Today's news roundup

Lots of good little tidbits out of Mecca today.

King Abdullah, the "custodian of the two holy mosques" made a passionate plea for unity among Muslims.  Great idea, except when you read a post on how some pilrgims are "more equal" than others. 

Death and life in Mecca

 
I'll never forget the sound.

You might've read on my twitter feed (@MuhammadLila) a few days ago that the journalists' bus from Arafat to Muzdalifah had to make an emergency stop after our driver hit an elderly man.

This morning, we learned the man died.

The past 24 hours

Wasn’t planning on being offline so long, the first 4-5 hours were by choice, the rest was by circumstance.

And boy do I mean circumstance.

The thing about Hajj, I’m told, is that it’s full of last minute plans being made and cancelled.  Somehow, everything seems to work out in the end.

Arafat Day (in photos)

It's very crowded here.  Weird melange of human and bus traffic on the street, everyone zig zagging everwhere.

Note the new photos below.

 
A vendor sells bananas from his cart on the roadside in Arafat, near Mecca

And so the pilgrimage begins...

It's really quite the scene now.

Thousands of buses crammed with pilgrims are making their way towards Mina as the Hajj begins.  So far, things seem fairly efficient.  There are naturally delays in moving so many people around, but overall, the increase in traffic controllers on the ground seems to be working.

Photo Gallery: Modernizing the Hajj

Have some more time to upload photos while I'm at my laptop working on the print articles.  The first story will look at how Canadian engineers are helping to transform the Hajj experience, and the second will look at how technology is making the annual pilgrimage into something like a Hajj 2.0.  Saudi authorities are fully embracing new modes of communication and technology, to bring the ancient ritual into the 21st century.

In the meantime, here are more pics.  Please note that there's a strict "no cameras allowed" policy inside the Great Mosque.  They usually allow in only one pool photographer, from AP or Reuters.  Most of these pics were taken from outside during the late morning.

 
A pilgrim walks outside the Great Mosque in Mecca.  During prayer time, this entire area is filled with pilgrims.

 

In Jeddah (again)

Four hours.  That's how long it took to make it from Madinah to Jeddah by SUV.  Never heard of anyone making it that fast.

The plan is to spend the night here, and head to Mecca around 11am tomorrow morning.  "Insha Allah" as they say in Arabic.

The road to Mecca

And so it begins.

After three continents, six cities, and three flights, I'm on my way to Mecca.  Will keep this blog post brief.

Show me the money (shot)

In the TV world, we call it the money shot.  You know, of all the photos you shoot during your vacation, it’s the one shot that makes people go “wow, did YOU shoot that?”

In my case, yes I did.  Over the last couple of years or so, I’ve picked up photography as a hobby.  Started out with an old Canon Digital Rebel, firing away at anything and everything.  Might sound strange coming from a guy who’s on TV everyday.  I mean, TV needs video.  We need to see things moving, on screen.  Sheesh, even YouTube’s good enough in a pinch.  Still images just don’t cut it anymore, right?

On covering the Hajj

As story assignments go, this one's a doozy. 

Four million people, all crammed into an area smaller than downtown Toronto, from all continents and regions of the world.  The colours, the sights, the electric atmosphere... throw in the potential for bad things to happen (stampedes, fires, flu outbreaks, etc.) and it has all the ingredients for a journalist's dream come true.