Ramadan in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia [Part XI] - Summarize + Tips

Madinah

You may enjoy the mosque, Masjid An Nabawi since it is quite cool inside. If you are women, you're not supposed to bring digital camera inside. While waiting for next prayer, read Al Quran or take a rest inside bcos I believe it's better than the heat outside. At sunset or sunrise time, get into the yard to see those giant umbrellas are opened or folded incredibly. In Ramadhan, you may be the guest of anyone. The local people would kindly ask you to come with them and serve you some meal, highly recommended to accept their invitation. I don't recommend you to shop too much in Madinah, same item as in Makkah but priced way more expensive. But if you are rich, that's totally up to you.

And the best you shouldn't miss, Raudah. Raudah is open for women two times, after Dhuha and after Dhuhr. But in Ramadan plus after Tarawih. Men got the rest of the time since Raudah is part of men's praying area.

Makkah

The weather in Makkah is better than Madinah but somehow you might get quite far hotel, might be uphill too. So you may also spend most of your time inside the mosque of Masjid Al Haram. Several places are open, such Ka'bah area, so it might hot at noon. There are several cool places too *but i hadn't explored all yet* *hope i could visit there again sometime*. Do Tawaf once a day at least, or how many times up to you. There are several places to do Tawaf, not only in first floor close to Ka'bah. You may access first, second, or third floor. But you do need to touch and see it closely. It's magical feeling, indescribable. Drink as much Zamzam water :D it's free and unlimited.


If you got period/menstruation, do Sa'i while read some du'a. It is allowed. How you get to Sa'i place without entering the mosque? Here the map:

image taken from Wikipedia

1. Clock Tower/Zamzam tower
2. Main entrance (most of pilgrims enter the mosque via this way)
3. Main Gate entrance to the mosque and Ka'bah
4. Sa'i area. There are several gates that straight to Al Safa and Al Marwa

Sa'i (Al Sawa-Al Marwa) is located in the right wing of Masjid Al Haram. There are some gates that are the straight entrance of Al Safa-Al Marwa. You just need to walk through the yard and enter via these gates. From these gates, you'll be easily get into Ka'bah too, there's a port from Sa'i place you can easily see and access to Ka'bah (even tough actually the best way to reach Ka'bah is from the very front gate).

Tips 

For both Madinah and Makkah: 

• If you call others with Miss or Mister, it might not work well. Call them "Haji" or "Hajah" it's the most common call and most people will respond it.

• Most important, you may not swear/curse/saying bad words, spit, fight. Better not to argue/debate with people, don't think bad things about other people, don't scold or provoke people *even though they do wrong to you* but warn them, politely. Be humble is a must.

• Don't want to bring too much money on your wallet? Bring debit/credit card instead. There are several ATMs with VISA or MasterCard logo you may make use of. 

• If your hotel is quite far from the mosque, or need to go up/downhill, the hotel usually provides transportation. You may ask the staff about their service.

• Sleeping inside the mosque is actually okay (no one will forbid you) but make sure you keep your wudu (ablution) consider that the toilet is quite far outside the mosque.

• Bring your own bottle, and plastic bag to cover your shoes and always bring them with you. Makkah provides lots of plastic bag but sometimes it run out of stock. Madinah doesn't provide any but there are some shoe racks. 

• Face sprayer is very useful and really helps you hydrate your skin.