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This blogspot is a medium to share my thoughts and adventures apart from promoting my books. Below are the books which have been written or authored and published by myself.


"Berpetualang ke Aceh: Mencari Diri dan Erti".

ISBN 983-42031-0-1, Jun 2006


"Berpetualang ke Aceh: Membela Syiar yang Asal"

ISBN 983-42031-1-x, May 2007


"Berpetualang ke Aceh: Sirih Pulang ke Gagang?"

ISBN 978-983-42031-2-2, November 2007


It is interesting to note that while these books were written in Malay it has gained enough attention to merit being part of the collections of the American Library of Congress and National Library of Australia. Look here and here.


While the first three books were published by my own company, the fourth titled "Rumah Azan" was published in April 2009 by a company called Karnadya with the help of the Malaysian national literary body Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka. It features beautiful pictures along with stories behind selected mosques which could be related to the history of Islam and the Malays alongside the formation of the Malaysian nation. Look at the article A collaboration of old collegemates - the book "Rumah Azan".


My fifth book "Ahlul Bait (Family) of Rasulullah SAW and Malay Sultanates", an English translation and adaptation of the Malay book "Ahlul Bait (Keluarga) Rasulullah SAW dan Kesultanan Melayu" authored by Hj Muzaffar Mohamad and Tun Suzana Othman was published early 2010. Look here... My 5th book is out! Ahlul Bait (Family) of Rasulullah SAW and the Malay Sultanates... . For more information check out my Malay blogspot CATATAN SI MERAH SILU.



Like my fourth book "Rumah Azan", the sixth book "Kereta Api Menuju Destinasi" is also a coffee-table book which is published by the company Karnadya with the cooperation of Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (the main Malay literary body in Malaysia). Coming out January 2011 it features pictures and stories on the adventure travelling by train to all of Peninsular Malaysia along with the interesting places which could be reached this way.


My seventh book "Jejak keluarga Yakin : Satu sketsa sejarah" in turn is a coffee-table book which is written, editted, designed and has pictures taken by me. Coming out of the factory October 2011, this book which combines family history with history of places such as Singapura, Johor, Batu Pahat, Muar and in fact the history of the island of Java and England has been reviewed with me interviewed live in the program Selamat Pagi Malaysia at RTM1. Look at the article Siaran langsung ulasan buku "Jejak keluarga Yakin : Satu sketsa sejarah" dan temu ramah di Selamat Pagi Malaysia. Some selected contents have been featured in Sneak peek "Jejak keluarga Yakin : Satu sketsa sejarah".


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The "Berpetualang ke Aceh" series of novels could be obtained in e-book form. Enter http://www.e-sentral.com/, click general novel and go to page 4. You can also type the word "Aceh" at the search box. Or click straight Book 1, Book 2 and Book 3.


Tuesday, May 28, 2013

The hut at the summit of Jabal Nur


After spending another 2 hours or so at the cave of Hira' it's time to leave. To do this one must first return to the summit of the hill called Jabal Nur. 


Being at the highest point of the hill does open up great vistas...

At the summit lies this hut...


There's also a smaller hut.


The bigger one serves as a rest and observation station.




You can buy drinks and then sit, even lie down and sleep...






It is a pity though if you just lie down and sleep. 




For the views up here are really superb...




Views from on top of Hira' cave

Just over 36 hours ago I made the article Climbing up Jabal Nur in the dark showing scenes at night. Now I'm going to show pictures taken in daylight.


And so me and wife reached the summit of Jabal Nur and then went down a bit to get to the cave of Hira'. Early Wednesday morning 10th April 2013, after sleeping besides the cave for a few hours, I climbed up.


I started savouring the views.


As usual I took in a number of angles going anti-clockwise...








OK. The previous pictures were taken before 6 am local time. About 25 minutes later I went up again. The stones to right of the person standing in green shirt is right above the Hira'. You could see people waiting to get inside.


At this time you could see yellow-golden tinge in the background. This is because the sun was just rising.






See the tall building in the background?


That's the 650-metre high or so Mecca clock tower which also marks the Mecca city centre.






Ah. Rays from the rising sun.


Lovely...


Monday, May 27, 2013

Climbing up Jabal Nur in the dark



Very late at night I brought the wife to the foot of a hill called Jabal Nur.


It is located about 5 km from Mecca city centre. We arrived by taxi at around 2am but went to look for drinks first before starting to climb almost 2.30.






This is the view about half an hour later.


We arrived at the summit about 15 minutes afterwards and these are some of the views.










These are views from a vantage point a bit below the summit.




We have to walk down to get to the cave known as the Hira', the place where Prophet Muhammad SAW used to lie in seclusion and received his first revelation from God.


Checking out the backstreets near the hotel



Late in the afternoon I took a walk at the backstreets near my hotel.




It was not busy then.




But I could still see plenty of activities going around...

The camel farms outside of Mecca

On to our 3rd day in Mecca.

Tuesday morning 9th April. We were taken on another tour to the outskirts of Mecca, this time starting at a camel farm.




It is one of a number of camel farms available alongside a highway.





The farm also sold fresh camel milk and w sampled some. For the record this is the 1,144th article in this blogspot.