Day 1: Singapore - Bangkok

Marhaba! Ya Marhaba! Those were the first Arab greeting I heard upon entering Tunisia. Alhamdulillah, here's the first instalment of my account on the Tunisian holiday. And insya-Allah I'll add in a day at a time so that whoever reads this might get a bit of the experience that I had over the unforgettable 14 days in the beautiful country of TUNISIA.

Friday 30th July 2004 - the date that Azron, Jefridin and I were scheduled to depart from Changi Airport at 2210h. I've known Azron and Jefridin since the days in campus; they're actually my seniors by 1 year but from different faculty (I was in Science, they were in Engineering). I was already quite close to Azron for a number of reasons, one because he's one of the Budak-Decent (BD) gang and we meet quite often on those guys' (used to be single-guys-only) outings to Beach Road to eat sup tulang, and he was quite active in society's activities; but as for Jefridin, well, he's the quiet, reserved and introvert type and I didn't know him quite well enough until this trip. Azron and Jefridin work at the same place in a French company doing software programming and testing for the North-East Line (NEL) in Singapore. Their office is near the mosque where I'm working in.

The trip was originally an idea of Azron; he posted in the BD mailing group that his colleague, a Tunisian who goes by the name of Ahmad Nidam Khanfous, was getting married in his hometown in Tunisia in early August and Azron wanted to attend the wedding. As someone who had never gone further than Java, Indonesia, this was a golden opportunity not to be missed. I still got 20-days annual leave and the trip looked relatively cheap, and being the single and adventurous (and foolish too!) person that I am or was at that time, I decided to tag along with Azron.

Preparation was kind of hasty and last-minute. There were the air-tickets to buy, money to exchange, things to buy, leave to apply and visas to obtain from the Tunisian Embassy in Jakarta. Luckily, unlike my 2 companions, I did not need a visa to enter Tunisia... The wonders of being a citizen of an OIC-member country. (OIC = Organisation of Islamic Conference).

Okay, to cut the story short, so on D-Day we met at Changi Airport Terminal 1 at 8.30 pm. I still had to work at the mosque on that day until 3pm, too many things to hand-over last minute; I left my office feeling that I must've forgotten something but then like what my colleagues said, forget about work, enjoy yourself! Well I did, and almost forgot about work throughout the trip! (Luckily I did not forget to return to work after that!)

After Maghrib (prayer after sunset), and after kissing my parents goodbye, I went to Changi Airport alone in the white Man Utd long-sleeved away jersey, cargo pants and track shoes; carrying my oddly-monstrous-looking and heavy backpacking haversack (this haversack weighed 17 kg on the airport scale when I checked it in - see below)

while Azron came in long-sleeved shirt, long pants and sandals, coming with his parents and sister, lugging along his trolley bag, a relatively heavy haversack with a laptop inside (to store our digital pictures & movies) and a cooler for Nidam's family. Jefridin came slightly later and he was a surprise: He came in a smart office-wear with matching black shoes and a relatively small duffle bag. So here we were, starting our journey like an odd bunch: Azron with his trail of baggage, Jefridin with his business pack and me with my backpack ready for anything ahead.

It's great that some of our BD gang: Hazlee, Faizal and Tasha drop by at Changi to bid us farewell. After exchanging a few jokes, like we always do, it was time to part. So the 3 Musketeers set off on a journey in Turkish Airline flight TK0061, which would be well beyond their wild expectations and imagination.


We wanted to perform Isyak in the musollah inside the Changi Transit Lounge but the announcement to board the plane came almost immediately. Only in Bangkok, after a 2-hour flight from Changi on flight TK61 (Airbus A340-30), did we have time and space to do Isyak and it was already past midnight.


Day 2