Saudi Arabia - Makkah

My parents and I have just returned from a three day trip to Makkah. It was great!

Each Muslim is required to go to Makkah at least once in their life for Hajj (Pilgrimmage) if they are able to. The city contains the Al-Haram Mosque, which encloses the sacred Ka'aba. The city is very old and contains various other important historical/religious sites, such as Mount Hira, where the first passage (surah) of the Qur'an (the Islamic Holy Book) was revealed. We went for Umrah, which is sort of like a mini-Hajj.

Let me tell you about the journey first, since half our time was on the road..

We decided to travel by bus.. and my goooodness.. it took forever (over 1,200 km). Makkah is on the western side of the Arabian Peninsula.. and we live on the eastern side.. so the trip there took 15 hours.. and the bus only stopped three times! Sleep was not really an option.. For half the trip, the tour group organizer babbled on his microphone (the volume was, LOUD, i guess so people on the other buses could hear him).. he enjoyed giving us lectures, quizing us with religious questions, just listening to his voice, or asking other passengers to puzzle us with their riddles.. Ok I'll admit there were one or two good riddles! The other half of the time, the bus driver played various tapes on the system.. I guess to keep himself awake.. Anyways, we arrived in Makkah early in the morning..

The City:

We first went to our hotel rooms. Thankfully, the air-conditioner in our room was working! Unfortunately, it was louder than the guy on the bus.. Imagine an old tractor trailer with a broken muffler and whooping cough revving its engine all night long.

An hour after arriving we walked over to the Al-Haram Mosque to complete our pilgrimage (before it got too hot). It was a great religious and spiritual experience.. I can't find the right words to describe it, since I am still contemplating things.. Despite all the hassles and lack of sleep, I felt at peace the whole time I was there.

I was really impressed when I first saw the Al-Haram Mosque.. it is huuuge.. it can accomodate over 1 million people.. and when I was there the place was packed! Photography of the Mosque is forbidden, so I was unable to take pictures.. but I did take one or two of the city.. it wasn't easy though..

First some pictures from our hotel window..



There are vendors everywhere! Some of them are selling illegally, so every so often you will see a herd of them running away from the police. The police don't really give them a chase..

I saw this one police chief, with the standard belly, big sunglasses, and bushy mustache waddle down one street. Immediately about a dozen vendors took flight.. he just kept waddling in their direction, with one of those waddles of importance.. enjoying his power!



As you can see the roads are pretty narrow in the old parts of Makkah. The men in the white cloth with their right shoulders showing are doing their Umrah. Every male who does Umrah or Hajj has to wear two simple seamless pieces of cloth. It is supposed to symbolize equality. Women should wear something simple and decent as well.





It got a lot more crowded than this!



Yes yes, I was a walking zombie at this point.. I always wonder how big the calf muscles are on these mountain dwellers.



My mom liked the buckets under the air conditioners. Don't ask me why I'm pretending to be an old man.



There are lots of interesting buildings in Makkah. This one has ornate window shutters.. my mom tells me they were designed this way (in the old days) so that women could look out their windows without being seen.




Here we are waiting for our bus home. It rained shortly after we boarded the bus.. it was really nice seeing the lighting strike the mountain tops as we drove out of the city.



Two hazy pictures of some of the mountains surrounding Makkah.






Finally.. the drive home from the bus terminal. Ahhhhhhhhhhhh where is my bed!!