Taif

Wed 25/6/25

We took an optional tour with Rayhar to Taif for SAR 190 per person, which includes bus transportation from Makkah, lunch, and cable car ticket. Taif is located about 90 km from Makkah. We departed from our Hotel Olayan Ajyad in Makkah at 6.30am and arrived Taif at around 9am at the Shubra Palace, but the palace was closed so we viewed it only from the outside. 

It was said that Taif climate would be cooler than Makkah, but it was hot and sunny at 32C that day. We went to the Taif cable car first as the weather was clear that morning. The view of the Taif mountain pass from the cable car fascinated me along the 20 minute or so ride from the highest point Jabal al Hada to Al Kar tourist village. 

Taif mountain pass

Next, we went to the fruit market and bought a box of green fig for 30 SAR and dark fig for 15 SAR. Both types were sweet and juicy. We also bought a box of red cherries for 15 SAR. 

fresh figs

As part of the tour, we were brought to a rose factory (didn't buy anything here) and then stopped for lunch of chicken mandy rice with kunafa for dessert at Al Romansiah restaurant. 

kunafa

chicken mandy rice

After lunch we were brought to the Al Sharif museum, showcasing antiquities from the good 'ol days.

Al Sharif museum

We then went to the Abdullah Ibn Abbas masjid to pray and listen to some history of Abdullah and the place. Partner In Crime also bought 0.5kg of Yemeni honey for 75 SAR at a shop nearby.

Yemeni honey

Abdullah Ibn Abbas masjid

We stopped at Qarnul Manazil for prayers and miqat for umrah, before departing back to Makkah. We arrived back at Makkah at around 10pm.

Qarnul Manazil masjid

Al Ula

Thu 3/7/25

We took an optional tour with Rayhar to Al Ula for SAR 400 per person, which includes bus transportation from Madinah, entry ticket, lunch, and dinner . Al Ula is located about 365km from Madinah. We made a day trip from our hotel Dallah Taibah in Madinah, departing at 10.30am. The tour included the ticket to Madain Salih, a Unesco Heritage Site  with entry at 4.30pm, to avoid the peak of summer heat at the dry and arid environment of the desert. The tour would take about 2 hours at the site.

Madain Saleh is also known as Al-Hijr, or Hegra, which was the settlement of the Thamud people, or  Nabateans; which are the same people of Petra, Jordan. It is the Nabateans' second largest city after Petra, Jordan, its capital city. Petra is located about 545km away from Madain Saleh. The current site now has more than a hundred tombs, carved into sandstone outcrops.

The Quran describes how the Thamud disobeyed their prophet Salih, and killed a miraculous she-camel sent as a sign by God. Consequently, God's wrath and punishment befell them.

We arrived at a nearby town, Al Ula at 3pm to have lunch of chicken mandy rice at a restaurant. We could see the unique rock formations landscape at Al Ula .

chicken mandy rice

At Hegra, a bus would bring visitors to 4 sites. Visitors could go down at each site and were given about 30 minutes at each site with a guide giving an explanation. The 4 sites are Al Diwan (hall), Tomb of Hinat daughter of Wahbu ,  Tomb of Lihyan son of Kuza and Jabal Al Ahmar. 

tomb at Hegra

tomb at Hegra

unique rock formations

Next to Jabal AlAhmar is a rock formation that resembles a human head gazing out over the desert landscape.

unique rock formation at Al ula

We then departed to the Elephant Rock or Jabal Al Fil, sandstone rock shaped like an elephant, located about 30 minutes away to view the sunset. 

Elephant Rock

sunset at Elephant Rock

Elephant rock at night

From Elephant Rock, we were then brought to Al Ula Old Town Market Street where the mudbrick houses has been turned into cafes, souvenir and handicraft shops. We were transported via electric bus from the parking to the market street. We didn't buy anything here but we did try a sample of the arabic coffee at the information centre.

Al Ula Old Town Market Street

Lastly, we brought to a restaurant for late night dinner at 10pm at the Al Ula Heritage Restaurant & Kitchen. We shared a dish with 8 people from out tour, served in 2 big round trays with mixture of meat, rice and pasta. 

mixture of meat, rice and pasta

We finally departed from Al Ula at 11pm and reached back to our hotel in Madinah at almost 4am in the morning. 

ZRH-KUL

Sun 2/1/25

We woke up at 4am to prepare for early departure to the airport for our 8.45 am flight to Doha, and then back to KUL. We took the free hotel shuttle bus at 5.20am. The bus ride to the airport only took about 10 minutes. The check in counter at the airport was not opened yet when we arrived so we had to wait for about 10 minutes before the staff came. 

A few days earlier I was notified by Qatar airways that our DOH -KUL flight would not be a Qsuite, so I changed our seats according to the seat planner of 2-2-2 arrangement. However, this morning we were notified at the check in counter that we would be getting the Qsuite after all, so we had to choose our seats again. We chose the 1A and 2B seats by the window. 

We then took the train to Gate E for immigration check. The train was not working on our arrival day to Zurich so we took the bus last time. After immigration, we went to the Prime Class lounge. There is a small prayer room without ablution facilities. We had breakfast of croissant, bread, cheese, scrambled eggs, olive, latte and juice at the lounge before boarding at gate E53 at 8am. We departed on time at 845am

small prayer room at the lounge

breakfsat at lounge

waiting at the lounge

We chose the window seats 5K and 6K on the right side of the plane. We enjoyed view of the Alps mountain from the sky. While waiting for my meal, I requested for the saffron karak chai and was also served arabian coffee. 

alps views from the plane window

arabian coffee with alps view

For starter, I had smoked duck with orange vinaigrette; main course of roasted rack of lamb with rosemary scented jus, cheese selection of swiss tomme, gorgonzola and brie; and chocolate tart and mango mousse for dessert. The flight took 5h 40 min to Doha and we arrived at 1625.

not in menu- while watching Count of Monte Cristo in French

smoked duck with orange vinaigrette

rack of lamb

cheese selection

chocolate tart and mango mousse

At Doha, we had a connection time of 3h 50 min. Since we would be boarding from Gate A, we went to the Al Mourjan lounge. It was just as big as Al Mourjan Garden lounge, or perhaps bigger with its dining area on the floor above. We went for prayers in the prayer room in the lounge, took a shower and then had light dinner. The shower at Al Mourjan have the toilet together in the same room, so it was more convenient. We didn't have time to check the quiet room here though.

dinner at Al Mourjan lounge

shower at Al Mourjan lounge

prayer room at Al Mourjan lounge

For the DOH-KUL flight, we were seated in Qsuite. I was seated at 2B facing forward, while Partner In Crime was seated at 1A facing rearwards. The stewardess for this flight wasn't really up to serving me, so I had to buzz the help button a few times. Anyways, for the in flight meal, I chose the smoked salmon with maple glaze, dill and togarashi for starter and grilled black angus beef tenderloin for Main Course and sour cherry clafoutis with vanilla bean ice cream for dessert

compartment to keep handbag

smoked salmon with maple glaze, dill and togarashi

grilled black angus beef tenderloin

sour cherry clafoutis with vanilla bean ice cream 

After dinner, I requested for the mattress and set the flat bed to sleep. I managed to sleep maybe about 2 hours. I wasn't woken up for breakfast, but I was awoken by the sound of fork and plates clattering. 

For breakfast I chose evergreen detox (on hindsight it was too healthy, should have chosen the peach, blueberry and vanilla smoothie instead); greek yogurt with pumpkin seed, raspberries and honey as Starter and omelette with tomato confit and mushroom as Main Course. Bread of croissant, sesame baguette and pistachio danish were also served. 

greek yogurt, croissant and danish

omelette and mushroom. green detox in the background

Our flight arrived on time at KUL at 8.20am. 

It was a short trip to Switzerland only covering a small part of Bernese Oberland and Valais canton. The number of places visited was limited since it is winter and we took public transportation. We could have visited more places if we drove as we could leave our bags in the car in transit and it would have been faster to reach the destination by driving. But we chose public transport as Zermatt was a car free village, hence we still would have to take the train if we chose to drive. 

No doubt Switzerland is a beautiful country with the mountains, lakes, rivers and waterfalls. However it is an expensive country. Total cost of our journey was RM 9195 for ground for 2 persons and RM 9598 for business class flight per person i.e. total RM 14196 per person.

Zurich-Rheinfall

Sat 1/1/25

Today we would be going back to Zurich to catch our flight back to Malaysia the next day. We took the 9.14am train to Zurich. We bought the ticket from the SBB app for CHF 40 (RM 200) per person. We changed train at Bern towards Zurich HB. There were not many people on the train from Kandersteg to Bern, however the train from Bern to Zurich HB was almost full, so we had to share our compartment with another couple.

goodbye Kandersteg

We arrived at our hotel Movenpick Zurich airport at 12.15 pm. We walked from Kloten Balsberg to the hotel for about 10 mins. We stayed near to the airport as we have an early flight tomorrow, departing at 8.45am. I booked the hotel through the Accor app for CHF 86 (RM 433) as I am a ALL Accor member. 

We waited for an hour before we could check in. While waiting, we had the welcoming drink of latte and cappuccino at the hotel bar. We saw some flight attendants and pilots from Qatar airways in their uniforms checking out of the hotel.

welcoming drink

our room

After refreshing and having lunch of the packed sandwich and fried rice we made at the apartment in Kandersteg, we set out again.  We first walked to the Zurich Islamic center, about 10 mins walk and prayed there. It looks like a normal building with no domes or any of the usual mosque features. After that we went to the Coop supermarket Glattbrugg nearby to buy chocolates as souvenir.

Zurich Islamic center

inside Zurich Islamic center

We then headed out to Rheinfall, a 43 min train ride away. We took the train from Glattbrugg to Neuhausen Rheinfall. We arrived at the Rheinfall waterfall at almost sunset at 5pm. We actually passed through Germany on the way to Rheinfall where 2 stations - Lottstetten and Jestetten are actually located in Germany. 

Lottstetten and Jestetten  in Germany

There were not many tourist at 5pm and it was getting cold. We walked down from the train station and took photos there.

different viewpoints of Rheinfall, all no entrance fee

We took the 6pm train back to Zurich HB. It was really cold while waiting for the train. At Zurich HB, we went to a souvenir shop and bought a Victorinox Swiss Army Knife engraved with Partner In Crime's name for 14 CHF and fridge magnet for CHF 7.9 as a token (RM 110) . 

Feeling a bit hungry, we snacked on tuna sandwich bought at Nordsee seafood restaurant and then proceeded to walk outside Zurich HB to enjoy the views of the Limmat river at night. 

Limmat river at night

It has been a long day today, so we returned back to the hotel after a short stroll by the river. We packed our bags before we went to sleep. We would be waking up early to catch the free hotel shuttle bus to the airport at 5.20am