Abu Simbel Templefoto tokasid
Nokia 3110c
3rd December 2007
Monday
6.00pm
10 hours before ETD: I was still in the clinic. My replacement was supposed to be here by 6pm. But my girls have told her to try make it by 5.30pm.
Its Monday. And on Monday I can't just go out from the room before my replacement is here, for Mondays are usually busy days for the clinic.
If I don't get outta here within 15 minutes, more patients might request to see me and not my replacement. Where is she?
At 6.15pm , my replacement came in, apologising profusely. I told her its okay, don't worry( I'll still pay you as usual) and I gotta be out immediately. In the waiting rooms several regulars smiled at me, but I told them I have to get going and they have to see the lady doctor instead. All said okay doc! but one guy seemed upset. I knew him and why he came that evening to see me!Kaki MC la tu!
I droped by at Don's place for solat before heading home.
Packed,unpacked and re-packed: The past few days, my wife had been busy.Packing her things and mine. The trip is gonna be for 12 days. And we decide just one baggage for both of us. Another one for Hafiz.
So out come the 'beg Haji', a canvas bag which had zipper at its bottom which when you unzipped it will make the 'beg Haji' taller!Most of our clothings are in there. And for our hand luggage we put 2 books.For me it was Watchers by Dean Koontz and for Mrs TA ,GUIT by Awang Goneng. And some junk food like kacang goreng, asam and Haw Flakes.And not forgetting the faithful fellow traveller, the Maggi Mee Curry flavour!
Few days before that we went shopping for winter clothings( advised by our tour guide), we got a very thick but comfortable jacket for Hafiz and a pair of gloves for me. I borrowed a jacket( looks like army jacket to me) from Pak Karim and Mrs TA got her old wool jacket bought in Brastagi years ago. And Hafiz had a new pair of shoes( which is not shoes for the school)
Our flight will be at 0410am and we must be in KLIA by 0200am.
Angel, out tour guide from PARLO Tours told us to meet her either at counter J or K.
Bye Melaka.....: I had arranged for Pak Karim and my PM(pak mentua/FIL) to send us to KLIA. Initially I planned to start off at 9.00pm, so it won't be very late for PK and PM to drive back. However, we found out that Dr Asri the Mufti of Perlis will be giving a maghrib kuliah that night in Brisu. I know I'll not be able to attend so I asked PK and another friend Hj Usop to go.And I told PK to be at my house at 2300 hrs.
All the bags are ready.Passports :ready. US dollar: ready.Credit cards(not mine):ready.
Handphones: fully charged. MP4: fully charged and songs downloaded. Traveller's charger adaptor: ready.
By 2230 hrs, PK arrived and we had some coffee while the baggages were put into the trunk.
MM(mak mentua) was already crying before letting her grandson go with us. I know she would want to follow us, but I too know she is in no condition for the trip. Not with the cold winter and lots of walking and climbing to do in Egypt.
4th December.
Tuesday.
0000 hr.
KLIA( its not Kambing Lembu Ikan Ayam okay!!): I drove to KLIA just before 2300 hrs and by 0030 am we were at counter K's seats. There were lots of travellers around mainly of Middle Eastern countries. We didn't see anyone we recognised and its still to early to call Angel. I'll call her at 0200 am I told my wife.
PK and PM stayed for a while and I told them they don't have to wait if they don't want to. There's nothing they can do here. We salam and PK and PM left.( They missed the Banting-Salak Tinggi junction and had gone via the KLIA-PLUS route which is further. PK and PM arrived in Melaka at 0230 hrs and went straight to Subaidah Nasi Kandar for a hot teh and capati/tosey or Nan).
At 0200 am I called Angel. She was already at counter J, dealing with the tickets and luggages.We went there and saw our tour group had assembled, all looking very sleepy. After 45minutes, everything was settled and we were given our tickets.We headed down the escalator right to the immigration check points. Everything went smooth there and we made ourway to the airport train point. None was there so we had to wait for 5 minutes before the 'bullet train' came and took us to gate C12.
Before checking in, I told Hafiz to take his wudhu and wear the quff( a pair of leather socks), so it'll be easier for me and hm to perform the solat subuh on the plane.
( If one had done his wudhu' and wears the quff, whenever he re-do his wudhu, he doesn't have to wash his feet like always,he only had to wipe the top of his quff with his wet hands. For a traveller/musafir, it will be valid for 3 days and 3 nights. For a non-traveller it is valid for 24 hours. There are few hadith shaheh on this quff thingy).
Checking-in and the plane!the plane! The plane! ( no Tatoo or Ricardo Montalban here I assure you.LOL!) :
There were shoutings after the body scanner and luggage scanner. A female Airport security personnel was in the heat of arguement with a middle-aged lady. I couldn't make out what these two were shouting for both were shouting at the same time. It reminded me of our Dewan Parlimen.
Another security guy told us to leave our mineral water bottles( the big ones) at their counter but allowed us to takethe smaller ones. The shouts have stopped abruptly when I heard the middle -aged lady said to the security woman: " You don't have to shout to me.I can hear you well"
Security Woman(SW): " Tadi saya sudah cakap baik-baik sama you...kita minta you buka hand-luggage nak check saja, tapi you degil tak kasi apa pasal?"
MAL: " I know,but why must you open my bag? Orang lain you didn't check one!"
SW:" Orang lain punya sebab di luggage scanner nothing suspicious,madam. You punya kita kena check.Kami cuma ikut procedure keselamatan. Kalau everything okay,kita tak ambil apa-apa dari you.Tadi saya sudah explain tadi you marah saya nak check beg you."
MAL: " Okay lah okay lah...check my bag lah...I have nothing to hide"
After a brief checking, the lady's bag was cleared and she allowed into the depature lounge. As she entered ,many were glancing at her. She was alone and appeared lost.Looking left and right.Looking for someone. Angel, out guide came to the Lady and asked her to take a sit. Aha! The lady is with our tour group. That sounds trouble.( and something did happened to her, poor thing. That will be later okay guys!)
I haven't finished listening to Nakal(GIGI) when we were asked to board the plane. It was Qatar Airways.Boeing A330.
We were to land in Doha for a transit before taking another another plane to Luxor. Our transit will be for about 1 hour in Doha.
Now, I rarely travel overseas. So I can't compare this A330 of Qatar to others. Well I've flown with MAS to Sabah ,Beijing,Bali and Medan. I've taken AirAsia to KT and Kucing before. I've taken Garuda to Jogjakarta.
Interior of A330 looks small but the arrangement of seats into 2-4-2 formation made us comfortable though the leg space is less than desirable. But a plus to this Qatar flight( which I didn't had before) is the entertainment console and nice meals.
For entertainment, each seat is allocated with a 7 inches LCD TV console with your own remote control.There's the various movies for you( almost near Doha only I knew you can select the movies and songs!!Goblok) from Bourne series,the Contract,Stardust,Harry Potter, Rottatule, Hairspray,Transformer etc. And the songs! What do you want? English,Hindi,Arabic,Chinese,French,Italian,Spanish,Malay and Indonesia. And yes,Japs and Koreans too. There's U2,Led Zep, Doors,Pink Floyd,John Lee Hooker,Muddy Waters,BB King. And there's Pat Methany.Of course there Michael Jackson!!And there's the videogames too.Unfortunately, we can't blog!! Kalau tak......
Most of the passengers are asleep(those from Denpasar,Bali) or are falling asleep(from KLIA). I can't sleep. I have to look constantly at the windows. I need to know when Subuh is. Somewhere above Aceh, not Subuh yet. Somewhere above India not subuh yet. I think it was somewhere above the Indian ocean that I can see a thin white line expanding at the horizon that I knew its time for subuh. After re-taking my wudhu'( and wiping my quff), I manage to perform solat subuh sitting. Alhamdulillah.
Qatari Airway meal
foto tokasid
BQ
The foods on Qatar Airways was great(for me at least) or maybe coz I was really hungry. I finished everything they served.In fact some of Mrs TA's food 'jumped' into my small tray.
The cabin crew were of different nations and friendly. And none wore skirts like our AirAsia girls.
As night turned into bright beautiful morning it was an amazing sight to feast on.From total darkness the color spectrum becomes lighter and lighter with various degrees of yellow,orange and red thrown in followed by grey and blue.
Morning has broken
foto tokasid
BQ
Almost 0700 am(Qatar time) the captain announced that we will be landing very soon and he took the plane downwards ever so gently. Finally he landed smoothly.Very clinical landing. You don't feel the bounce or the tyres rumbling hard on the surface.
Everyone was eager to get out of the plane. Almost 8 hours of sitting will sure make your ass sore. I'm sure we have hundreds of sore asses that morning, ever willing to jump of the plane to have a small walk to relax their limbs and make blood flow again.
Doha International is small if you compare to KLIA. They don't have the 'bullet train' but they have this broad buses that reminded me of golf buggy. 3 buses were there to take us to the terminal.The terminal is small,maybe a quater of our KLIA in size, but its very nice and cozy. They have a shopping arcade just behind the immigration counters and the above level is where most gates are with a big Musollah, eatery, several toilets and a smoking room( so hazy that I thought the KL jerebu had made its away across the Indian Ocean).
Kom Ombo: sunset
foto tokasid
BQ
Next: Doha to Luxor.
There were shoutings after the body scanner and luggage scanner. A female Airport security personnel was in the heat of arguement with a middle-aged lady. I couldn't make out what these two were shouting for both were shouting at the same time. It reminded me of our Dewan Parlimen.
Another security guy told us to leave our mineral water bottles( the big ones) at their counter but allowed us to takethe smaller ones. The shouts have stopped abruptly when I heard the middle -aged lady said to the security woman: " You don't have to shout to me.I can hear you well"
Security Woman(SW): " Tadi saya sudah cakap baik-baik sama you...kita minta you buka hand-luggage nak check saja, tapi you degil tak kasi apa pasal?"
MAL: " I know,but why must you open my bag? Orang lain you didn't check one!"
SW:" Orang lain punya sebab di luggage scanner nothing suspicious,madam. You punya kita kena check.Kami cuma ikut procedure keselamatan. Kalau everything okay,kita tak ambil apa-apa dari you.Tadi saya sudah explain tadi you marah saya nak check beg you."
MAL: " Okay lah okay lah...check my bag lah...I have nothing to hide"
After a brief checking, the lady's bag was cleared and she allowed into the depature lounge. As she entered ,many were glancing at her. She was alone and appeared lost.Looking left and right.Looking for someone. Angel, out guide came to the Lady and asked her to take a sit. Aha! The lady is with our tour group. That sounds trouble.( and something did happened to her, poor thing. That will be later okay guys!)
I haven't finished listening to Nakal(GIGI) when we were asked to board the plane. It was Qatar Airways.Boeing A330.
We were to land in Doha for a transit before taking another another plane to Luxor. Our transit will be for about 1 hour in Doha.
Now, I rarely travel overseas. So I can't compare this A330 of Qatar to others. Well I've flown with MAS to Sabah ,Beijing,Bali and Medan. I've taken AirAsia to KT and Kucing before. I've taken Garuda to Jogjakarta.
Interior of A330 looks small but the arrangement of seats into 2-4-2 formation made us comfortable though the leg space is less than desirable. But a plus to this Qatar flight( which I didn't had before) is the entertainment console and nice meals.
For entertainment, each seat is allocated with a 7 inches LCD TV console with your own remote control.There's the various movies for you( almost near Doha only I knew you can select the movies and songs!!Goblok) from Bourne series,the Contract,Stardust,Harry Potter, Rottatule, Hairspray,Transformer etc. And the songs! What do you want? English,Hindi,Arabic,Chinese,French,Italian,Spanish,Malay and Indonesia. And yes,Japs and Koreans too. There's U2,Led Zep, Doors,Pink Floyd,John Lee Hooker,Muddy Waters,BB King. And there's Pat Methany.Of course there Michael Jackson!!And there's the videogames too.Unfortunately, we can't blog!! Kalau tak......
Most of the passengers are asleep(those from Denpasar,Bali) or are falling asleep(from KLIA). I can't sleep. I have to look constantly at the windows. I need to know when Subuh is. Somewhere above Aceh, not Subuh yet. Somewhere above India not subuh yet. I think it was somewhere above the Indian ocean that I can see a thin white line expanding at the horizon that I knew its time for subuh. After re-taking my wudhu'( and wiping my quff), I manage to perform solat subuh sitting. Alhamdulillah.
Qatari Airway mealfoto tokasid
BQ
The foods on Qatar Airways was great(for me at least) or maybe coz I was really hungry. I finished everything they served.In fact some of Mrs TA's food 'jumped' into my small tray.
The cabin crew were of different nations and friendly. And none wore skirts like our AirAsia girls.
As night turned into bright beautiful morning it was an amazing sight to feast on.From total darkness the color spectrum becomes lighter and lighter with various degrees of yellow,orange and red thrown in followed by grey and blue.
Morning has brokenfoto tokasid
BQ
Almost 0700 am(Qatar time) the captain announced that we will be landing very soon and he took the plane downwards ever so gently. Finally he landed smoothly.Very clinical landing. You don't feel the bounce or the tyres rumbling hard on the surface.
Everyone was eager to get out of the plane. Almost 8 hours of sitting will sure make your ass sore. I'm sure we have hundreds of sore asses that morning, ever willing to jump of the plane to have a small walk to relax their limbs and make blood flow again.
Doha International is small if you compare to KLIA. They don't have the 'bullet train' but they have this broad buses that reminded me of golf buggy. 3 buses were there to take us to the terminal.The terminal is small,maybe a quater of our KLIA in size, but its very nice and cozy. They have a shopping arcade just behind the immigration counters and the above level is where most gates are with a big Musollah, eatery, several toilets and a smoking room( so hazy that I thought the KL jerebu had made its away across the Indian Ocean).
Kom Ombo: sunsetfoto tokasid
BQ
Next: Doha to Luxor.
Kandungan posting mungkin ada kena mengena atau tidak dengan makhluk yang hidup atau yang telah tiada.Kalau sapa-sapa terasa nak buat macamana kan. Sapa makan cabai melaka dia pedaih laa
16 comments:
Salam Doc,
Wah! Nice to see you finally blogging your trip. But make sure we don't to wait too long for the next chapter...kalau dok tertidoq lak nanti kita :)
That clinical landing, did the passengers clap and applaud? So far, flights I've been on, only those with Filipinos and sometimes Indonesians, they do applaud as if saying thanks for a safe journey or a beautiful landing.
Ni...hehe, I've asked you before: nak pinjam gambaq! Saja ja...manalah tahu kan (wink).
And thanks for the sms about wukuf. I've also relayed it especially to a someone :)
Shah:
It was a nice feeling too for me when I started writing. Wifey was telling me..pasai dalam plane pun cerita ka? Org lain pun pernah naik le..Heh3.
Well, no one clapped or applauded that morning. Maybe our Bali brothers had severe jetlag and to tired to claop kot.
As for the pics, feel free to use any of it, no problem.
On the matter of wukuf, yesterday was wukuf in Arafah and today is supposed to be the first Hari Tasyrik.Unfortunately, our Hadari Malaysia decided to celebrate Hari Raya 'Eid Adha tomorrow which is actually the 2nd tasyrik day.
'Eid Adha is based on the Wukuf day and there is only one wukuf day every year. How sad.
This is still teasing, like belly dancing, belum gelek betoi2 lagi.
Tumpang lalu,
Shah, 'especially to a someone'?
Have you heard of the Tom Jones song, Love Is In The Air?
Salam Tokasid
As a frequent traveller, I somewhat prefer a Boeing plane than an Airbus. The seats are "shorter" in an Airbus, jadi duduk pun kurang selesa.
The Middle Eastern airlines try very hard to be on par or even better than those five-star ones. Emirates, for one, has got 100 channels for movie on demand even for economy passengers! Puas tengok wayang on long-haul flights!
You can also blog, if you want to. They have facilities for e-mailing and surfing the net.
Tapi sekali-sekala jauh dari laptop tu apalah salahnya kan?
Doc, tumpang lalu :)
Cikgu, ada...pernah dengaq :)
Er...Doc, before you continue with your journey, leh buat tag ke? :)
Che'gu:
Like foreplay...kena teasing dulu la. The belly dancing part will come ,don't worry. Before school re-opens.
Ahh..Tom Jones.Love is in the Air. Delilah.
Ismail Haron tried to be the Tom Jones Melayu.
Salam Doc,
Nice intro. Tertarik dengan komen tuan beikut: ''Eid Adha is based on the Wukuf day and there is only one wukuf day every year. How sad."
Nak tanya tentang kalau dah 'Eid Adha di Mekah, kita pula puasa hari wukuf di sini. Kalau di Mekah tak boleh puasa di sini macamana?
Fauziah:
Oh...macam tu.
This was my first time having the opportunity with this kind of entertainment in a flight and I think its fantastic. There's something for everyone,even to a hyperactive kid.
Someone told me Emirates is so far the best in that region, but Qatar Airways might be better with their purchase of A380.
The notebook thingy, Hafiz wanted to bring along but Mrs TA said NO!! She's right. We were there for a holiday trip,to a place we've never been before and here this young man wanted a notebook along? Baik dok rumah je!
Been to Morocco? We are just dreaming of Morocco je...
Shah:
Tengah dok buat tag la nih. Petang atau malam I post sebagai selingan.
docTA,
the best thing about a vacation is the destination's journey. you managed to engage your reader friends how excited the atmosphere it was, by providing every single detail from right before you stepped out of your office. very intriguing.
korang nak cakap apa cakap la tapi aku prefer stewardess pakai skirt...kahkahhh...
ok doc, back to you...sambung.
Salam Tok: Ahh finally. As expected very absorbing, can't wait for part 2. Anyway, thanks for the information on Quff, i didn't know you know...Alhamdulillah, dah belajar satu benda. Dulu once I flew I amik wudhu habis basah satu toilet, ye lah nak basuh kaki ler katakan..
Pak Zabs:
Bagi yang mengerjakan Haji tidak boleh berpuasa pada hari wukuf( ada hadith soheh), tapi bg yg tidak mengerjakan haji(samada di Mekah atau lain2 part of the world) di sunatkan berpuasa. kalu tak puasa pun tak pa.
Bagi yg berpuasa hari ini sebab tidak tahu bahawa semalam adalah hari wukuf(lalu mereka ingat hari ini hari wukuf), semoga ALLAH terima puasa mereka dan ampunkan mereka( sebab ada larangan puasa pada hari2 tasyrik). Sesungguhnya ALLAH Maha Pengampun lagi Maha Mengasihi.
Cuma saya terkilan,sebab saya pasti kerajaan telah tahu sekurang2nya 2 minggu lalu bahawa wukuf akan jatuh pada semalam hari.Ada salahnya jika bila sudah tahu,di buat pengumuman kepada rakyat, dan di isytiharkan hari ini 'Eidul Adha. Tak ada ruginya pun,malah itu adalah lebih baik.
Bila hal-hal sebegini berlaku,saya rasa sedih dan sayu.Saya boleh terima jika berpuasa dan 'Eid Fitri berbeza kerana melihat anak bulan dan rukyah,dari segi geografi boleh ada perbezaan. Tapi 'Eid Adha adalah berdasarkan wukuf Arafah. Bila kerajaan Saudi telah tetapkan,kita sepatutnya mengikut,seperti lain2 negara Islam di seluruh dunia.
Bro kerp:
I made it a detailed account, so in years to come when I re-read this, I hope I can remember these feelings.
Sterwardess in skirts....shhhh.....bisik2 saja tau! Nanti orang dengar kita pulak.
Pak Mior:
Alhamdulillah you got 1 new ilmu.
I got a frend( who gave my first pair of Quff) who wears it everyday to work. It made life easier for him.
There are 2 opinions about what constitute a Quff.
From the hadith, its made of leather.
But there are also opinions that a pair of sock(non-leather) is also considered a Quff.For eg. is a policeman or a soldier on duty wants to solat, they can wipe on the socks. In their line of duty taking off ones shoes and socks is time consuming.
Unfortunately,I can't find Quff sold in Malaysia. I got mine( 2 pair left) in Makkah and madinah.
Salam TA,
Terima kasih atas penjelasan ini. Mula rasa nak puasa juga. Tetapi setelah isteri kata, Hari ini EidulAdha di Saudi, mana boleh berpuasa. So batalkan niat.
Setuju dengan tuan, kerajaan sepatutnya buat pengumuman tentang hHari Wukuf ini, supaya bagi yang nak puasa boleh buat.
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