Ramadhan in Mecca (Day 6)

11.00 am. Woke up after a 3-hour sleep but felt like I was gone for eternity. That was one good zzzzzz in a few days. By 11 , I was at the lift ready to go down to start my day. There was one elderly in there and greeted him nicely as he seemed to be from any of the Asean countries.

“Malaysia?” Asked him to start a conversation. He seemed to nod so I asked again,

“Kat mana?”. Silence. Maybe I wasnt clear so I repeated,

“Malaysia kat mana?” And in high voice he blurted,

“THAILAND !”. That shut me up. My first encounter of the day just blew up in the face.

Ok, fine. Grumpy old man. Just like me hahaha. Well not today because today I am happy and in such a good mood. Couldn’t wait to join the crowd in the street again. But first need to hunt for a space to dock. Without much effort spotted one good port,hmmmm maybe not.

At zamzam filling station, found a similar scene as yesterday’s. Today my mood is peaceful so will avoid any potential crisis. As I moved from one station to another, I wondered what it was like thousand of years ago when people travel from afar and stopped here for the water. Must be hard. When I stopped at one station the layer of people queueing was thin so this is a good station. Immediately, the guy manning the station spotted me as I was struggling to keep my queue and making sure no bitch from the sky came and stole my spot. He offered to fill up my bottle. Alhamd all the better. I was so grateful so flipped out five rials for him. I think he expected that but no problem. I was glad to reward him for helping this poor old man to avoid some unnecessary crisis.

The whispering beggar came by again. This time he is from Syria. I showed no interest so he went away. He spoke perfect English so wonder why he ended up soliciting for a few change from strangers. Even more scarier was that I have been the target of these people since day one. Is there written anywhere on my forehead saying that “scam me, I will give you money”?

‘Asr time. A storm of bad acid was brewing inside my tummy. This is not good as I won’t last until taraweeh. The way back to hotel was merely ten minutes stroll but at this time it would take forever. My watch said it’s still early and you can still make it——- you have to ,otherwise……

Ok off I went risking the access to come back inside. The exit was slow but moving so no loss of time there and after a quick poo poo I was back in the street zooming for the entrance. Phewww it still opened and managed to get to my iftar spot just in time. Alhamdulillah.

Taraweeh was short (8 + 2) but they finished one juz of the Qur’an. Last night from Surah Annisa’. The atmosphere was unbelievable as the recitation was fast but not hasty ; like someone is telling you a story. With little Arabic I could pickup the meaning here and there; it’s just mesmerizing.