#RoadTrip : The Pilgrim, an amateur guide

So it's been 7 months since I went back from my umra' trip and sometimes I still found myself wandering in the crowded sidewalk of Medina in my dream. I guess for everyone who'd been there feel so. This thousands of miles pilgrimage is my second trip abroad and was totally different from my Singapore trip. It was a lot more tiring but strangely I feel content even though I was having a week long jet lag.

In this post I will not talking about my trip in details because I will mainly talk about how to make yourself comfortable during your pilgrimage. I made this post because I don't want anyone else feel my inconvenience during that trip because I was lack of information. I went on December 2017 with a travel agency named Megacitra, their office is in Citarum Street and they have good reputation. So, if you'd been on this trip maybe we will have some different experiences and for you whom about to go here are things to expect and no to.

Weather

Most of us acknowledge that from December - February is winter time, but since I lived in tropical area I was not really concerned about that fact. About a week before I departed from Indonesia, I was informed that the temperature there will be quiet similar with Bandung, so I was not really prepared myself for a cold weather. But in fact, since Medina and Mecca geographically located in a sub-tropical continent and surrounded by desert, winter time there could be tricky. In the morning the temperature usually stays around 14 - 17 degrees Celsius, which is similar with Lembang in the morning. As the sun rise higher you will feel warmer at noon, it is around 20 - 26, though the temperature rise a lot you will not feel as hot as you were in Bandung because wind blows hard there. In the afternoon until evening, the temperature will drop as if it is in the morning. But at night, it could drop below 10 degree, so yes, it is quiet extreme weather. And for note, winter always bring dry air and dry air means static electricity shock. What ever you touch bed sheet, your own jacket, or mostly lift button have a chance to electrocute you. One of the thing to prevent this to keep happening I tried using skin moisturizer in order to prevent my skin from extreme dryness and of course electric shock.

For another note, December is high season because everyone had a long holiday. In Medina and Mecca the situation in both place is crowded. What kind of crowded? Not as crowded as Pasar Baru or Pekan Raya Jakarta, but crowded enough to make you stay alert to keep your things safe.

If you need another weather reference to decide which month is the best time, you could visit seasonsyear.com/UAE.

typical housing in Medina

Timezone

Saudi Arabia located on GMT+3 which means their timezone is 4 hours behind Indonesia (GMT+7). So if you usually wake up at 7.00AM in Bandung, you will wake up at 3.00AM there. Personally I had no problem with the time difference since for the last two weeks I had change my sleeping schedule following Saudi Arabia's timezone in order to prevent myself having jet lag there. The thing is winter season not only change, of course the weather, but also time. What I mean is in Indonesia we have 12 hours of night time and 12 hours of day time. In Saudi Arabia in winter especially, they only had 8 hours of day time and the rest 22 hours is night. The problem that triggered by lacking of day time is the gap between Dzuhur prayer to Ashr prayer is very short. So, that means you either had to take lunch before praying or Jamma your prayer. While in Medina, I wasn't aware of this problem because my hotel and Nabawi Mosque located in a short distance, then it was not a problem if I did Dzuhur prayer at the mosque then went back to the hotel to have lunch and then went back to the mosque to have Ashr prayer. But in Mecca, my hotel and Haram Mosque located twice the distance in Medina. The first day there I was pretty overwhelmed with time management, I had a light meal, rushing to the mosque, back to hotel grab some snack from a supermarket and back to the mosque. So, the next day I choose to take lunch first and go to the mosque to spend the rest of the day there before going back to hotel for dinner.

Language

I don't talk Arabic, not even a single complete sentence. But that's not a big problem. In Medina most of the people understand Malay and Indonesian, from hotel staff to street vendors. So it's okay if you want to bargain in Indonesian, they will understand it. Sometimes I even wonder am I really abroad because in the sidewalk, in the mosque or restaurant there is always Indonesian language spoken.

Well, things are different in Mecca, only few people understand Malay or Indonesian. Most people speak only Arabic and broken English, so I found it pretty difficult to communicate with people in the street. But some people like security staff or restaurant manager in the hotel for example, they can speak Indonesian and fluent in English. So if you have problem finding some place or need something you could ask them, they will help you it's even easier if you have your guide phone number, just in case. My guide was Indonesian but he lived in Saudi for the last couple years, so sometimes I seek help from him.

street vendors in Hudaibiyah

Shopping

Went shopping could be very tricky if you're in a holiday destination. It is no strange thing that vendors often give you a high price, so to get a cheap thing it depends on your bargaining skill. If you'd been in this trip before you must be familiar with Ali Murah in Jeddah and dates market in Medina. Actually not all of the products are cheaper there, somehow there are few items that are even more expensive. Instead of shopping from place to place like that which means you may need to rearrange your luggage after that, why not shopping in one place. Both in Medina and Mecca you could easily found a supermarket called Bin Dawood it's quiet the same as Yogya in Bandung or Target if you've been there too. Bin Dawood, just like any other supermarket they sell confectionery, snacks, fresh fruits, lots of kind if juices, clothes, bags, electronics, cutleries, toys, and many other. From what I saw, dates price in Bin Dawood with the same quality as it sold in dates market, the price is cheaper in Bin Dawood as well as any other things like chocolates. For a jar of about 150gr stone shaped chocolates sold in date market, priced about 10SR while in Bin Dawood you could get a bag of 300gr for only 16SR. If you're a big fan of KitKat, Bin Dawood would definitely be your favorite place. Imagine an aisle full of different varieties of KitKats.

You could found Bin Dawood at almost every 4 - 5 stars hotel, the supermarket usually located in the lower ground. For note, all lower ground level in a 4 - 5 stars hotel is functioned as mall, so to prevent yourself from unpacking your luggage in Jeddah before departing to Indonesia which is rempong you better shop all things you need while in Medina and Mecca. In, Jeddah I only shop for small things like wrist watch, perfume, and fruit preserve.

Bin Dawood Supermarket

Food

Last but not least. Foods here are cheap. Foods here are great. Foods here are easy to found. From indomie to KFC is available here. Both in Medina and Mecca you could easily found a food stall in ground level of any hotel. Things to remember is that queue lines for men and women are separated and the serving portion in huge. So before ordering food by the number of person and having a lot of leftover foods, you better first order one menu and see is it too much for a person or just right. One thing you could not miss is Al-Baik fried chicken. They serve in a big portion with cheaper price than KFC or any other fried chicken stall. Last thing I forgot to tell you is if you looking for Starbucks or Burger King or Baskin Robbins or any thing, you could search them through google maps, the direction is pretty clear for me. Starbucks is available in Medina (side by side H&M, in front of gate 25 or so, I forget sorry) and Mecca whilst the location is hard to spot from a crowd.

I think that's all. Hope this post help you with your up coming trip. If you have further questions just DM me on Instagram @kameraawa. Thanks for you time!