As I exited the mosque, I wondered if there were any final things that I should get for my family. One thought struck me then which was a bit silly but it would’ve been nice to get. I remember when I was young and my Dad performed Hajj.
When he came back he had purchased one of those analogue alarm clocks that was shaped like a mosque and had the call to prayer as the alarm. As a child I regretfully smashed this to pieces in a fit of anger which angered and upset my mum. I can’t remember what I was angry about but I regretted it ever since as it’s no longer an item that is common given how everything has become digital. I wanted to try and find this to bring back home for my mum.
From the gate that I exited there was a commercial centre right in front. I think it was called Taiba Commercial Centre. The shopping mall was large, multiple floors, and quite busy. It was an active market with a lot of vendors selling dates, clothes, prayer mats, prayer beads and various items that I’ve seen before. I was on the first floor and I used Google translate to translate “Mosque shaped alarm clock with azan” so I could ask staff in the centre.
I found a housekeeper who directed me to a larger outlet towards one side of the center. When I got there I found someone behind the till and showed him my phone so he knew what I wanted. Without saying anything he walked to the side of the shop a little distance away and picked up a grey/silver digital clock that was rectangular and not mosque shaped. He played the alarm which was the call to prayer but it wasn’t really what I was after.
When I tried to shape a mosque using my fingers the assistant shook his head to imply no. I left soon after this but still explored a few other shops. They still sold the same things to be honest. On exiting the shopping mall I came across a small square just beside Masjid an-Nabawi where there was a Starbucks and money exchange services.
I had one last Iced Latte. This was going to be my final liquid I would drink before my flight. I was meant to be picked up in a few hours so for the final time I made the walk back to my hotel.
I still got back to my room quite early so before I packed everything properly/securely for the last time I had a shower and brushed my teeth. After getting changed into my travelling clothes – jeans, tshirt and sweater – I just sat in my room listening to the Quran recitation on TV with the live view of Ka’bah for the last time.
I know that what I was wearing probably seems a bit overkill with all the layers including a light jacket. However, my room was air conditioned, it was now the evening so it wasn’t hot, and also on planes I find generally cool so I tend to wear what I’m going to be comfortable wearing on the plane. This is rather than wearing more stuff at the airport before the flight.
As I went down to check out from the hotel I waited for the receptionist to make a call to a housekeeper so that they could check my room to then return the deposit of 200 riyal. This took a few minutes after which 200 riyals in cash was handed over. I’m not a big fan of this policy, giving a guest loads of money just as they’re leaving the country. I knew I’d have to find things to buy at the airport in order to spend the cash.
One thing I did whilst waiting for my pick up taxi was to go to a shop next door to the hotel which sold small boxes of dates and prayer beads. I quickly grabbed one of the date boxes which was a small circular box with dates that had some almond nuts mixed in to make it kind of a desert. On reflection though, I should have avoided this as all the dates were kind of frozen stuck together!
My taxi arrived precisely at 10. The driver whatsapped me a picture of the car which was in fact a white minivan. As the driver started packing my luggage he asked how many people as I think he was expecting a small family, but I just said it’s just me which he was fine with.
We set off and for a final time I understood the challenges of driving in Madinah. It’s like dodging bullets. No one seems to indicate, the amount of times he had to break and unexpectedly swerve was astonishing. But drivers just take it in their stride. You can’t drive very fast so the chances of having a crash are somewhat limited but still entirely possible.
During the taxi journey which took about 30 minutes to Madinah airport, I started to hear thunder and it began to rain moderately. This was expected as I had received a text message to my Zain sim card a few hours earlier from the Saudi civil defence department. After translating the message it read that there would be heavy rain later today. I guess as it doesn’t rain very frequently they send these messages.
Rain in Makkah/Madinah is considered a blessing as it’s pretty rare. However, when the message said heavy rain, I was expecting it to be like thunderstorms and absolute pouring down. There were thunderstorms but the rain itself, well this was like a Tuesday in London during summer. It wasn’t heavy in my opinion!
It was beautiful however because the roads did temporarily empty out. I looked around and it felt a bit deserted by other people and seeing the roads and mosques whilst driving, I just for a brief moment realised how beautiful the city actually is despite sometimes the chaos. It was nice, indeed a blessing!
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