Our family umrah trip by road

Journey from Qatar to Riyadh to Madinah then Mekah and back to Qatar by road.

 It has been long since we ever made a long trip journey other than to Malaysia since we had Mishel. We thought to give any trip a rest, until the kids got slightly bigger. But at the end of March, somehow we were invited to go to Mekah to perform Umrah. Alhamdulillah.. not everyone are invited, it is the most privileges invitation a muslim can have. Be it you have all the money in this world, if HE didn’t invite you, then you will not be allowed to go.. and if HE decided to invite you.. a short notice invitation is all it takes for HE is the best planner of the universe. AllahuAkbar.

I just started a new job with a completely new field in an oil and gas industry. I was always TV/Media kind of person. Have always been in operation and now, migrated, in hope to achieve a better mindset and a better family-oriented kind-of job. Yes.. I am thankful, now I am working 7-3.. just nice for school hours.. yes, although Maqeel and Mishel are currently at home, but soon they’ll join the nursery too.. so this is by far, the best job option Allah had granted me with. Alhamdulillah.. another Arafah prayer has been answered.

I started my new work officially on 12th of March, luckily enough, my boss allow me to go for a short break from 26th until 30th March for this short-notice umrah trip, and back to work the following Sunday.. blissed.. and I tought I’m going to feel tired and restless.. but I was wrong.
Thanks to Mr.Ai’s brilliant plan, we manage to complete our Umrah and Ziarah mission in 5 days, without feeling restless, nor tired. Here we share our itinerary to Umrah by road in hope that many more people could benefit from this and get their chance of invitation too.

25th March 2013

1400hrs we pushed off to border and completed the whole yada yada process in approximately 2 hours. Made our way to Riyadh and reached our hotel around 2230hrs.

26th March 2013
0900hrs we pushed off to Medina Al Eiman Taibah (N 024 48.969, E 46 37.947). Reached there just nice for Asr prayer. Parked our car, checked in.. then rushed to Masjid Ad-Nabawi. The hotel is not too far from the masjid.. a 5 minutes walking distance, which is acceptable. That night, after Isyak, I went to Raudah with my P.A.. Yup.. our main point of going to umrah must be because of her.. she is quite warak and never have left Dhuha prayer.. and Alhamdulillah.. our journey has been made easy, and I believe it is partly because of her too. Allah have given her this rezk by inviting the whole family. My experience in Raudah also was easy this time. I could just walk straight to the very last point where they stopped you to wait for your group turn just before the Raudah..but still, it took about an hour of patience to be allow an entrance.. finally.. I manage to enter and perform my solat there.. praying.. hoping that all that I have asked for came true. InsyaaAllah.

27th March 2013
0800hrs we pushed for Masjid Quba’ (N 24 26’17.6” E 39 37’03.5” ). He who take wuduk from home then perform 2 solat sunat in Quba’ will be granted the same amount of rewards as if performing Umrah. InsyaaAllah..

After prayer, we visited masjid Qiblatain (N 24 29 02.2”, E 039 34” 43.4”), Madinah Quran factory (N 24 30’55.6”, E 39 32’ 19.9”) then straight to Miqot Bir Ali (N 24 24’ 53.8” E 39 32’ 34.1”)..before continuing to Mekah.
Note: If you thought about putting wakaf copies of Quran in Masjid Nabawi or Masjidil-Haram, please be sure to put the version printed from Madinah Quran factory. If they see any other version, it will eventually be removed and put into other masjid. So be sure to get the original copy from the factory shop itself, not from stalls selling Quran outside of the masjid area. The Medina Quran factory opening hours is from 0730am till 12pm. And only men are allowed to go in for visit. Women can only enter the shop. Visitors to the factory will be granted a free copy of Al-Quran.

We reached Miqot Bir Ali at around 10am, we changed to ihram and set our umrah niyah. LabaikAllah.. humalabbaik.. 5 hours later, we reached the Kuday free parking area (N 21 23’54.6”, E 39 49’39.5”), pared there and then took taxi to our hotel in Mekah Al-Mukarammah (N 021 25.17”, E 39 49.607”). Alhamdulillah.. just in time for Asr prayer. After Asr, we performed our Umrah.
One of the experience that I felt was meant to happened to teach me a lesson was, when I got separated from my family. I was carrying Mishel in my arm, while performing tawaf.. she cried most of the time due to the heat.. I then opened up her clothes and pray that she’ll get better and sleep. Thankfully, after the 5th round, she fell asleep. I finished my tawaf, and still hoping to find my family again.. but I couldn’t. Then it was almost time for Maghrib, so I took sleeping Mishel into the women’s praying area. Still praying and hope that my family will find me. But they didn’t.
 It was somehow meant to be, I didn’t have any money or my phone with me.. it was hanged on the wheelchair that carries Myra and Maqeel.. . After Maghrib Mishel was hungry.. thankfully somebody gave us 2 pieces of Tamar, more than enough for us to gain some extra energy to perform Sai’e. I went to Safar, hoping that I’ll see them.. but still.. no sign of them at all. Luckily, I got to borrow one of the nice men phone to send a text msg. I then perform Sai’e with Mishel in my arm.. feeling just like Siti Hajar.. running back and forth looking for water and food for her child. I could hardly bare her in my arm anymore.  After Isyak, we settled, we went back to our hotel, I was barefooted. Luckily enough, the bell boy remembers me, as Maqeel’s Ummi. He hand me another copy of the hotel card, so I manage to go in to rest.
Alhamdulillah.. even in the worst, Allah still provide helps, one after another.. and if I hadn’t been separated, I wouldn’t have appreciate it more than I am today.
It was an experience to remember.
That night, I took Shaklee Collagen and 4 tabs of Shaklee Ostematrix. My arm was numbed .. ached all over from shoulder down to my back. But I woke up feeling fresh and re-charged.. ready for more.. Alhamdulillah. Click here if you need more info of the product. Highly recommended as they are very very good.

28th March 2013
We stayed 2 night in Mekah.. and Alhamdulillah.. Allah has answered my prayer.. finally, I got to kiss Hajar’ul Aswad.. something that I have not considered from my last 2 visit to Mekah before.

29th March 2013
After performing tawaf Widaa’, we stop by the Zam-zam distribution center in Kuday, then pushed off to Riyadh.. the most long and tiring journey.. 9 hours to be exact.

30th March 2013
After a nice and relaxing time, we made our way back to Doha. Reached Saudi border at 1430pm and finished by 1450pm. Yup.. going out is fairly easy and fast. We reached Qatar border at 1515pm, performed our jamak prayer and safely entered Qatar at 1523pm, stopping at Hyatt Plaza for a nice family meal.. before heading home to Gharrafa.

It was amazingly smooth and everything was somehow made very easy for us. Alhamdulillah.. may we be invited again someday.

menyahut PanggilanNYA.. (pt 3)

We arrived in Mekah late at nite. As we approach nearer we recite the talbiah... whilst our little heart felt excited and overwhelm to finally reach our main destination... Mekah al-Mukarammah.. and to finally see the the holy Kaabah with our own naked eyes, insyaallah. From afar, I could see the brightest light coming from Masjidil Haram.. subhanallah. But, my first sight was distracted by the bigger building just right to it, The Zam-Zam Tower..memang potong stim. Why would they build such a gigantic tower in this holy land? It has taken the special grand-appearance of Masjidil Haram.. I would personally think that because of this, people could be more amazed to see the big tower than the Kaabah.. (sigh..).

But alhamdulillah.. despite the BIG distraction, my heart is still itchy from curiosity..

curious to see the magnificent Kaabah, the Baitullah. At that moment I was excited plus scared, would I see it? Bermacam-macam cerita tak bes dari pengalaman2 orang lain (actually pengaruh dari bace cerita2 cerekarama dari metro la.. apela.. hehe) terngiang-ngiang kat kepale.. ade orang yang tak nampak Kaabah sebab dosa yang tergantungla, and macam2 lagi la cite tak bes... So I pray hard.. moga-moga we are among the lucky one to be able to perform umrah without any hiccups.

And Alhamdulillah.. that very nite, we approached the Masjidil Haram, and there it was.. the big black cube.. as beautiful as people said it was, dan yang paling penting, I saw it! ;)

Around midnite, we performed umrah, from Tawaf to Saie and to Tahlul.. and khalas.. at around 1++ i think, we are free from the pantang-larang ihram. Mase buat umrah tak rase letih, tapi once dah selesai, fuhh.. terase jugak, nasib baik Myra kena tinggal kat hotel, kalau tak, sure lagi mencabar nak angkut die sekali tengah2 malam buat umrah (although I am sure akan dipermudahkan olehNYA kalau kiteorg bawak pun..;).

The hotel we stayed in is just few hundreds meters away, so agak senang nak berulang-alik. The next few days were just us and our own activities, berulang-alik ke Masjid, ambik sebanyak mungkin peluang untuk tawaf, because this is where, the only place we could do so.

I recall from a video I saw about tawaf, claims that ''the Kaabah has the strongest energy on earth that flows counter-clockwise, so by us flowing in co-relation with this energy, we are uplifting ourselves, we are reaching spiritual level that we rarely felt anywhere else, and the fact that we perform 7 times of the tawaf is because of the 7 level of the skies. So, we are reaching the ultimate state of wisdom spirituality''.. wallahualam.

I don't remember which day exactly we went for the group tour to see the Kaabah's Museum and the ladang unta. It was a brief tour, tak sempat nak bergamba sangat pun, hiks.

Anyway, the very last day before our departure, me, my hubby, nizam and Aiman went for our own quick tour with the local taxi. Paid Saudi Riyal 100 per taxi, to visit Jabal Nur, Jabal Thur, Jabal Rahmah, Mina, Padang Arafah etc2. During that tour, we could just imagine ocean of people coming to perform hajj. That empty tent, that empty field would be filled up with millions of pilgrims, with one hope; to not only fulfill one of the 5 pillars of islam... but to be accepted by Allah.

That same evening, we performed tawaf widaq, partly sad that it's time to say good bye. Praying that we'll be invited again..soon insyaallah.

23 hours later, we reached Doha... dengan azam dan semangat baru, semoga Allah terus-terus memberikan hidayah. Memang betul bak kate ustaz Abdullah, doa Nabi Ibrahim (a.s) sememangnya sangat makbul, doanya, semoga sesiapa saja yang datang ke tanah suci Mekah akan rindu untuk datang kembali..

that is exactly what we felt until now.....

menyahut PanggilanNYA.. (pt 2)

Another day in Madinah Al-Munawarah.. which is by rukun, is not part of the umrah, but as one of the respected sister once told me, 'How could you not come and visit Rasulullah (s.a.w) when you are so very near already?

She was right..

The ziarah to Madinah is mainly to send our salam to rasulullah (s.a.w) and his sahabat and to also visiting Raudah; which is as per rasulullah (s.a.w) is part of the heaven's garden.. and is among the most mustajab place for doa. So, whenever you have the opportunity, go ahead and make your wish to visit it, after raudah you are just meters away from makam rasulullah (s.a.w).

For ladies, they have provided few time slot for ziarah, sometime after subuh, after zuhur and after ishak. The guys have much more convenient to visit, which for them are open all the time.

Me and ibu went at around 10-ish that nite (taking turns as we left Myra at the hotel with her dad). We were guided straight to Raudah's way (so we tot). They have a system to gather all the ladies as per their nationalities; which of course put us among the Indonesian and Singaporean group. The ladies guard (as fierce as they can be) would constantly shouted 'Dhudhuk ibu..dhudhuk..' (which is kinda cute, considering they are arabs and all, hiks). So there we goes...from one point to another, like a heard of sheeps we were guided and ordered to make our way, meter by meter nearing Raudah, everytime asked to dhudhuk (sit) then again making few step forwards, then sit.. until we can actually see the Raudah. At the very last point, few of the Pakistani and Turkish ladies got so angry with our group. They stubbornly sneaked in to be among us (as they tot we are next in line to get into Raudah). The ladies guard kept shouting for them to get back to their group, but their ziarah spirit seems much stronger than to bother about a small system as this. We've waited 10 minutes, and another group went in, 15 minutes, another group went in.. it was told that our group (which is the most well-behave and dengar cakap) will be the last to go, so that the Turkish or the Pakistani won't have the chance to push us (which is apparently their best known-behaviour, hence the system). So bagus jugak la ade system ni, at least semua kompem dapat merase.

Alhamdulillah.. 15 minutes before midnite, we finally got in.

(Pic by Aizal)

The next day we have our ziarah with few local ustaz (which are from Malaysia themselves). We visited Masjid Quba, Bukit Uhud, Ladang Kurma and Kilang pencetakan Al-Quran (which is the biggest in the world). The mutawwif in our bus is ustaz Abdullah, throughout the journey he was talking really passionately about the sejarah that all of us felt so tak puas, and rase nak dengar lagi... so Haji Mansur invited him again for another session that night, none of us felt sleepy. All eyes and ears are onto him, memang best.. sayu je dengar sejarah rasulullah (s.a.w) and para sahabat. I hope one day to get the chance to hear the history told by him again..

Never in my life, have I felt so into the scene when people talked about history until that day.

The next day, we checked-out and ready with our Ihram, making our way to Miqat in Bir Ali, untuk pasang our niat umrah and off to Mekah Al-Mukarammah.

To be continue (Insyaallah)

menyahut PanggilanNYA.. (pt 1)

I think this is the only trip that one could never really plan on their own, unless they are 'invited'.

Our trip started on Wednesday evening March 31st, we left home after Asar, around 5pm. The meeting point is at Al-Saad stadium. Mr.Zahed was kind enough to offer his big Armada to send us off, alhamdulillah. So, there we are, nervous and excited to see the BUS that we gonna make as our bed-on-wheel throughout our journey for umrah.

Sampai-sampai je Al-Bayyan compound, we saw 3 of the buses lining up- gorgeous good looking brown metallic buses! New and Super cool, complete with a nice toilet (like the one in airplane) Alhamdulillah.

After maghrib, more and more people start to come, we loaded our bags into the bus and started choosing our seats, when we discover it's a full reclinable seat, sweeeeet! So there goes our worry . With a nice bus like this what could possibly be wrong? ;) The best relief is knowing that we can scrap off 'ke-taklalu-an untuk gune tandas awam' throughout the journey (which by experience from other people are super terrible!)

Some friends are kind enough to come and see our departure. So while waiting for the rest of the passengers, we hop on and off the bus (more like Myra yang forcing the hop-on-and-off) to meet them. At around 8, as planned we made our move. There are 4 buses all together, our bus was No 1, with the organizer Haji Mansor as a head. So, we lead the way to the Qatar-Saudi border.

We arrived Qatar border 1 1/2 hours later, with quite a smooth ride..

At around 10:30pm begins our best ujian, the Saudi border. First, Haji Mansor asked all of us to stay while he gets the immigration chop. Then the men were asked to go for fingers scan and picture taking. Then, the ladies turn. It seems quite a smooth deal, until one of the lady got stuck with her finger print; 5 times of failure and we started to panic. Tapi dengan izin Allah (rupe-rupenye almost all of us pray for her success serentak) 2 minutes after, she came out with a happy result, Alhamdulillah.

The next step was to go for baggage scan. We were asked to take all our belongings down and clear up the bus. Nothing should be left inside, not even a botol susu! It was already 1 AM i think.. so we were not in our best energy-level, plus the cranky Myra..cooobaaannn. The Saudi do a thorough check of the bus, using their special-trained dog. Then, the ladies were asked to enter a room for some handbag inspection and name filling. The immigration officer was a nice lady, all she had to do was to write down our name and check our handbag (if any). Once all done, we are back on track. Finally proceeding with our journey to the first destination; Madinah al-Munawarrah.

25hours later (yes.. campur tolak break), we arrived Madinah during Maghrib. I considered myself very lucky that I manage to get the room key and get ready in time for Ishak prayer (Further more, memang bersyukur that my period elok2 je abis time sampai Madinah!!). Ibu asked us to went ahead without her, as she still a bit too tired to rush to Masjid Nabawi. The magnificient Masjid was only 100 meters away, with the ladies entrance right across our hotel. It was my first best experience ever... seeing so many other sisters eager to perform jemaah prayer.

The spiritual experience is just unimaginable and beyond words. I couldn't really know how to express it here. I guess one can only know by own experience.

It was true what people say about the holy place, any wish.. any niyah will be granted almost instantly... so careful for what you wish for!

Among one of the magical thing that I experienced was when we lost Myra's crocs. We kept all our (cikai-slipper-that-intended-to-be-use-for-masjid-takut-kasut-mahal-hilang) along with her crocs, and yes.. like we expected, the slipper hilang.. tapi yang sedihnye so is Myra's crocs. The next day, my little heart was wishing that 'harap2 ade la crocs myra..' then I tried eyeing the shoe rack....then there it was.. myra's crocs with our emptied slipper bag; elok je ade! wah.. instant reward, alhamdulillah.

Banyak sangat cerita-cerita magik jadi, but i think this is enuff for now.. ;)

To be continue..

MidEast Roadtrip - (Wahid: Qatar-UAE-Oman)

Day 2 - Dubai-Dubai-Dubai (10th Dec 09)

Well, this is not our first time here. Been to Dubai shortly after my confinement period's over, as to celebrate my success for not being super-hysterical-pregnant-woman-in-labour...hiks.

So, that was 2 years ago.

Sayanggg... Dubai, the city that gained the-biggest, the-bestest, the-first & the-of-everything just won another title 'The biggest loser'... If only they slowed down a little. Well, that's that, but I'm here to tell story of our trip, other facts, google sendiri la.. :P

And, while in ZowwoBowwo's home, we discover the most interesting things about nature.. Can you see the garlic pic? Yeah.. that's the pucuk ginger.. dunno how long they've got them for, siap bleh tumbuh pucuk, yang tembus through the garlic's net! With no watering, no nothing.. semulajadi jek.. hehe (and nampak sangat la dah lame cik Zowwo tak masak2, hehehehe)

Since we've been to Dubai before, I didn't think about doing another double-decker-hop-on-hop-off-bus-tour again. We just thought, well, lets just go to Global Village, inside the Palm area, and to see the completed Burj Dubai and some shopping at Dubai Outlet mall. We weren't very keen on getting the city tour again... it's mostly mall mall mall anyway (plus, the pocket pun sudah agak bocor..hiks).

And, as I mentioned on my earlier post, this time around, we went for the most unprepared trip ever. I didn't do any of my usual research for places of interest or let alone a complete itinerary list! And I'm not a kaki-shopping myself, sebab tu even dah alang-alang kat Dubai yang macam-macam-ada pun, not really tempted to include shopping trips sangat, inikan pule my dear hubby.. So, mostly during this trip, we just went with the flow, with the minimal info taken from google and blindly following the GPS route... we went ahead to our first stop; Dubai Outlet Mall (saje nak tengok, best ke tak). Not that grand a place, boleh la nak shopping sikit-sikit, selection agak kureng on certain brands. Nak kate murah sangat pun, takla jugak. Tapi nak tak nak, abis jugakla dalam 3-4 jam round2 situ..hehe. Then, we left for our kodak moment at Burj Al-Arab. That time, Myra is already in her cranky mode, takmo posing2 cam selalu :( .

We then melencong to be at the tip of the Palm Jumeirah, tengok the Atlantis dari luar jer.. sebab dah janji nak pick up ZowwoBowwo for Global Village tour. Janjinye 7-ish.. tapi around, 9++ baru la sampai Global Village ; biase la typical janji melayu.. hehehehe

Pic: The GPS snapshot of us, being on the tip of the Palm's top.

Then, we left to get ZowwoBowwo and Aishah for our late tour in Global Village. Our arrival was somewhat welcomed with the series of fireworks, as my hubby kept saying- 'macam manela tak bankrupt, asek main firework je!' . In the Global Village, boleh tahan menarik.. banyak gile booths negare2 like Africa, Turkey, Egypt, China, Lebanon, KSA, Russia (to name but a few). Yang paling tak best is our visit to booth Malaysia-Singapore, no unique stuff to malambangkan both countries, there were more stuffs that you could find in any of the Souk yourself, barang merapu2.. , except for the Kelate booth yang ade jual some foods. Tapi, still overall agak memalukan.. :(

Pics: Some of the many entrance to the booths

Anyway, dalam kesejukan meronda kat Global Village, we got the chance to see the African performances- dancing, hoping and some fire~. Heating up our chilled flesh! My personal favourite was seeing the lampu-lampu and ceramics kat Turkey's booth.. sangat cantik! Pastu siap ade mamat2 Turkey yang tibe2 pasang lagu then joget2 lambak kat dalam tu.. Ni yang mengoda nak gi Istanbul sangat-sangat ni! Hiks.

Not forgetting seeing the unique crafty woods in Africa's booth.. sayangnye sume kedai cam jual bende yang lebih kurang same, and agak mahal jugak nak beli, baik tunggu beli bile dah visit South Africa or something.. barula ade alasan kukuh untuk ke sane.. ;)

Pics: The cool stuff from Turkey & Africa's booth

To be continue..

Oh yeah.. to get all the extra details on the road tour (coordinates and everything), please visit http://wahyuinqatar.wordpress.com - our major guide, thank you again Pak Wahyu!

MidEast Roadtrip - (Wahid: Qatar-UAE-Oman)

How time flies, it was not long ago when I wrote about my life journey in London, then all of the sudden I'm back in Doha, to start off yet another journey here, maybe it's a second chance to something, I'm not quite sure. Berserah.. I strongly believe, everything happen for a reason, just like when we decided to leave Doha for London last time, many said we were stupid.. but we did it anyway and berserah... Then, when we came back to Doha, some people asked me why I ever left London, giving up on my career, when everything seems so right and smooth... and yet.. here I am, throwing all of that, for Doha, which some regards as the boringest place ever. Well, truth is, Doha felt more homely to us, and it is still safe to bring up a family here; as she's still in the middle; not-yet-too-developed, but not-that-under-developed either; the just right era. We always knew we'd come back, but we didn't want to come back when Doha is already in Dubai-level, so now is just the right time. Oh, well.. I don't want to elaborate more.. I guess, 'the grass will always seem greener on the other side of the road'. .. kami hanya berserah..

Anyway, I'm thankful to be back again, although it's hard to adjust from work-minded to domestic-goddess, I'm sure it'll get better, Insyaallah.

When I was in London, I always thought about my life in Doha, and regretted the fact that I didn't quite take the opportunity to explore it's neighbouring country. But last time, It was quite impossible to get a transit visa from Saudi (yes, no matter where we wanna go by road, we hafta go through the Saudi border, so it is quite an annoying process). Just because of our sponsor, we'd get rejected for any Saudi visa (I guess due to some politics issue), but thank god they've put that behind now, so now we can freely request for a transit, or umrah or hajj visa; just like others. With the so-called second chance of life here, we begin to potrays another set of travel journal, and our first pick is to go by road from Doha-Dubai-Muscat-Nizwa-Abu Dhabi-Doha. Insyaallah kalau ade rezeki, lain kali nak dikembangkan ke arah Mekah and beyond..

So here goes, our story of the journey, might not be new to some, but still, a story told by others are always worth a listen...(or in this case, a read ;)

Day 1: Doha-Abu Dhabi-Dubai (9th Dec 2009)

At 06:00am we are all ready to make our move to the Qatar-Saudi border, Bu Samra. I think it is still eid holiday to some, so, not that heavy traffic ahead. We reached Bu Samra at 07:34am, blurred and pointless. This is the most unprepared trip that I ever planned. Because, 1) I didn't quite think we'll get the transit visa ready within 3 days after the embassy open from eid's holiday and 2) Our original plan was to go on the 6th, so bile dah delay, the feel pun dah agak lari. Tapi alhamdulillah, sume berjalan lancar, on Qatar's side of border, the process is quite simple, drive through all the way from one immigration booth to the other.

On Saudi's side of border, we passed through 5 checkpoint; Before the first point, we stopped at the side, there's a small booth for ladies untuk ambik gambar and finger print, same for guys. Then off to the checkpoint, drive through all the way. On the 3rd checkpoint, they did car inspection then, on the next one, we have to buy car insurance for Saudi; 70 Riyal for a week and 100 Riyal for 2 weeks. So, if your entire trip is more than a week, it is much better to take the 2 weeks (it is counted from the day you enter Saudi and remain valid for the number of days irregardless if you exit & re-enter). Then on the last checkpoint, they'd check on all the papers, passport, then we are good to go! And time is already 8am.

At 10am, we reached the Saudi/UAE border.

At the UAE border, we fill up some form, then went for eye scan. Make sure to get your details entered to the system with a stamped paper (on the same building) coz we missed that one stamp, and asked to turn back for it. After that we just drove through for passport stamp and car inspection. Then, on the left, there are some insurance booths, where we need to buy UAE side of insurance, cost AED100 for 10 days (the bare minimum). Settled, went to the last checkpoint, then khalas... so, officially entered UAE at 11:22am.

The first plan is to drive straight to Dubai, but since our host is still at the office, we figured, why not go and jalan-jalan until she's home, so melenconglah kami ke Sheikh Zayed Mosque @Abu Dhabi, that we reached at 4pm! Sempat solat jamak ;)

The magnificient Grand Mosque: Although I'm all covered, still need to wear abaya for touring inside!

After 750km, and 13 & half hours later, we arrived in Dubai (at 7:30pm .. journey time includes breaks , blurred and all). Oh, before entering Dubai, you gotta buy that SALIK tag thingy, for your automatic-toll deduction. You can buy it from any of the pump station nearing Dubai; starting cost of AED100, which annoyingly need to be activated by calling their NOT-toll-free-number (so the typical big city must-charge-em-all-bla-bla-bla).
Luckily, when we arrived Dubai, the kind host; Miss ZowwoBowwo provided such an excellent room for us, a comfy knockout for the nite after the very long drive.

To be continue..

Oh yeah.. to get all the extra details on coordinates and everything, please visit http://wahyuinqatar.wordpress.com - our major guide, thank you Pak Wahyu!