View of al-Haram Mosque from my room.. the roof is sometimes closed during non-Hajj season, but the place is always busy 24/7. In the afternoon people prefer to not go out in the yard much though.

http://www.ayuplanet.com/images/makkah1_.jpg

http://www.ayuplanet.com/images/mak19.jpg

Zoom of the Ka'abah.

http://www.ayuplanet.com/images/mak17.jpg

Cameras are not permitted inside the mosque, but i always keep my cam in my pocket under the abaya.

http://www.ayuplanet.com/images/mak18.jpg

Photos in series of the janitors of the mosque praying in the yard outside. I'd say there are at least 2000 + of them. They belong to the Saudi Bin Laden Group.

http://www.ayuplanet.com/images/makkah2_.jpg

http://www.ayuplanet.com/images/makkah4_.jpg

http://www.ayuplanet.com/images/makkah3_.jpg

Construction near the mosque.. they're levelling a mountain and demolishing several buildings for some new projects.

http://www.ayuplanet.com/images/mak16.jpg

The streets of Makkah city.. old and disorganised..

http://www.ayuplanet.com/images/mak01.jpg

http://www.ayuplanet.com/images/mak13.jpg

http://www.ayuplanet.com/images/mak14.jpg

One of the few fresh-looking areas of greenery. The prophet -pbuh- saw Gabriel's wings stretched in this place.

http://www.ayuplanet.com/images/mak11.jpg

The mount where the prophet -pbuh- and Abu Bakr hid from those who were after them. There are some old buildings and residential houses around it.

http://www.ayuplanet.com/images/mak07.jpg

http://www.ayuplanet.com/images/mak08.jpg

http://www.ayuplanet.com/images/mak06.jpg

http://www.ayuplanet.com/images/mak05.jpg

An old gas station. Most gas stations looked like this. Some on the Jeddah-Makkah highway can accomodate 50 cars at a time.

http://www.ayuplanet.com/images/mak04.jpg

Jebel an-Noor where the cave of Heraa is. The place where the Quran was first revealed. Some shabby houses nearby.

http://www.ayuplanet.com/images/makkah05_.jpg

Camels near Jebel ar-Rahmah.. there is no empty land in this area in Hajj season. Several new highways have been opened.

http://www.ayuplanet.com/images/mak03.jpg

Mosque in area where the Ethiopian and his elephant stopped.

http://www.ayuplanet.com/images/mak15.jpg

The Prophet's Mosque of Madinah.. Islam's second holiest shrine after the al-Haram of Makkah. In third place of importance is al-Aqsa of Jerusalem.

http://www.ayuplanet.com/images/madinah1_.jpg

Qubaa Mosque in Madinah.. the first mosque built in Islam.

http://www.ayuplanet.com/images/madinah2_.jpg

Souk

http://www.ayuplanet.com/images/madinah3_.jpg

Madinah city.. towards the "non-hotels" side.

http://www.ayuplanet.com/images/mad01.jpg

http://www.ayuplanet.com/images/mad14.jpg

http://www.ayuplanet.com/images/mad12.jpg

Going outside the city.. like Makkah.. older than old houses appear. Some are quaint, especially the little white mosques.

http://www.ayuplanet.com/images/mad08.jpg

http://www.ayuplanet.com/images/mad04.jpg

http://www.ayuplanet.com/images/mad06.jpg

http://www.ayuplanet.com/images/mad05.jpg

Jebel Uhud

http://www.ayuplanet.com/images/mad07.jpg

al-Fateh Mosque in the Khandaq battle area. No sign available as guide except graffiti.

http://www.ayuplanet.com/images/madinah4_.jpg

http://www.ayuplanet.com/images/mad02.jpg

What cool pictures. What beautiful places. Thanks for the tour.

You got pictures acutually form poor areas in mecca and middle-class areas in medina, in fact its a blessing u even GOT! pics cause people there don't like anyone taking photos of their houses. Great pics Swan princess!

well i was hiding behind a niqab, so maybe that helps in getting away with it.

yes, the pictures are not really balanced, they don't show middle class areas of makkah, but i didn't take pics except in the car, and the car didn't take a drive around middle class makkah.. so it's not really under my control.

i'm glad you enjoyed it anyway. now what remains is scanning the saudi rail article i got with the pictures. but i might leave that for next week.

hahaha okay cool Swan Princess, you did somethign no body did before.

happy to oblige non-UAE forums anytime.

Wow I didn't know they still drove old Chevy Caprice in Saudi, my cousins are doing well with the Lexus but a little disappointed always expected the best "Seirras" from the Saudis hehe.

UofT, they have really nice cars in Saudi, but for some reason EVERYONE loves to drive those old Caprice cars. I have no idea why.

Swan Princess, thanks for the nice pics.

I really don't want to offend anyone here, but for some reason I thought Mecca would be much better layed out, seeing that its such an important city. But don't listen to me, I'm not allowed into Mecca, and the only pics I have really seen of the city are the ones from around the Grand Mosque, which looked really nice!!

wow there are satelite dishes, where the quran was revealed. is that good or bad?

like i said this is poor areas and low incomed people. Houses are better that for more info on that we will get into an argument about politics! anyways u find the old caprice cars weird?! guys ure way back! look at the bedouins who love to drive GMC (jims hehe:D) cars, models of the 60's!! hahahah :D/

بصراحة ما وجدت انهم منظمين مكة والمدينة بشكل مثالي.. و بعض الناس يتعاملون باسلوب غير لائق في المطار و عند الحرم الشريف.. مثلا في جوازي صورتي قديمة و ما مغطية شعري، يقول لي الريال في المطار ان شاء الله أخر مرة تجين عندنا.. و بعدين في الحرم ابغى ادعي و واحد لاحقني يخرب علي يقول "ان بعض النقاب اكثر فتنة من كشف الوجه" و مكان ثاني وحدة تقول شىء غير.. ما ادري كيف يعني. . سمعت عن مشاريع جديدة كثيرة و ها شيء طيب بس توه الناس.. كان المفروض يهتمون بالمكان من قبل.. و بخصوص بعض الاماكن الاثرية في مكة و المدينة كاطراف جبل النور و منطقة غزوة الخندق، صح ان الاهتمام الزائد فيهم غير واجب و ممكن ان يشجع الناس على البدع و هذه فتنة، بس عيب عليهم ترك المناطق بهذا الشكل.. شخابيط على الجدران و ـ الله يكرمك ـ مزبلة يدام المكان.. ما شئ ترتيب، وهذا رايي

Thank you so much for the effort and sharing.

Guys she did not take photos of poor places only she took photos of different
classes. I won’t call the surroundings of the Haram to be poor! As you said
Swan Princess Makkah is waaaay not organized and it needs a lot of efforts.
Alot of people from Makkah moved to Jeddah for those reasons.

We have to point at our mistakes so we can fix it in the future we cant just
ignore it or hide from it.

Swan Princess I hope your Umrah went well. We Saudis also suffer
from those people in the airport.

Almost all policemen and airport workers are from the South of Arabia where
they are kind of complicated. (With the acceptation of Zahrani people
because they are the friendliest compare their neighbors in the South), Because believe me
we locals of Jeddah, Makkah and Madina are very flexible on those things.

apologies.. but i removed some pics.. may return them later.

images returned

great pics swan princess :)
http://www.ayuplanet.com/images/mak16.jpg

Nice pics... thanks for sharing!

Wow I didn't know they still drove old Chevy Caprice in Saudi, my cousins are doing well with the Lexus but a little disappointed always expected the best "Seirras" from the Saudis hehe.
Did you really expet 20,000,000 to ride the kind of cars your cousin is driving?

I really don't want to offend anyone here, but for some reason I thought Mecca would be much better layed out, seeing that its such an important city. But don't listen to me, I'm not allowed into Mecca, and the only pics I have really seen of the city are the ones from around the Grand Mosque, which looked really nice!!

True, Makkah has a horrible layout especially the area around the mosque. It needs major facelift and I hope the new projects would change it to the better.

Swan princess, The people of mecca got destroyed, when al-saud came, most of them moved to egypt,levant,etc. some returned but when they returned there was nothing left for them, they used to live a better life but now they don't besides that for the historical places no its no fitna to keep historical places even graves! worshipping is haram! But thought no one used to worship those things and Abdul wahab came up with things inshallah allah yoghforla lol that were really way too far, The historical monuments used to be taken care of but when the saudi regime came they destroyed them such as the house of the sahaba and muhammad*SAWS*, etc. There is sooo much about mecca, But this will dive deep into politics but you should keep in mind one thing! the regime came and made what *IT* wanted to do, now they are coming to an end, the new regime inshallah will be better!

Anas,
First of all, STOP bullshitting!!
Second, STOP turning the threads here into political discussions.
Third, STOP talking as if you are stating facts
Forth, if you don't like Saudi, then stay where you are.
Fifth, everybody here knows that you are full of shit.
Sixth, if you have nothing to say, then shut the f*** up.
Seventh, talk on behalf of yourself, NOT on behalf of all Saudis.
Finally, you and your children and your grandchildren WILL die inshallah and the great roal family of Saudi Arabia WILL stay forever and ever.

Skyfan! we arent in a fairy tale! the gang will die inshallah in 4 years. and if you want to say inshallah dont talk about a family which is better than yours! and cleaner! muhammad*SAWS*! was one of us! so was Ali! and Al-Abbas. At least i can be proud of mine unlike you who seeks refuge in the al-saud who isnt even an arab but a jew from turkey!

guys calm down!

it's not funny anymore!
stop turning threads into bashing and political discussions

i say it once more, use the private message system

nobody is interested in your personal fights :ohno: and what are they good for? NOTHING! so just stop it! nothing easier than that!

sorry, but i can't understand why it has happened so often over the last couple of weeks!

I apologize to Skyfan and im not putting any conditions but I expect that he behaves and not to touch subjects that can make us enemy's.

بصراحة ما وجدت انهم منظمين مكة والمدينة بشكل مثالي.. و بعض الناس يتعاملون باسلوب غير لائق في المطار و عند الحرم الشريف.. مثلا في جوازي صورتي قديمة و ما مغطية شعري، يقول لي الريال في المطار ان شاء الله أخر مرة تجين عندنا.. و بعدين في الحرم ابغى ادعي و واحد لاحقني يخرب علي يقول "ان بعض النقاب اكثر فتنة من كشف الوجه" و مكان ثاني وحدة تقول شىء غير.. ما ادري كيف يعني. . سمعت عن مشاريع جديدة كثيرة و ها شيء طيب بس توه الناس.. كان المفروض يهتمون بالمكان من قبل.. و بخصوص بعض الاماكن الاثرية في مكة و المدينة كاطراف جبل النور و منطقة غزوة الخندق، صح ان الاهتمام الزائد فيهم غير واجب و ممكن ان يشجع الناس على البدع و هذه فتنة، بس عيب عليهم ترك المناطق بهذا الشكل.. شخابيط على الجدران و ـ الله يكرمك ـ مزبلة يدام المكان.. ما شئ ترتيب، وهذا رايي


We missed u here. I agree with u about the bad treatment in the airport and Mecca.

http://www.ayuplanet.com/images/mak16.jpg

this has an artistic merit. you see how lonely the bulldozer is in this pic. the trucks have turned their back on the bulldozer, and acting like bullies, eventhough they aren't doing anything! it's actually the bulldozer who is always doing all the work. keep up the good work! :)

In fact, keep fighting, that was kinda fun. It is so interesting how some people, and I will not mention any names (Skyfan), could sustain any kind of statement, but turn berzerk when someone touches the royal family.

I mean, here in America, we keep poking fun at what an idiot GW is..... you would think our Arab rulers have made our countries paradises since some would defend them like hungry wolves...

I mean, here in America, we keep poking fun at what an idiot GW is..... you would think our Arab rulers have made our countries paradises since some would defend them like hungry wolves...
Come on man do you compare Bush to the Saudi Royal family. The Saudi Family is not as corrupt as Bush and his gang.

For example, do you know that Bush stole $ 200 from the budget of Iraq war and gave it to his father!!
Do you also know that he is having an afair with Condoleeza Rice and this is the reason that he assigned her to the department of foreign affairs.
And do you know why he hates Arabs, it's because he was raped by an arab imigrant when he was 12? and do you know that because of this he was the one who gave the orders to the soliders in Abu Gharib prison to sexually abuse Iraqis?
And do you know that he asked the soliders to bring him an Iraqi virgin and he raped her when he went to visit Iraq?

These things are classified information in your country and few Americans know it.

TIABS.JTPMP

these statements will surely set everything on fire

stop these discussions

how many times do i have to tell you guys? :ohno:

it's like a kindergarden in here!