Haj Report

Alhamdulillah, Cik Mai and I managed to complete the Haj formalities and Tabung Haji Travel will, Insha'allah, award us with a certificate of attendance. Tapi, kemabruran nya belum tahu lagi.
Actually, we almost didn't complete the melontar. Since we are too spoilt to use the austere toilet facilities at Mina, we chose to commute to-and-fro Mina. The first day at Mina, not realising that we are now 14 years older than we were on our first Haj, after the first melontar, we walked all the way back to Makkah. By the way, the new Jamrat has 4 storeys and is like an aircraft hangar. There is no question of congestion but the distance one has to walk is something else. On paper, it is supposed to be 3 km from our camp but it felt more like 5. And, from the Jamrat to Makkah, there are so many different routes and possible modes of transport as well as charges. That first day, we must have walked 4-5 hours, including doing our tawaf and going back to Mina at night as required. The next morning, we managed to get a ride on a coach (standing all the way) from close to the camp straight to Makkah but by the time we got back to our hotel room, we were flat out sick, with blisters, muscle aches, coughing, everything. We popped pills and stayed in bed the whole day hoping our strength will recover by the evening. We didn't quite recover and seriously considered not going back to Mina and paying Dam. But the advice from the Tabung Haji Ustaz who we consulted (Nak bayar dam boleh tapi Tuan Haji baik istighfar banyak-banyak. Sape suroh Tuan Haji balek Makkah?) really got to us. We dragged ourselves out of bed after Isha, jumped into a taxi that took us to a new access point to Jamrat that meant a longer walk. It's not like we can stop for a rest anywhere because being well-mannered Malays, we don't know how to spread ourselves on the roadside like the Indons, Pakis and everyone else does. The two of us were clinging to each other for support to stay on our feet and when we got to the camp, we were at the end of our tethers.
The next morning, after a good night's rest, we walked the 3 km for our final melontar (nafar awal) and walked to a bus station that had many buses but none was moving and people were everywhere. There were also Arabs on motorbikes offering rides back to Makkah Indon Ojek style and we jumped on one. Imagine that, three of us on one motorbike, with no helmets, weaving between buses and cars stuck in traffic, sometimes going against traffic! We got back to Makkah unscathed and in record time, much to our relieve.
Thus ended our Haj. If you guys plan on doing it, you are well-advised to do it while you are able to walk 10 km a day and use a squatting toilet.