My Hajj Experience... amazing, refreshing, one-of-a-kind!

Without a doubt, Hajj has been the greatest experience of my twenty-year old life and it'll probably stay that way even when all my hair have turned white! I don't mean to say that in terms of spirituality and worship such as Quranic recitation and prayers (however, if you consider every step, every breath as an ibadat during Hajj, then it doesn't mean that closeness to Allah in Hajj depends on simply recitation or offering Salah).

There was so much about Hajj that I had anticipated and so much more that I couldn't ever have imagined even if I'd been given several minute-by-minute descriptions of the trip by previous Hajis! It's amazing how two-and-a-half million people (correct me if I am wrong, the official and unofficial figures keep changing) come together in a unique, almost incomprehensible way during those few days. It seems as if the whole world has shrunk to nothing but Makkah and the adjoining areas. The population of such a 'world' is two-and-a-half million and everything that happens there is the only reality - but what is reality when those dressed in plain white, are all there to reaffirm their beliefs, to refresh their faith in the Hereafter? Then, it seems as if no earth ever existed and mankind is now moving towards some sort of end.

I hadn't intended to go into my own version of Philosophy. You can read that in every other article about Hajj. Let's stick to my story:

(Initially, my journal kept pace with our travel but then I couldn't find time to write at all! I have added portions from what I had written in my journal (in italics), and thus, generally, it'll be in present tense.)