Travel

I would ike to travel to ALL the Islamic countries around the world and admire Allahs' beauty all around and read namaaz in al the beautiful Masjids in all the different countries............................

I would start off in Makkah and then hopefully finish there tooooooooo..............................

I've been to some countries already. But the very one that left me speechless is the Algerian Sahara. It's amazing, gorgeous, breathe taking.... I can go on and use all the superlatives. To witness the sunset on the Hoggar or Tassili is something that will remain forever in my memory. I wait for my kids to grow a bit older to share with them this magic.

Assalamu Alaikum

format_quote Originally Posted by crayon

Palestine mashallah, is it really as dangerous there as it looks? What was it like?
I had a palestinian friend who went to visit a few years back, at first I was like "are you crazy come home RIGHT NOW!", but then she explained it's safe.. she really loved it, seeing her heritage and stuff.

I'd love to go to spain.. We learned about Andalusia in school a bit, so it would be cool to try to relive what it was like then..

Lol, getting lost is always an interesting experience!

Uhmmm it really depends on where you go. Obviously, the more you roam the lands, the more dangerous it can get. There's a lot of risks to take depending on how much you want to get out of the trip.

In particular, of course, are the checkpoints. There's a differences between certain checkpoints, like some are REALLY bad, and others you can pass through a bit more easily. Three checkpoints specifically, that I'll never forget were the ones I had to pass through coming from Hebron, I've witnessed things first hand that literally would've made me a mujahid right then and there, and not because of the severity of the situation, but just to know that there are situations more severe than this and that this is probably the lightest of them all. I'd do it all over again, though, just because of the experience and how much perspective I got in that one day that I couldn't have ever imagined in a lifetime of just wondering, and it definitely gave me an iman boost. That's the treasure that comes with traveling, subhanallah.

Then there's the nature, sunsets, architecture, history, and the relationship between residential Jews and Arabs. It's pretty nice, and if you stay in your own hometown or surrounding towns, then it's pretty safe, especially if you're an American citizen, and it's not as scary as it may seem when you consider anything bad that happens there as the typical norm of everyday life.

And yeah Spain has an amazing history...I'd also like to see old mosques inshallah.

fi aman Allah
w'salaam

^^ Jazaki Allah khair for all that info sis, it actually sounds quite nice now.. I'd love to go someday inshallah.

format_quote Originally Posted by Lara

I've been to Syria a lot of times. I went to Halab, Tartous, Homos, Damascus & some villages in southern syria.

Cool, mashallah. I've been to Lebanon a few times, we've got friends there, so we visit them. They live on this mountain in Tripoli, soo beautiful subhanallah.. And of course they showed us around beirut as well.

We were having dinner one day at this restaurant in the mountains, and eating lebanese food (of course). I tried these different kinds of raw meats, not sure if they have any other name.. It was cold and windy on top of the mountain, so that plus the meat, and I was sick the next day, throwing up, stomach hurt, felt horrible. But they took us to this horseriding place and I actually managed to ride, lol. It was a lot of fun.

Oh, can't believe I forgot to say this:

One of the best parts of traveling is packing your bags!!
It feels like "ok, this is it, i'm about to go on my adventure!"..

I think getting lost is the best part

Where have you been?
What have been your favorite places? Why?
Any profound travel experiences?
Where would you like to go next?

I have been to (In alphabetical order):

Belgium
Germany
Holland
Indonesia
Japan
Singapore
Taiwan
Turkey

My favourite places have been and why:

Istanbul, Turkey: You can't explain why with words. It is just too amazing.

Belgium as a whole: Very pretty country. The men were a tad too 'hey how you doin'' though.

Tokyo, Japan: Crazy. Just crazy. It's like being in space.

Jakarta, Indonesia: The people are just amazing. Maybe it was coz I'm white. But still, they were just amazingly nice.

Profound travel experiences:

I'll try not to focus on toilet stories...even though they are the best.

Finding halal pizza in Tokyo was great. Finding a hair in my sushi, not so great.

I fell in love with this poor sweet-maker in Istanbul infront of the bosphorous. He was such a charmer, darn it! I fell for his curly hair and the fact that he broke a huge sweet thing called 'sarili burma' in two and said something which meant 'be my other half'. It started raining on us at that moment. Gahh!

These women came upto me and wanted to touch my hand in Jakarta. They called me and my friends 'whitey'. Lol. I managed to bargain things down from 40 000Rupiahs to 5000 Rupiahs.

Taiwan: I felt as though the hotel was so dirty, I made a mould for myself on my bed out of my clothes and lay on it like a corpse till the morning. The toilet was broken. My roommate didn't know. We've never distress laughed that hard in our lives.

Singapore: We stayed in this awesome hotel. I think it was five star. We stayed up till 6am watching 'Sleepless in Seattle' (It was the only thing on TV ok) and eating junk food. We then slept in and almost missed our flight.

In Germany, I broke our hotel's electricity thingy. It wasn't funny. I ran away and hid in the stairwell. lol. It was only 3 years ago...shut up.

Where would I like to go next?:

England and Turkey at the end of this year Inshallah.

Then Mauritius and Morocco.

I've always wanted to go to India...but recently, I found out how dangerous it is and how snakes just roam free there. So now I'm like :S

Anywho. Yes. Indeed.

ws.

Awesome post, jazaki Allah khair, really enjoyed reading it.
There's a chance I may be going to Istanbul this summer inshallah, if it works out, I can't wait!

Hairs in sushi...

Ahh, snakes shmakes, they won't hurt you!
(i think....) lol.

format_quote Originally Posted by crayon

Awesome post, jazaki Allah khair, really enjoyed reading it.
There's a chance I may be going to Istanbul this summer inshallah, if it works out, I can't wait!

Hairs in sushi...

Ahh, snakes shmakes, they won't hurt you!
(i think....) lol.

You must go to Istanbul!

I know...I think I dropped it back on the sushi train :P

I have a serious phobia, not just a fear, of snakes!

I know! I've heard it's stunning!
I've only been to the south of Turkey, Mersin and a couple of close cities.

Ew, lol! Perhaps someone else had done the exact same thing before you, hah. Or perhaps someone had put the hair in there on purpose...:><:

format_quote Originally Posted by crayon

I know! I've heard it's stunning!
I've only been to the south of Turkey, Mersin and a couple of close cities.

Ew, lol! Perhaps someone else had done the exact same thing before you, hah. Or perhaps someone had put the hair in there on purpose...:><:

Ideal Karma would have been if I picked the same plate of sushi up again :S

Nah, I think I told the chef guy thing so I wouldn't have to pay for it :P

format_quote Originally Posted by sevgi

Tokyo, Japan: Crazy. Just crazy. It's like being in space.

You went to Japan !? Tell me more about it oh:

format_quote Originally Posted by crayon

I know! I've heard it's stunning!
I've only been to the south of Turkey, Mersin and a couple of close cities.

Ew, lol! Perhaps someone else had done the exact same thing before you, hah. Or perhaps someone had put the hair in there on purpose...:><:

did you go to Adana ?


I never went to Istanbul ..Poor me

Yup, I also went to Adana!

The best thing about Turkey was probably the food, turkish food is lovelyy.

format_quote Originally Posted by Güven

You went to Japan !? Tell me more about it oh:




did go to Adana ?


I never went to Istanbul ..Poor me

Japan.

I was there for about three days. I stayed at a lady's house. After getting off the plane, I was restless for a nice, clean, spacious bathroom that I could just take wudu in properly. I asked the lady for directions to her bathroom. When I opened the door, I was upset to find a aeroplane lavatory sized toilet.

They don't believe in bread or sugar. I was having tea and I asked for sugar and the lady looked at me like...'what the hell are you gonna do with sugar?'. It had a vanilla like essence to it.

I roamed the streets of Tokyo with my eyes wide open. They are so professional and so neat. Their take away food stores display their food as though they are presenting food for fine dining.

I met amazing people. I went to a Turkish restaurant! It was so small. Everything is so small.

They ride their bikes everywhere. They have huge parking lots for bikes. Aparently everyone owns cars though...they just don't use them unless they want to show off on the weekends. They train and bike everywhere. The trains...*drools* They are so bloody fast! I met this girl in Japan. She was half Japanese, half Turkish. She fell asleep on the train and when we got off, she got stuck on there. She sms'd us saying "I'll meet you guys in a minute". She literally went to the next stop, jumped on a new train and met us by the time we exited the train station.

Lots of suicide in Japan though. That girl was saying something like 100 people kill themselves just by throwing themselves infront of trains, everyday.

The Japanese are very hard working. A shop keeper (I think) told me that a man as dishonoured if he doesn't work two jobs or leave his store open till a few hours past the general closing hours.

I went to this mega huge electronics warehouse...I looked at the 8megapixel cameras and thought...WOOOWWW! Mine was like 1.2 back then :P

Oh oh Guven! They were selling kestane on the street!!! I bought some!! I kept one...and I still have it. LOL.

So much more...but yeah...that's about it for now. If you have fb you can see my photos on there.

I haven't been to Adana. Are you Adanali?

EDIT: And some of the architectural wonders....man...I went to this museum thing.....it was like standing on a single pillar! I was so worried it would collapse on us!

format_quote Originally Posted by crayon

Yup, I also went to Adana!

The best thing about Turkey was probably the food, turkish food is lovelyy.

I just went to a turkish restaurant two weeks ago, and I'm now craving Turkish food again...

format_quote Originally Posted by sevgi

Japan.

I was there for about three days. I stayed at a lady's house. After getting off the plane, I was restless for a nice, clean, spacious bathroom that I could just take wudu in properly. I asked the lady for directions to her bathroom. When I opened the door, I was upset to find a aeroplane lavatory sized toilet.

They don't believe in bread or sugar. I was having tea and I asked for sugar and the lady looked at me like...'what the hell are you gonna do with sugar?'. It had a vanilla like essence to it.

I roamed the streets of Tokyo with my eyes wide open. They are so professional and so neat. Their take away food stores display their food as though they are presenting food for fine dining.

I met amazing people. I went to a Turkish restaurant! It was so small. Everything is so small.

They ride their bikes everywhere. They have huge parking lots for bikes. Aparently everyone owns cars though...they just don't use them unless they want to show off on the weekends. They train and bike everywhere. The trains...*drools* They are so bloody fast! I met this girl in Japan. She was half Japanese, half Turkish. She fell asleep on the train and when we got off, she got stuck on there. She sms'd us saying "I'll meet you guys in a minute". She literally went to the next stop, jumped on a new train and met us by the time we exited the train station.

Lots of suicide in Japan though. That girl was saying something like 100 people kill themselves just by throwing themselves infront of trains, everyday.

The Japanese are very hard working. A shop keeper (I think) told me that a man as dishonoured if he doesn't work two jobs or leave his store open till a few hours past the general closing hours.

I went to this mega huge electronics warehouse...I looked at the 8megapixel cameras and thought...WOOOWWW! Mine was like 1.2 back then :P

Oh oh Guven! They were selling kestane on the street!!! I bought some!! I kept one...and I still have it. LOL.

So much more...but yeah...that's about it for now. If you have fb you can see my photos on there.

I haven't been to Adana. Are you Adanali?

EDIT: And some of the architectural wonders....man...I went to this museum thing.....it was like standing on a single pillar! I was so worried it would collapse on us!

Wow Thats Amazing ...I soo wanna go to Japan!
Japanese people are awesome and that language aaah.

Are there many Muslims there ? And what do they think of Islam ?

and lol @ Kestane

yep Adanali ( diziye bakiyon ? :P ) well Maybe half hmm...

format_quote Originally Posted by crayon

I just went to a turkish restaurant two weeks ago, and I'm now craving Turkish food again...

You can adopt me as your sis and I'll cook for you all the time!! I love cooking!

format_quote Originally Posted by sevgi

You can adopt me as your sis and I'll cook for you all the time!! I love cooking!

Awesome, deal!
Ever tried Syrian food? I can make that for you!
(as soon as i learn how to make it, that is):X