
2. Why would they pick little Abu Bakr?
3. How do they know it’s been forwarded?
4. Who comes up with this rubbish?
5. How do people fall for it?


Took a friend to the Rawda and got him in. To say he was happy was an understatement. To say he was happy is a huge understatement. I could hear him cry and cry in sujood. There is something about sujood in the Rawda. You block everything out and it’s just you. Problem is some guys from our group saw us being taken in and I’m sure they are going to have some questions later.

It’s amazing to believe I have only been here less than a week. The things we have seen and done I could easily have been here two or three weeks.

My uncle leaving today to get back to work in Taif. InshaAllah he will be able to make it back to Mecca to be with us. He is planning to stay with us the whole of the Hajj also.
Part of me wants to do it alone with mum but I know him being with us will give mum great peace of mind. Think it stems from me wanting to do everything for her.
The Turkish bloke next to me is amazed by my writing this left handed. He watched me write every word. Either that or he is amazed by my naff handwriting.

I’m still playing my ‘people that look like someone I know’ game but the amazing thing is twice it’s actually been that person. Amazing where fate brings you together.

I can’t believe how focused I am on Hajj.

Nothing matters but this. I can’t think about my past or my future. The only thing that matters is right here, right now.

I truly have no idea how or when but mum has hit her weight allowance just with presents bought for others.
My luaggage doesn’t even weigh a fraction of that. If this keeps up, I’m going to have to look into sending things by cargo.

I fancy an apple.

A third Palestinian who has had his money stolen. Wife and kid right behind. What are the odds?

I paid over £5 for a tin opener!

Can’t find Radox bath salts here and I’ve looked everywhere. I want to share them with others but mum is my priority.

Fell asleep on carpet outside masjid to be awoken by four hajjis from India old enough to be my great grandfathers. They wanted to know about England and I answer all their questions in return for their du’a that mine and mum’s hajj is made easy. I really really enjoyed our chat.

I feel like Uncle Albert as first time Hajjis ask me about my experiences. I have them spellbound with my heroic deeds and near death tales.

Late night munch with one of the Swansea lads and my regular partner in crime. Great laugh.

Scented wakes up feeling rough. Sore throat, fever and bunged up. Think today shall be a rest day.
Just going to go salah and back the hotel after.

Been mistaken for a Arab, a Turk and a South African so far. Scented is a man for all the people.

It’s scary how slow time goes here. It’s the complete opposite of normal life. Here you think you have done something last week when in fact it was yesterday.

The worry of mum on Hajj is the only thing that stops me from truly looking forward to the huge occasion.

I can’t make enough du’a that Allah makes it easy on us.
I ask Allah by anything I can think of that I have done for His Sake alone.

Has anyone else noticed the change in the air when you get to Bab Assalaam? It becomes so much cooler. It’s like you cross an invisible barrier.

And yet another Palestinian that has been robbed! He was smiling as he told us his sob story.

Overheard a very interesting conversation in my room.

Bloke 1: ‘Them trouser above the ankle lot (meaning Salafis) don’t even believe in du’a! They are a true fitnah on this Ummah like the Shia.
Bloke 2: But they are cleverer than us. Much more learned, seek more knowledge and they know the Quran and Sunnah.
Bloke 1: Oh yeah nobody saying they not more learned than us…

Had an excellent conversation with a Pathan who was telling me how Medina was ridden with disease and that when Allah’s Messenger (Peace be upon him) made hijrah the kuffar in Mecca rejoiced believing that he would fall ill and die but with him came all the blessing and goodness and its was transformed.
He explained it better and was a joy to listen to.

Mum finally went to pray in the Rawda. She was over the moon. Says it was amazing. She happy so I’m happy.

Shia scum have turned up. Scumy scum.
Good to see how much the guards hate them.

Decide to get myself checked out at the local medical centre. Very quick and very impressive.

Huge crickets here! Or are they locusts? Ruddy massive whatever they are.

When I first came here in 2004

When I first came here in 2004 our hotel was near a string of food places and there was a man who we used to call ‘Pakora wala’ as he seemed to always try to entice us with free pakorai. Lovely guy.
We even took photos with him and I still have them.
I saw him today working at a restaurant. He no longer had his shop. He truly looked broken. It was really sad to see. I told him who I was and how I remembered him but it seemed that these were painful memories for him.
Really upsetting to see who he was and how unhappy he was now.


The other day we were in our air conditioned bus and we pulled along side an old American yellow school bus full of Africans looking hot and many standing up. Puts things in perspective.

It’s an amazing thing walking to salah not knowing what nationality is going to be praying next to you. That for a moment you are going to be standing shoulder to shoulder. You smile at each other, maybe exchange a few words, have a laugh and then stand before the one Lord who has decreed for you to be here. That where you stand all men and women are equal. Allah alone knows the hearts. Each have their own story.

Why, oh why did I pack four pairs of socks? It's boiling here!

You really have got to see their version of boy scouts.

For the first time ever in my life I see a bloke praying salah and then midway through look at his watch!

I prayed on the roof of the masjid today. Beautiful SubhanAllah.

We went to honour an invitation for lunch today. Took me a few minutes to get over how many books the brother we went to see has collected.

We travel to Mecca tomorrow.
We are going to the Miqat to get into Ihram. Not sure what worries Mecca will hold for mum. The crowds here are worrying enough so who knows what going to happen there but Allah is our Protector and to Him alone we entrust our affairs.

Watched a little group of kids with no arms begging. After a while they ran over to a woman and she took all their bags of money. She didn’t even have the decency to cover up. Miraculously their arms grew back moments later.
I take comfort in the punishment for the one who begs without reason. (I don’t mean the kids)

Last night in the Rawda. Dirty Shia trying to cause trouble but guards deal with them. I am unable to get into the Rawda. Was not meant to be but I cannot complain. People would love the chances I have had.

Me and Swansea lad go for a late night hunt for an internet café. Our lack of arabic works against us and he wants to give up but I have got to know how this going to end so we keep going. We ask and ask for directions till we finally find it. News! World! So much to check so little time and the computer keeps crashing. I leave happy. Mission accomplished.

We leave for Mecca.

Sit in coach for ages while they load on the luggage. Problem with being so close to the Masjid is that the cops keep telling the driver to move on.
Driver seems like a nice guy. I watched him help people while he waited. Built like a tank. Looks as if he could snap your neck in several places for a laugh.
We get told our coach is going to a separate hotel.

We get to the Miqat and put our Ihrams on. Everyone manages to make it back to the coach quickly.

My biggest test so far has been people who complain.
These people complain about anything and everything. I can’t stand the constant backbiting and whinging. They make stuff up and spread rumours and lies. I really have to bite my lip as I want to unleash on them.

Long drive and few stops. Word reaches us that Mecca has had thunder and lightning. I phone a friend who confirms it and says that the place was flooded but it’s all gone now.

Coach going round in circles which only fuels the gossip mongers who are convinced that we are going to be dumped miles from the Haram.
Its 1am and we are in an underground car park. We are taken to our rooms. Ladies are next door to us. We enter our room and there are seven beds downstairs and seven upstairs. I take the bed by the window upstairs.
We pull back the curtains and after all the hassle and the headache of the travel I am so overwhelmed I cannot even describe my feelings.
We were overlooking the whole of the Haram!!
This was more then I could ever have expected or asked for!

I sat there for ages just looking out of the window.

Mum wants to attempt Umrah right away. I’m a bit worried as Fajr going to be coming in soon and mum will be alone for the salah. We go to the Haram and the ground floor is packed so we go onto the second floor. As a rule I try to avoid the second floor as all the pillars get in the way and create the bottleneck effect but mum don’t like heights so if she is given a choice she going to keep low so it’s off to the second floor we go.
We go round twice and I notice that the space to walk has already started to get enclosed. I cannot take the risk of losing mum so I suggest we do the rest after Fajr. I take mum to the back and sit her with some ladies and I sit at the front but directly in her line of vision so she can see me at all times. I am so tired and hungry. I am fighting to stay awake while we wait for Fajr as I don’t want to redo wudu and leave mum. In my state I keep thinking I have to fast while in Ihram.

We pray Fajr and are back in the tawaf. Averaging ten minute a circuit. It all takes it toll on mum and she needs a wheelchair for Sai.
Many young blokes ready to rip you off with the prices of renting a wheelchair. (I would later learn that free ones are available if you go early from one of the offices.)
Some bloke quoting 300 riyal and some quoting 200 riyal.
I find one for 100 riyal and I take it. Mum happy and I push her myself.
We drink much Zam zam water and complete the 7 rounds.

We come out and now comes the hard part which is finding our hotel!
We may be in the biggest complex in Mecca, we may have the big green clock on our roof but for the life of me I can’t remember where our hotel is.
You have to remember we got dropped there at 3am and I find out later the directions we were given were wrong.
We wander round for around ten minutes until we find some guards who direct us after we get one of the group leaders on the phone and he tells them which hotel we staying in.
Mum gets a few words in but it’s all good.
I shower and crash out.

My new roommates consist of four others and we still have two empty beds.

You may think 7 to a floor sharing one bathroom is a bit much but there is more than enough room.
I have seen one of these brothers around in Medina and he was always smiling so I’m happy to have him with me. Another of them is a serious looking guy who I met a couple of times in Medina. The other two are unknown to me. One of them is an elder.
Everyone getting on fine so far.

Zuhr is packed.
I meet a friend and we have a meal. We have to find a nice spot on the floor to eat which I find ironic considering my new hotel. Here I am getting moved on by guards as we squat to eat, I love it.

I get my bearings of where I am and act as translator at the currency exchange for Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi families. I must have been good as the Turkish families want my services to but my genius has boundaries so I must decline!

Thanks to watching way too much television every time I get into a lift and nobody is around, I always check to see if the panels above me open in case I need to make an escape. It’s useless actually as I’m scared of heights so I wouldn’t be climbing out of anywhere. I am humming the theme tune to Mission Impossible at the time and I am so into it I don’t realise the lift opens and people are looking at me.

I am sitting in my room watching these workmen in the tower next to us. They are pulling it the whole building down.
I can tell you right now no amount of money would get me to do what they doing. To say they risking life and every single limb is the closest I can describe this.

I sit just looking at the Haram. I feel guilty as many have not and will never see what I see. I look and look as I know I’ll kick myself when I leave here for wasting time doing nothing when I could have been enthralled by this amazing sight.

I sit outside all evening and night. I go to the third floor of the Haram and I must look like a right idiot grinning from ear to ear running up the stairs. Me and the third floor go way back. It’s just as I left it. Few sights on earth are as amazing as watching the tawaf from the third floor. You find yourself hypnotised and have no concept of time.

After that I just sit downstairs and spend ages just smiling at brothers and elders giving salaam trying to gain some reward.

My sinuses are all messed up.

I hear my uncle is coming from England on the 9th. May even be with the same Hajj group as us.

Saw mum today sitting surrounded by some Indonesian ladies at salah. When it was time to leave mum was embracing them all. Really made me smile.

The group took us on a tour of the all the sites today. I am not a fan of walking around in the daytime so it’s going to be uncomfortable but mum wants to go.
Problem with all these places is the large crowds and all it will take is for one person to get lost and we could be here for ages. Thankfully the group is very well organised so nothing happens.

Speaking of the group we have come with I have to say I am bowled over by the manner they deal with us. One chap downstairs fell ill and they took him to the hospital and stayed with him. They check on him every day and tend to anything that needs doing quickly and effectively.

Mum told all the aunties that I got us lost on the way back to the hotel that first morning. One mistake and this is what I’ll be remembered for!

Mum saw me eating an ice cream and told me I’d get a cough because of it. Ten minutes later I coughed and guess who go an ‘I told you so’ in?

Had a cream cake the size of a subway roll! At first I didn’t think I’d make it but I went for its pressure points and it had to give into my experience and superior technique. It didn’t stand a chance.

I went to get my beard trimmed today at a barbers to sort out any split ends and they point blank refused to touch it.

Found out a new wheelchair costs £52 (320 riyal) so those cowboys who exploit people’s weaknesses and needs can charge this amount for leasing one for Tawaf and Sai make their money back in no time.

Speaking of wheelchairs it really gets to me when people in them are pushed round on the ground floor when they have an allocated place on the second floor. I know the ground floor tawaf is like nothing else and I would hate to not have a chance to be down here in it if I was in a wheelchair. The thing is the amount of times you get smacked at the back of your ankles by people pushing wheelchairs is unreal. These cowboys who rip you off and charge you huge amounts want to get it over and done with as soon as possible so they can go rip someone else off so they will not care. I am trying my upmost to take care of myself as mum relies on me. Damage to my feet or legs would make everything so much harder.

Prayed next to an Indonesian brother today.

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.

We have been watching these guys working on the building next to us.

What makes a man hang off the side on the 15th floor of the building without a safety rope and kick away at the very support he is resting on? The government should use this as work encouragement. Get a job or we will be sending you here!

It’s amazing watching the people from up here. At Zuhr they fill the spaces that are in the shade and then bit by bit as the shade comes across they fill that too.

I was sitting down and an Indonesian brother comes to ask if I am from Bakersfield, California. I tell him I’m not and he says that there is a bloke in his local masjid who looks just like me. Seems Bakerfield has had a case of studmuffinitus also!

I keep getting chewing gum with my change in the shops. Are they trying to tell me something?

I’ve told mum from now on she is going to leave her gang in the evenings and come with me to sit in front of the Ka’bah.

Today I was praying and I had just finished when I saw a cat pounce on something. It only does that when its catches a mouse or something like that. I look closely and it has a pigeon in its mouth. I thought that sort of thing only happens in the cartoons as I’ve seen cats and pigeons next to each other and nothing has happened.
The cat takes its dinner and nips into a derelict building.

Amazing. I watch from our window. I can see hundreds of thousands of people and Allah knows the hearts of each and every single one.

We are so fortunate to have an uncle with us who is a Quran hafiz and very wise. I love listening to him.
Today we were talking about the achievements of man and it is nothing for Allah He said something so simple yet so powerful. ‘So what if man has stepped on the moon? Allah took his beloved to the heavens’.

I will never forget this evening as long as I live. I took mum and we sat on the ground floor right by the Ka’bah just looking at it and making du’a to Allah.
I did not want it to end but mum has to get back and rest. She asked me to make a special du’a for myself. She has never before asked me to do this.
I am going to bring her every night we are here InshAllah.

Manchester lad and I go on a hunt for an internet café. I saw one a couple of days ago so we hit the streets.
We find it and they charge 15 riyal an hour which is a rip off but we have no choice. We try to take in all the news and Manchester lad shows me a real good lecture on the Mercy of Allah. I want to watch all of it when I get back to England.

I decide I am going to hit tawaf at 2am. Loved it. Was on the sixth circuit and I came in between an old Turkish couple. The old man starts to shout at me even though I am getting pushed from behind. I put my hands in the air to show him I am not doing anything and then someone gives me a big push. Normally it wouldn’t be a problem but it just happens that right in the middle of the tawaf two blokes decide that is a acceptable place to be in sajood so I fell over them. I jumped up as quick as a flash in case I get trampled. Few things annoy me as much as that here. What’s worse is when they praying in the most awkward places and then get upset with you if you interrupt them.

Mum tells me that an auntie from her room had her bag stolen from right in front of her while she sat waiting for salah. It was in a women’s only area. The bag was in front of her and a lady came and asked for a bottle of water which was slightly behind her. The auntie turned around and then turned back to give her the bottle. A moment later the auntie realised the bag was gone. Shameful.