Sunday, February 23, 2014

OTW Mekah


On Two Wheels. Lately, I haven't been blogging as regularly as I wanted to. Two reasons: 
1. It's been frustratingly difficult to access my own blog. 
2. My proposed motorcycle trip from KL to Ka'bah is demanding more and more of my time and focus as the ETD [March 14] draws closer. 
Who has been attacking our blogs? Tok Scribe is the latest of our top bloggers who have been facing queer problems with their blogs in the last few weeks. Readers are also facing problems trying to get into Helen Ang, Apanama, and OutSyed The Box's blogs, among others. Are we "under attack"? The MCMC told one of us, "there's no such thing, that it could be a) issues related to reception/line or b) problems with Blogspot, the enabler that is used by the bloggers affected". In other words, the MCMC had nothing to do with the strange phenomenon. Wallahualam.  
The Triumph Explorer
The Road to Mecca. Most bikers dream of doing that long-distance journey at least once: of spending days, weeks or even months on the road and in their saddles munching miles and chasing the horizon. Since I first rode a motorcycle legally in 1977, I've ridden in Singapore and Malaysia and I have done test rides in Italy, Spain and Germany but never gotten to do that adventure-touring stuff. By the time I hit the half-century mark, though, I started to think less and less of it.  
Yet, here I am suddenly making preparations for this trip that will take me on my Triumph through Thailand, Laos, China, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Chechnya, Georgia, Turkey, Iraq, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia. Nine bikes and a 4-men motley crew, 18,000 km take or minus a few clicks, 65 days ...  
Yesterday we had our final briefing, did some off-road crash course, and rode together for a little over 100 miles. By the end of the day - one afternoon, actually - and I was exhausted! This week the visas are being readied, there'll be vaccines to take, the laptop to repair, the holy Umrah course to attend. It's kinda cool for a biker to quote the saying: "It's not the destination but the journey". In my case, however, it is the destination that draws me into this sojourn; the journey itself should be an awesome bonus.  
More on the Wasatiyyah-Holy Land Expedition on this blog later ...
  

33 comments:

  1. Anonymous1:51 pm

    Bike to Becca. Allah Bless

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous8:38 pm

      Safe trip forth n back inn sya Allah
      Lai salaha mindu nilla hika shifa'

      Delete
  2. Anonymous2:23 pm

    alhamdulillah...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Have a safe trip Datuk.

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  4. Have a safe and blessed journey bro.
    It will be a long and taxing ride ( especially to your "old" backbone ...hehehe )but God-willing enjoy the ride nevertheless. Cheers !

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous3:34 pm

    Latuk, u r lucky. You can go on a bike but I can only walk to Mecca.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Salam Bro,
    Semoga selamat pergi dan selamat kembali.. Insya Allah.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous5:50 pm

    Semoga Allah swt melindungi kalian semua dalam perjalanan ini...amiin!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous6:52 pm

    Have a safe and meaningful journey..

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous8:21 pm

    Semuga selamat pergi dan kembali.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hope it's not another umno conspiracy?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous8:42 pm

      Ramai yg sakit otak dan hati yea...

      Delete
  11. Anonymous10:45 pm

    Datuk,
    Syukur Alhamdulilah,semoga mendapat keberkatan ALLAH,Diucapakan selamat pergi dan kembali,

    ReplyDelete
  12. Alhamdulillah.. wonderful and semoga diberi kelapangan dan kemudahan dalam perjalanan.. InshaAllah..

    Coincidently, i just came out with same idea with my school mates KL- Mecca but on car in 2015.. hope you could share your experience.. our calculation came up to about 12,000km but your 18,000 km sounds interesting via different route..

    Good luck.. all the best and insyaAllah selamat..

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous12:15 am

    Have a good one. ENJOY!!!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous8:44 am

    Assallamualaikum bro,

    Semoga Allah mempermudahkan perjalanan dan hajat yang baik kesampaian.

    Doa ku untuk kalian semua dan mohon doakan kami yang masih belum kesempatan juga sampai kesana tak kira cara apa lah.

    Amin.

    OM - Melayu Luar Negara

    ReplyDelete
  15. salam rocky .have a good journey.Mecca the holly city certainly provide a good inspiration for future write up.
    adioos.....

    ReplyDelete

  16. Salam takzin, Datuk,


    Semuga selamat pergi dan balik semula. Jumpa lagi. Insya Allah. Amin

    ReplyDelete
  17. Assalam,
    Selamat bermotosikal dan mengagumi/menghayati kebesaran Allah SWT. Selamat beribadah dan bermuhasabah di hadapan Kaabah. Sekembalinya nanti, bertambahlah gelar lagi: Datuk HAJI Akhiruddin Attan.

    Dr. ex-mass comm. (lepak sambil petik gitar... masih ingat lagi bro: Hello...)

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous2:27 pm

    datok rocky,

    selamat pergi dan kembali insyaalah. jangan lupa update sepanjang perjalanan.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Anonymous3:47 pm

    hello godfarter,

    why quiet? not another UMNO conspiracy? no cynical remarks to make to your nemesis? whats the matter cat caught your imbecile tongue?

    ReplyDelete
  20. Anonymous5:45 pm

    Datuk,

    Singgah Kuwait jumpa geng2 Malaysian bikers kt Kuwait.

    Semoga selamat perjalanan nanti.

    Thanks.

    Mike

    ReplyDelete
  21. Anonymous5:56 pm

    As salaamualaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu, Datuk Rocky & Friends,

    Hope you enjoy your meditative journey through lands of wonder:

    CARAVANSARY

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=E2rg23Y6POs

    ReplyDelete
  22. Anonymous9:18 pm

    Assalamualaikum...
    jeles ah ngan bro...semuga perjalanan bro diredhai diberkati ddi rahmati diberi pertolongan dan perlindungan Allah hendaknya...amien...kalu ing..kim salam kat nabi kite yerk...he he heee.....

    ReplyDelete
  23. Wow.Rocky.
    Can I join you.Saya memang nak cari geng pergi mekkah dengan bike.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Dear Zopinion,

    Good luck with your 2015 project, I will be more than happy to share our experience when we return, insyallah.

    In China, we will be riding on their national (federal) roads for the 25 days as we are not allowed to ride on the highways. Slower and definitely a lot farther and longer, which may explain why we'll be clocking a lot more miles (17,816km to be exact) than you will be.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Dear Suhaimi,

    Apasal tak ingat pulak. I still play the guitar riffs I learned from you guys back then :))

    Thank you for the well wishes, Bujai, Salfian Nawawi, Shanghai Fish, mfazil, kzs0, safiai saad, Jebat, ANons ..

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  26. Wishing you a safe and productive trip, bro. Please do keep a journal so that we may share in the excitement. Tumpang glamour sikit :-D

    ReplyDelete
  27. Anonymous6:24 pm

    Semuga perjalanan kalian semua di rahmati,diberkati,dipermudah dan sentiasa didalam perlindungi Allah.

    Salam ikhlas.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Anonymous8:33 pm

    Have a safe trip bro ! Envy you with the coming adventure !

    Mus.
    Setiawangsa.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Insya-Allah, He will bless your journey and protect you, and we shall welcome you back as Haji Rocky.

    As for our blogs, they appear to be running ok.

    Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Tok Scribe,
    Good to know you're having less heartache over blogspot. As for "Haji" tu, insyallah one day soon ...

    ReplyDelete
  31. Dave Avran,
    Will provide the link to a dedicated blog I'm opening soon ... Thank u for the well wishes

    ReplyDelete