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On the quiet early morning of 18 July 2018, pilgrims from the Mega Arafah Hajj Guidance Group (KBIH Mega Arafah) gathered at the Mega Arafah office near Gedung Sate.
Their first stop was West Java Regional Police headquarters (Mapolda Jabar Gedebage), where pilgrims from across Bandung had assembled.
Soon, ten buses departed together toward the Embarkasi Haji Bekasi, creating a convoy stretching along the highway out of the city.
The trip to Bekasi took around six hours. Along the way, the convoy stopped for lunch at a restaurant (RM Cibening Sari) in Purwakarta before continuing westward. By evening, the embarkation complex was bustling with pilgrims from West Java, Jakarta, Banten, and Lampung, all preparing for the same journey.
The next day began long before dawn.
At 2 a.m., pilgrims woke to prepare for departure to Soekarno–Hatta International Airport. By 4 a.m., buses rolled out from the embarkation center, and at 7 a.m. the pilgrims boarded their aircraft. At 8:15 a.m., the plane lifted into the sky, carrying pilgrims toward Saudi Arabia.
Around 2 p.m., the group landed in Medina. After immigration and airport procedures, buses brought them toward their hotel. Twenty minutes later, they arrived at Taiba Arac Suites, located near Gates 16 and 17 of Al-Masjid an-Nabawi.
During their stay, the pilgrims joined several city tours, visiting Quba Mosque (regarded as the first mosque in Islam) as well as Mount Uhud, the historic battlefield of the Battle of Uhud. They also visited date orchards on the southern outskirts of the city.
After eight days in Medina, the journey continued toward Mecca. On the afternoon of 17 July 2018 (16.30 pm), the buses departed the city. About thirty minutes into the journey, the pilgrims stopped at Dhul Hulayfah Miqat Mosque, commonly known as Bir Ali Mosque, to enter the state of ihram before continuing the six-hour trip southward across the Arabian desert.
As the buses approached Mecca, they passed through security checkpoints near the city boundary.
Around 1 a.m., the convoy finally arrived at their hotel in the Syisyah 2 district. The pilgrims rested only briefly before preparing for their first umrah. At around 2 a.m., they boarded free buses provided by the Indonesian government toward Masjid al-Haram. The ride from Syisyah 2 to the Syib Amir terminal took roughly twenty minutes.
From Syib Amir, the pilgrims entered through the Marwah side of the mosque complex and walked toward the Kaaba through the sa’i corridor.
Stepping into the mataf area, the pilgrims began their tawaf, starting from the Hajar al-Aswad. The tawaf took around an hour. After tawaf came the sa’i between Safa and Marwah. Their sa’i was briefly interrupted by the approaching Subuh, and they completed the sa’i around 6 a.m. The umrah concluded with tahallul, marking the end of the ihram state. The pilgrims returned to Syib Amir terminal and traveled back to their hotel in Syisyah 2.
The days that followed were filled with additional visits around Mecca. One stop was the Al-Kakiyah goat market, where pilgrims arranged their animals. They also visited Mount Arafat, Mina, and Jabal Nur.
As the days of Hajj approached, preparations intensified. The Saudi government announced that the wuquf in Arafah would take place on Monday, 20 August 2018. On the previous day (Sunday, 19 August 2018), Indonesian pilgrims began moving toward Arafah.
At around 1 p.m. on Sunday, the pilgrims gathered in the hotel lobby before boarding buses bound for Arafah. The journey took about forty-five minutes. Upon arrival, endless rows of white tents covered the plain beneath the rocky hill of Arafah.
On 20 August, the wuquf officially began after noon.
Later that afternoon, the pilgrims prepared to leave Arafah for Mina. Heavy traffic slowed the movement of buses, and they did not arrive at their Mina tents until around 10 p.m.
Near midnight, preparations began for the Jamarat Aqabah. The pilgrims walked roughly five kilometers from Mina toward the Jamarat Bridge complex. After completing the Jamarat, they walked all the way back to Mina, arriving around Subuh time the next morning. With the completion of Jamarat Aqabah and tahallul, the state of ihram came to an end.
As the days of Tashriq continued, the rhythm of the pilgrimage became increasingly demanding. Around midnight, the pilgrims once again walked toward Jamarat, arriving around 2 a.m. to perform the Jumrah Ula, Wustha, and Aqabah. Afterward, instead of returning to Mina, they continued on foot directly to their hotel in Syisyah 2, reaching it around 4 a.m. after walking approximately three kilometers.
The following day, they returned once more to Jamarat, this time walking through the Mina tunnel system (King Fahd Road Tunnel). Although they arrived around sunset, the actual Jamarat was performed later at around 2 a.m.
With the completion of the second day of Tashriq, the group chose nafar awal and departed Mina earlier.
From Jamarat, they walked all the way to Masjid al-Haram.
By the time they arrived, the Subuh was approaching. After performing Subuh, the pilgrims completed the tawaf ifadah followed by sa’i.
At that moment, their Hajj pilgrimage was finally complete.
Since the free bus services were not yet operating at that hour, the pilgrims returned to Syisyah 2 by taxi.
Two days before departure from Saudi Arabia, the pilgrims returned once more to Masjid al-Haram to perform the tawaf wada, the farewell tawaf. This final tawaf took place around Subuh time. By then, the free Indonesian bus services had resumed, making the journey to the Grand Mosque easier.
One day before departure, suitcases filled the hotel lobby as baggage was collected for airport transport. The following morning, shortly after Subuh, the pilgrims boarded buses leaving Mecca for Jeddah. The drive to the airport took around two hours.
At 2 p.m., 29 August 2018, they boarded their flight at King Abdulaziz International Airport.
After nine hours in the air, the plane landed back at Soekarno–Hatta Airport around 3 a.m. the next day.
From there, buses carried the pilgrims back to the Bekasi embarkation center, before the final journey home to Bandung.
Note:
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I made this visualization using Altilunium Locationpad. You can download the raw coordinate data here, then import it into your own Locationpad instance.
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You can read the full, unabridged story here.
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