In a cycling event, marshal should not stop the traffic too long that will anger other motorists. From my experience, it happened a few times that the flow of traffic were stopped for very long until most of the motorists were out of their vehicles with angry faces.

No one should ride like this. The whole road was not meant only for them.

Unnecessarily blocked the traffic.

For example, you can fly from Kuala Lumpur to Chennai India by Airasia for less than RM300. Then fly Chennai-Jeddah-Kuala Lumpur by Saudi Airlines for just USD381. After conversion, the total cost will be around RM1,400. For 10 days, accommodation, food and transport will be about RM1,000 per person based on twin sharing in Makkah and Madinah. So the whole umrah package will be just RM2,400 and also having the opportunity to explore Chennai.

Saudi Airlines and EgyptAir offer good online prices. Play around and choose multi-destination for more exciting trips.

InsyaAllah, my next trip will be Kuala Lumpur – London – Cairo – Jeddah – Kuala Lumpur by EgyptAir.

Internet is not just for facebook!

Any question, post in the comment section. For visa application, please refer here.

• In fun ride, I don’t have to worry about the placing I got.
• In fun ride, I can get my family to join
• In fun ride, I’ll get t-shirt. I’m not excited about wearing body-fit-jersey
• In fun ride, I’ll pay less to join.

I used to know a lot of riders when joining an event, but now I only knew a handful.

MPSPK organised a very good event. It was held at Tanjung Dawai and was joined by more than 300 riders. A good t-shirt and refreshment for just RM15. Total distance is 34km.

There is nothing great about this trip except we booked nothing except the flight tickets. The trip was full of suspense. We did not know what to expect when we landed in Delhi except what we read on the net. We did not have any idea where to look for cheap hotel in Makkah and Madinah since both cities are under intense development. There were so many uncertainties.

After all the planning, Alhamdulillah, the trip was a success.

A lot more postings on this trip will come. The posting on food and places we visited in Delhi. The posting on tips of DIY-umrah and how much the food and hotel cost in Makkah and Madinah. A little of Arabic does help a lot during our trip.

The brief of our journey:

1. Day 1 – 6 April 2012: Alor Setar – LCCT (by Airasia) – KLIA (by Bus). Sleep on airport chairs
2. Day 2 – 7 April 2012: KLIA – Indira Gandhi International Airport (by Malaysia Arlines) – New Delhi (Metro Train) – Jamak Masjid. Check in hotel there.
3. Day 3 – 8 April 2012: New Delhi Sight seeing and shopping
4. Day 4 – 9 April 2012: New Delhi – Agra – Taj Mahal (by Taxi)
5. Day 5 – 10 April 2012: New Delhi – Madinah (by Saudi Airlines)
6. Day 6 – 11 April 2012: Madinah
7. Day 7 – 12 April 2012: Madinah – Makkah (by Saptco Bus) – Umrah
8. Day 8 – 13 April 2012: Makkah – Umrah
9. Day 9 – 14 April 2012: Makkah – Umrah
10. Day 10 – 15 April 2012: Makkah – Umrah
11. Day 11 – 16 April 2012: Makkah – Umrah
12. Day 12 – 17 April 2012: Makkah – Umrah
13. Day 13 – 18 April 2012: Makkah – Umrah
14. Day 14 – 19 April 2012: Makkah – Umrah
15. Day 15 – 20 April 2012: Makkah – Umrah – King Abdulaziz International Airport Jeddah – KLIA (By Saudi Airlines)
16. Day 16 – 21 April 2012: KLIA – Jalan Duta (by Taxi) – Alor Setar (by Bus)

Thanks to Mohd Adnan, Hj Arsad, Shapiah, Haslizan Hassan Omar, Sohaimee, Hasanin bin Ahmad, Md Nayan Bahari, Jagung Mas Travel, Asari Murni Travel, family and friends for making this trip possible.

I called Utas Travel and Gemilang Travel, but they only arranged visa application for the one who took up their umrah package.

At last someone told me about Jagung Mas Travel. They charged RM350 for the visa. They applied the visa as if I’m traveling in their group. For cheaper alternative, I heard someone doing it in KL for RM270.

The Visa condition: You must enter Saudi within 30 days from the date of the visa. So the earliest you can apply is 30 days before you are due to enter Saudi. Your stay in Saudi must not exceed 30 days.

After all the suspense, I finally got my umrah visa. InsyaAllah, I’ll arrive in Madinah on 10 April and travel back to Malaysia from Jeddah on 20 April.

Daging bakar in Danok is not to be missed when visiting Danok. Most of the shops open around 5pm to until midnight. There are few shops selling the same things and some are better than others.

N6.5257987  E100.4185270

Puluk Ayam is the most favourite food in Thailand.

Then Canon S100 that I recently purchased also comes with GPS info. Now more and more info will be available to whoever follow this blog.

Then, the next question is which image browser can read all those coordinate? My main image browser is Fast Stone Image Viewer. But it cannot read the GPS data. After browsing, I came across GeoSetter. It works perfectly for me.

The weather was perfect. I was cloudy all morning. We rode to Kubang Rotan, Kota Kuala Kedah and back to Tanjung Chali to have a glimpse what was happening during ‘Pesta Sungai’ which was attended by the Agong. Total distance for the ride was 42km.

We parked our cars at the parking area after Malaysian Border. We started cycling at 10am and arrived at District Office where the program was held at 11.30am. The total distance is 63km (both ways).

We were very grateful to Muslim Thai community that provided us all sort of food and refreshment during the program.

I like this kind of ride-for-a-cause event and look forward to join again.

Wang Kelian used to open just on Sunday but due to increase demand, now the market is open on Saturday and Sunday to cater for mostly Malaysian shoppers.

Around 40 riders took part in this ride.

At the district office where the event took place, doctors provided free health check the whole day that day.

The mosque we spent for prayer and cooling down. We came across many mosques and Islamic Schools during our ride. Most of the mosques and Islamic Schools are under some sort of development. I wonder where the money come from.

This Anuban Muslim Satun School is huge and still a bigger building on the left is under construction.

Group photo on our way back to Wang Kelian

Golf is the sport that can bring everyone together. I took a bus at midnight from Alor Setar, then a friend of mine fetched me and brought me to Perangsang Golf. Played golf, attended AGM, then dinner and then drove back to Alor Setar with a friend at midnight. Would I come all the way from Alor Setar if there was no golf? Definitely not.