It's been days since returning from the Makkah/Jeddah Trip. Things definitely didn't go as planned. It was a great trip though. No we didn't go Red Sea Snorkeling, but we did catch a Red Sea Sunset. Al-hamdu Lillah (Praise be to Allah).

This is how it went:

Thursday (Afternoon)

• We didn't leave before `Asr Salah (Prayer). We left way after, on our way to Makkah Directly.

Thursday (Evening)

• We didn't get to Makkah to visit Shaikh Rabee' before `Isha' Salah (Prayer).
• We went directly to Shaikh Muhammad al-Banna's house in the Iskan Housing Project in Makkah.
• We had dinner with the Shaikh and left from his house around a little before 12 Midnight. The Shaikh is a GREAT host and most welcoming. Also, for some reason EVERYBODY loves the rice dish that his family makes with almonds and raisins in it. Bon apetit...
• We got to Jeddah late and basically knew there was gonna be no Red Sea Snorkeling in the early morning as we had kinda planned.

Friday (Morning)

• I met up with a family friend from back home in the early morning. He was staying at the Jeddah Intercontinental Hotel on the Corniche. It was quite a hassle trying to find the place, but I managed.
• Then, I thought I'd take him out to breakfast, being a kind of a host, I guess, but to no avail. It was Friday morning and most restaurants close early cuz of Jumu`ah (Friday Sermon and Prayer).
• So we came back to the hotel and had some food there. I don't have to mention what we ate do I? He's working on a project with Motorola in Riyadh, Jeddah, Makkah and Madinah. They're basically installing something very similar to Nextel back home in America.

Friday (Afternoon)

• We (my host and I) prayed Jumu`ah Salah (Prayer) at a local Jeddah Masjid (Mosque).
• Then we came home and prepared to go down to Makkah with our families to attend Shaikh Rabee's weekly dars (lesson).
• Then we stayed there after the dars (lesson) with the Shaikh, upstairs.
• After discussing recent matters with the Shaikh as well as downing a few liters of Ginger Qahwah (Arabic Coffee) and some tea, we decided it was time to head back over to Jeddah for a dinner invitation that we had to answer.

Friday (Evening)

• We prayed `Isha' Salah (Prayer) in Makkah and headed out to Jeddah.
• We reached Jeddah late, like 10:30, and headed straight to our dinner arrangement.
• We left there at 120 something, and once again I was convinced that even though we planned to go snorkeling in the early morning hours, that we might not be able to.

Saturday (Morning)

• We had planned to go out to Khalid's (my host) mini-farm-kinda-place out near `Usfan (North of Jeddah). That didn't happen.
• Instead we went around running errands till Dhuhr Salah (Prayer).
• We came back to Khalid's house and I picked up the family to take them to Khalid's dad's Istirahah (Chill Spot). Now, Istirahah's differ from place to place and taste to taste, but this place was PHAT! It had lots of date palms and coconut palms. It had a phat Arabic Majlis (traditional sitting place) outside in the shade of the date palms. It had a pool, a few bedrooms, a kitchen and a huge living room. It also had a big trampoline (?) for their kids. It was a DELIGHT.
• We had lunch there, and I took a little swim until `Asr Prayer (Salah).
• After `Asr prayer, we took a little cruise down the Corniche Road, and basically killed some time till Maghrib (Sunset).

Saturday (Evening)

• After killing some time by cruising the Corniche Road and taking pictures of weird roundabouts and sunken ships, we headed over to the South Obhur area right accross from Chuck E. Cheese's and I parked along the road so that we could find a spot to sit and watch the Red Sea Sunset that I was looking so forward to...
• We got some refreshments, unfolded an old sleeping bag, and sat down to watch the Sunset.
• After Sunset, we headed southbound on the Corniche to go to the legendary Jeddah Fountain in the Sea.
• After all that, we were supposed to head out to Madinah, we even packed our bags, but I was so pooped that I couldn't drive four hours back to Madinah, so we did the next best thing, we slumbered.

Sunday (Morning)

• We started loading the van after Fajr Salah (Prayer) and headed out. We caught a nice little glimpse of a Jeddah Sunrise peeking over the buildings in the outskirts of Jeddah, near Madinah Road.
• It had rianed, Al-Hamdu Lillah (Praise be to Allah), and there were minature lakes strewn all over the desert. We caught some amazing sights of valleys filled with water, as well as some roadside trenches.
• We almost ran out of Gas on the way back and had to stop by a Bedouin Village called Wadi al-Fura'.
• As fate might have it, that is the original hometown of Shaikh `Ubaid, we got some gas and saw some amazing sights and pulled back onto the highway. "Madinah or Bust" (We kinda almost did bust, huh?)
• We reached Madinah at about 10:00 and were quite tired. We did the best thing anybody could do, we SLEPT!

That's it, that's the trip. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

I'll try to edit and upload the pics taken and make them available in bigger sizes, perhps 640 x 480 pixels in size. Any further details about the Duroos (lessons) or activities that we took part in will probably be discussed at the Madinah blog, since it's more knowledge-related.