The videos document my pilgrimage from Indonesia to the African continent by land (no airplane!). The route: 1.) Indonesia: Traveling through Sumatran Mountains and Prehistoric Sites 2.) Malaysia: Meeting with the Aborigines of the Malay Peninsula 3.) Thailand: Tracing the Southeast Asian Ancient Empires 4.) Laos: Experiencing the Lao-China Railway 5.) China: Backpacking the Tibetan Plateau to the Edge of the Silk Road 6.) Kazakhstan: First Contact with the Central Asians 7.) Uzbekistan: Pilgrimage in the Land of the Timurids 8.) Tajikistan: Lost in the Fenn Mountains 9.) Afghanistan: Visiting Afghanistan after the Taliban Takeover 10.) Iran: Surrounded by the Ancient Civilization of Persia 11.) UAE: Short Transit in Futuristic Cities 12.) Saudi Arabia: Pilgrimage in the Holy Land of the Muslims 13.) Jordan: Catching a Glimpse of Jerusalem 14.) Egypt: Ending in the Land of Pharaohs
Curated by: Bang Jago (174 videos)
On the 186th day I continued my journey to Medina, the city known as the cradle of Islam. In 622, the Prophet Muhammad migrated from Mecca to Medina and this event became the basis for calculating the Hijri Calendar. Saudi Arabia recently began to embrace tourism. Medina was therefore opened to foreign tourists and not only to pilgrims. Currently, only Mecca is still closed to non-Muslim tourists. This can be seen when ordering high-speed train tickets from Jeddah. When ordering online tickets to Mecca, you will be asked about your religion. Meanwhile, this is not the case with Medina. I took the high-speed train from Jeddah to Medina. The distance of 400 km was covered in just 2 hours. The maximum speed was maintained at 300km/h and the train only stopped once at King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC). Beyond my imagination, Medina turned out to be a very modern city. Yet, the public transportation was still very limited, like in other cities in Saudi Arabia. The Nabawi Mosque, the place where the Prophet's body was buried, is the center of Medina. Pilgrims from all over the world come here to worship. I even saw a group from Indonesia. Some of them wore shirts that read "Faith Tourism". From the Nabawi Mosque, I continued to the Qibla Mosque, where it is said that the Prophet Muhammad received a revelation to change the direction of the Qibla from Jerusalem to Mecca. That's why in this mosque (in the past) there were 2 mihrabs, one facing north towards Jerusalem, and the other facing south towards Mecca. Lastly I visited the Quba Mosque, the first mosque in the world. Allegedly, it was originally built on the first day of the Prophet Muhammad's Hijrah to Medina. In front of the mosque is Quba Avenue, a street with various snack shops. I stopped at an Indonesian stall and had the opportunity to eat "bakso" (Indonesian meatballs) after 6 months of leaving Jakarta, Indonesia. Tomorrow I would continue to AlUla, the city claimed to be the number 1 tourist destination in Saudi Arabia. ___ Stage 1 Route - Sumatra (DONE!): Jakarta - Bandar Lampung - Baturaja - Lahat - Pagar Alam - Bengkulu - Lebong Tandai - Kerinci - Jambi - Kuala Tungkal - Batam - Johor Bahru Stage 2 Route - ASEAN Mainland (DONE!): Johor Bahru - Kuala Tahan - Kota Bharu - Su-Ngai Kolok - Nakhon Si Thammarat - Chaiya - Nakhon Pathom - Bangkok - Nakhon Ratchasima - Phimai - Nong Khai - Vientiane - Vang Vieng - Luang Prabang - Chiang Rai - Chiang Mai - Pai - Chiang Mai - Chiang Rai - Boten - Kunming, China Stage 3 Route - China (DONE!): Kunming - Dali - Lijiang - Shangri-La - Shambala - Litang - Chengdu - Leshan - Chengdu - Xi'an - Zhangye - Jiayuguan - Dunhuang - Turpan - Urumqi - Almaty, Kazakhstan Stage 4 Route - Central Asia (DONE!): Almaty - Shymkent - Tashkent - Nukus - Muynak - Turtkul - Khiva - Bukhara - Samarkand - Tashkent - Khujand - Fann Mountains - Dushanbe - Kunduz, Afghanistan Stage 5 Route - Afghanistan (DONE!): Kunduz - Samangan - Mazar-i-Sharif - Balkh - Kabul - Bamiyan - Band-e Amir - Yakawlang - Lal - Chagcharan - Herat - Mashhad, Iran Stage 6 Route - Iran (DONE): Mashhad - Tehran - Isfahan - Persepolis - Shiraz - Ahvaz - Shalamcheh Border - Shushtar - Shush - Bandar Abbas - Sharjah, UAE Stage 7 Route - Arabian Peninsula: Sharjah - Dubai - Abu Dhabi - Riyadh - Jeddah - Madinah - AlUla - Hegra - Tabuk - Haql - Aqaba, Jordan *Follow my Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/obeysianipar/) for direct messages **Message me for sponsorship --- Music Credits: And Awaken - Stings by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. --- Chapters: 00:00 Prologue 02:50 High-Speed Train to Medina 07:16 Medina 10:49 Masjid an Nabawi (Prophet Mosque) 13:07 Masjid Al Qiblatain (Qibla Mosque) 16:04 Masjid Qubaa (Quba Mosque)