My hotel room was pretty decent and I had everything I needed for a comfortable stay. There were two double beds in my room, wardrobes, 2 bedside desks, a full desk, TV, 1 seat sofa, and wardrobes with mirrors. As a 3 star hotel, it reminds me of Premier Inn. So not the Hilton (there is a Hilton closer to the Grand Mosque) but more than perfect for my stay. The bathroom was very clean with a range of towels and shower gel/shampoo and hand wash were provided which were convenient. You do have to bring your own dental amenities and anything else you require of course.
I didn’t really see the point in going for a sleep/nap at this point. It was 6am or close to, breakfast was already being served downstairs, so thought it best just to get on with the day. I had a shower which was really comfortable. Good water pressure and heat. Now getting changed, I was a bit uncertain even at this point what the clothing etiquette was – whether it was expected for you to be wearing an islamic thobe or if casual clothes were fine.
I decided to wear a thobe I had bought for this trip back at home. This was just to be cautious. However, for the record, casual clothes are completely fine. Just don’t show too much skin. A T-Shirt is fine indoors like a restaurant but don’t wear a vest or shorts for example. Jeans, trousers, Chinos or even tracksuit bottoms are completely fine.
Before the buffet breakfast, I went down to the prayer room which is the floor just below the restaurant. It’s something I never really do if I’m being completely honest so this for me was unusual. I never really go to prayer in all honesty. However, I wanted and decided on this occasion given where I was and after such a long journey I just felt a bit calm and reflective at this point. I’m not sure specifically why and it may be more specifically because of where I was. But I decided to pray morning prayers before heading to breakfast.
I was surprised that the morning prayers were led by a person acting as the imam. So it was more communal rather than everyone praying independently. The group was modest so it wasn’t just one or two people, it was a modest amount that you might often find at a local mosque on a weekday here in the UK. I was thankful and grateful that I was here in a way and that I’d had a safe journey.
The first morning of the buffet breakfast which was included as part of my stay felt a bit chaotic to be honest. As the buffet had already been open for I would say 30-40 minutes, there were a lot of people already downstairs eating. And it wasn’t a huge buffet but relatively modest in a smaller area. There were four main hot meals which included Turkish Scrambled Eggs. I’m guessing British Scrambled Eggs just didn’t cut it! There was bread and a toast machine where you kind of feed the bread into the machine and it drops down at the bottom in a tray. There was a salad area and at the back was the beverages area for tea and coffee. So it was ok and filling but don’t expect a massive range.
I went for some scrambled eggs, a toast and 2 hardboiled eggs which were still in their shells. So nothing too fancy. Oh and a cup of coffee of course. I do like strong coffee and what was available was on the light-medium side which was fine.
The breakfast itself in the restaurant seating area was quite enjoyable. Housekeeping staff would normally be walking around the area collecting any left over plates on tables. I sat at a 4 seater table that had just been cleared and began my breakfast. A few minutes later a group of Russian or Slavic/Eastern Europe men joined me after asking if they could sit down.
None of them spoke English fluently but after a few minutes on the table one of the guys used Google translate on his phone to communicate with me. Mimicking was also used and some words I think were understood. Sort of like understanding broken English. Commonly people would ask “Where are you from?”. I said England but most of the conversations turned to “India? Pakistan?” which I understood they meant ethnicity to which I answered Bangladesh.
I finished breakfast about half an hour to forty minutes later but before leaving I refilled the coffee one last time. This was now approaching 8/9 and rather than leaving the hotel immediately to explore I decided to return to my room and just rest a little. I turned on the TV and the first channel was a Quran recitation channel which showed live pictures of the Ka’bah and the grand mosque.
This was the channel I frequently had on during my stay throughout the KSA whenever I turned on the TV as it was very calming and relaxing to hear. I didn’t understand a word of it I’ll be honest but it was a very relaxing/calm channel. Other channels I would turn to occasionally was the Al-Jazeera English channel which discussed current world affairs.
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