Frozen in time.....

Mount Vesuvius and its surroundings.

Things got worst. Many times the earth tremors but they just simply washed it off.  But this time, it was something else. Something different.  Something unthinkable ... terrible!  Many were in the state of panic but some just took it very lightly .... "Oooooo it will go, no worries!"  They just denied.  Some just took off and left their homes to somewhere safe.  But some insisted on staying back in their homes, and into their daily lives.  It was a chaos.  Babies shrieking, mothers crying, husbands calling wives , masters looking for their slaves and so on.  Thousands of people were running up and down the streets not knowing what to expect, not knowing where to go.  It had been dark pitch black for many days now.  The sun was not visible anymore.  What went wrong? Maybe the Gods were angry!  Maybe something that we did!  They prayed to Jupiter and they asked help from their God Apollo  or God Isis...... no answer.  They were on their own now!  Totally lost.

2,000 years ago, one of  the greatest empire known to the world, the Roman Empire were shaken to it's core by the natural disaster, eruption of a volcano.  It had been sleeping for 1,500 years and none of the people knew that the majestic looking mountain was actually a volcano.  It was in Naples and the town is Pompeii. 

@The fierce eruption that cost the lost of Pompeii.

It was 24th of August 79AD, Vesuvius came roaring to life!  Explosions happened, spewing tons of molten ash, pumice and sulfuric gas miles into the atmosphere with a supersonic speed.  Within minutes the column of smoke were visible from afar.  As it go higher, the columns started to spread like branches of a pine tree.  Nobody knew what it was.  The sighting triggered a response more of curiosity than of alarm.  The people of Pompeii did not know what it was and what was going to happen, so they just watch.  The wind blew towards Pompeii making the smoke and the ashes stole the daylight of Pompeii.  The cloud of ashes turned days into nights. They were in darkness, blacker and denser than any ordinary night. They relieved by lighting torchers and various kinds of lamp. Pompeii was in total darkness for 5 days.  Tons of falling debris filled the streets and in every nooks and corners.  Those who stayed in their home thought that their roof were strong enough to shelter them but was wrong.  The debris were so much that it was too heavy and the roof collapsed.  Nothing was spared. What was once a thriving communities, now silence and history.  Since that day Pompeii was buried for 1,600 years under 4 to 6 meters of ashes and pumice ...... vanished from the face of the earth until an excavation in 1748 AD.

@The excavation which awakened the world.

@The proud Vesuvius still standing
watching over the ruins of what was once
a city..... the ancient Pompeii

My earlier visit to Naples, I missed Pompeii.  I visited Island of Capri instead.  I wanted to see this place so much that I made it a point to visit this time ..... glad I did!  I remembered reading about Pompeii in a book written (the translation) in Bahasa Melayu by Harun Yahya, Kaum-kaum Yang Pupus (The Lost Civilisation). I watched the film ''Pompeii: The Last Day'' (2003 BBC production) and even got informations from watching National Geographic on television and even googled.  That shows how much interest I was to visit this place.  No doubt!

When I first set my feet in Pompeii, I was in mixed feelings. Happy and glad to be there but at the same time I felt sad and pity for the victims and furthermore through the Holy al-Quran, Allah SWT promised that whoever goes against His Will will be punished.  That sent a feeling of eerie and fear in me. 

   

The Entrance to City of Pompeii

Pompeii is an ancient Roman city.  It was said that the wealthy Romans built their big highly decorated villas there.  That was in the era of Pax-Romana.  No more wars.  No more conquering.  A time to enjoy the fruit of their hard work  centuries earlier.  They built  places for entertainment, sports like a gymnasium, fountains as their water system and  a port for trading.  As we approached the city, I noticed the cobbled-stoned streets.  The entrance was once the gate to enter the city from the port.  I imagined many people come and go through this street.  The sailors from near and afar, the locals who worked at the port, the buyers and the sellers doing their trading at the port.  It must have been a very busy port because  we were shown the trails of the wheels of the horse cart that was left on the streets.  This shows that the goods brought in and out of the port must be in large amount and many carts used the same trail.  Amazing!

Look at the trails made by the carts. That shows how prosper
Pompeii was those days.

We visited the House of Senate where leaders sat and discussed.  Further up was a square with an open area in the centre.  That was where they found the most stoned corpses after the excavation of the city by the archaeologists.  The four sides were situated the temples.  Believe it or not, even at that time, they already have a double storey building.  It was the Forum. The Forum was the economic, religious and political center of Pompeii.  On the right was the Temple of Jupiter and followed by the Temple of Apollo and Temple of Isis.  Further behind the square, lies the non-sleeping volcano, Mount Vesuvius.  It was so majestic, looks powerful but never trust her!  

@Temple of Apollo

@Temple of Isis

@Temple of Jupiter overlooking Vesuvius

We then walked around the ancient city and it is truly amazing to see what is still left from 2,000 years ago.  The market place with shops selling olive oil, household gadgets and many more, still intact.  Rows and rows of jars can be seen.  Their wheel barrow made of wood with  carvings is still there.  There were two corpses in the area.  One was sitting as if praying and the other was lying on the table.  

One of the many bakeries.

Then we proceed to the market place.  One of the building with paintings of fish is still there. must be the wet market.  The victims were now stoned, looked exactly like us.  One was with a row of healthy set of teeth.  Both were put in a glass case.  The market must be the busiest area of the city.  Many kinds of goods sold here because people from elsewhere brought goods from afar to do trading in Pompeii.  Because it was a port, many sailors come and go.  Some stayed for a while but some stayed for many months.  Another trade that made fast money was the prostitution.  At night the whore will be howling like a she wolf and those who wanted their services  followed the trail by listening to the howling .... a kind  of communication! By the way, prostitution was made legal  and were given license and that was why there were quite a number of whorehouses in the city. One of the high end was Lupanare, a two storey building with many small cubicle rooms for the walk-ins and ample space on the top floor for holding private parties!

  

Place of prostitution with  an erotic sign. @On the right is Lupanare, a high class whore house in the city.

It was even said, that it was expensive to keep a daughter at home because it will cost the parents to pay large amount of dowry to marry them.  So, the best option is to sell their daughters to the whorehouse!   I was sad but then realised that we should not put their situation in our world today.  I can understand now why during the Arab Jahilliah era (before Islam), newborn baby girls were buried alive.  Maybe because of the dowry .... who knows? That was their way of judging, their life!  They have their own reasons which to them was necessities but to us is cruel and totally madness!

Fast food corner..... maybe they sold  pizzas and pasta  here.

Looking at the buildings and the infrastructure of a 2,000 years old city, I can say that the Romans did well.  I was wondering how they managed everything.  They not only built but they have the system. The aqueduct that brings fresh water throughout the city, the forum for the rulers to run the city, the temples, the houses, the sculptures, the paintings and not forgetting their fast food corner and their public toilets, theatres, amphitheatre, hotels..... they have everything!  But in spite of everything that they have, they were unable read the earth movements beneath them nor to avoid the natural disaster!  It was right in front of them.  They were unprepared for the eruption of Mount Vesuvius eventhough many little signs of tremors and earthquakes happened.  So ignorance that they  just continue with their busy daily lives. sometimes wealth makes people overlook things.  The destruction not only occurred in Pompeii alone but the near towns as well.  Traces of victims were found in Herculaneum and Stabiae too. 

The murals showed how artistic the people of Pompeii were.

Public toilets where they sat side by side without
any dividers. Could they have done any business
talk while doing their business? hahhhaaa

We spent two hours in the ruin ancient city of Pompeii but I knew there were still many places that we missed.  Too many things to see, too many stories of life, pain and disaster to listen to but too little time.  I told myself that someday, when I come back, I will revisit.  Pompeii may be left as ruins but because of  this, it became famous.  Preserved under ash, Pompeii laid buried for 1,600 years.  The discovery of the city provided the world a glimpse of the daily life of the once known Roman Empire!

  

@The Roman Baths

Mount Vesuvius still stands and dominates the Bay of Naples. Around 20,000 inhabitants stayed in Pompeii before the eruption. It was known more or less 5,000  died.  Since then, there were no more eruptions of Mount Vesuvius but now at present 3.5 millions are staying there.  According to the experts, the next cycle of eruption will be after 2,000 years and the time is due ....

@The great theater.

Ruins of villas and mansions.

@The mosaic flooring shows how artistic and how wealthy the owner was.

@Ruins of the house of gladiators.

@The amphitheater for the gladiators. 

At the end of the tour, as I was leaving Pompeii, after walking for two hours uphills and downhills and looking at the luxurious life they led 2,000 years ago, I realized that nothing last forever.  No matter how strong, how well planned or how good you are .... you are just human.  Arrogance and pride belongs only to Allah, the merciful and the most compassionate.

  The way of life led by the people of Pompeii, goes against the words of Allah.  Even after thousands of years laid buried underground, untouched and well preserved ..... truth revealed.  It was a total humiliation seeing their sexual activities from the murals and painting and from the position of the corpses when found.  So shameful that those corpses in their sexual positions were brought back to the Museum and was shown for adults only.  Sexual activities took place almost everywhere may it be with the different sex, same sex or with animals!  Humiliation  even after death!  In maintaining a straight path in life, we need to have Khauf (fear) and Rajan (hope) towards Allah SWT.  Alhamdulillah, I am born a Muslim and I truly believe what happened to Pompeii is the fulfilling of the promised words of Allah SWT.

Napoli Cruise Terminal and our Norwegian Spirit on the right.

Walking around  visiting places in Napoli under the hot summer tires us. We sweat a lot.  Glad that we made the choice of wearing cotton.  Even though I was very tired, I enjoyed the trip because I was well prepared with loads of information regarding the ancient city of Pompeii.  I can easily visualized from my readings about this busy city when disaster striked.  It must have been very scary for them to see death approaching . It must be very sad to say goodbye to their love ones, their homes and their wealthy life!  That is the power of reading .... to be able to see through words.  But if you are not prepared , you will not enjoy and what you saw meant nothing.... just another visit ! It will be a total  waste.  Trust me!  

My references and sources besides side stories by our tour guide
Magarieta.

We headed back to our floating hotel, the MV Norwegian Spirit which docked at the Napoli Cruise Terminal.  What a relief to see her there.  I was looking forward to go back to my 8020 stateroom to take a long cold shower to cool my body.  Our steward, Rhoderick surprised us with a rabbit figure from the towel foldings.  So sweet of him.  Got dressed up and off to dinner at The Windows Restaurant.  The rest of the Yunos's were already there.  We had a long chat about the places we visited.  We talked about our feelings and gave opinions.  There were so much to talk about.  After dinner, all of us went around looking  for our favourite kind of entertainment onboard.  May it be the pianist with songs from our era or maybe the irresistable Latin Express that made our body swayed to the music. Wow....I just love this vacation !

Our floating hotel.

Feeling belonging......heheheheh

Dinner is served!

It took me quite sometime to finish my story about Pompeii. Actually, we  visited Positano and Sorrento after Pompeii........ two of most beautiful picturesque places I have ever seen. I will share my experiences to those two places in my next blog with more  photographs.......mostly photographs! InsyaAllah.

Lastly, I would like to wish all of my Muslim readers, Happy Eid Mubarak..... Maaf Zahir dan Batin.

Goodbye Vesuvius. Good luck Pompeii.

"Buonanotte. Ci vediamo a Sorrento  e Positano!"

Melepas rindu ...... Muar

Sejak bulan Syaaban lagi, hati ini sentiasa berkata-kata dan fikiran tidak putus bertanya.... bilakah masanya? Soalan yang sebenarnya senang untuk dijawab tetapi yang menyusahkan ialah masa.....

Masa, kalau kita fikirkan kembali, Allah beri kita masa selama 24 jam sehari semalam. Selalu kita kata tak cukup masa, tak ada masa tetapi sebenarnya kita banyak buang masa . Kita tak bijak mengendalikan masa. Bayangkan masa yang banyak Allah berikan tetapi kita yang sia-siakan. Malu aku!

Hari ini, pagi tadi seawal jam 8.30 pagi aku bertolak ke Muar bersama anak sulungku Hana dan kedua cucuku A'mmar dan 'Aafi. Sepatutnya aku pergi bersama Kak Chah tapi dia demam selsema pulak. Semoga kakakku segera sembuh dan sabar dengan dugaan ini. Nasib baik ada anak dan cucu yang sanggup menjadi mangsa. Hahahahhahaha.

Muhammad A'mmar mononton Boboboy!

Muhammad 'Aafi yang comot dengan coklat..

Siti Nurhana

Kami bernasib baik kerana tiada kesesakan lalu lintas. Lebih kurang jam 11pagi kami selamat sampai di Tanah Perkuburan Batu 6,  Bakri,  Muar. Di situlah bersemadinya kedua orang tuaku. Rindu yang tak tertahan ni, terubat sedikit setelah melihat pusara mereka. Adikku Han dan kakak sulung kami Abang Ani, sudah pun menunggu aku di situ. Kami sama-sama menghadiahkan kedua orang tua kami dengan bacaan Yasiin dan doa buat mereka.

Kubur Mak yang terletak di bahagian yang rendah dari kubur abah menyebabkan ia ditenggelami air banjir. Maka, banyaklah kubur yang terjerlus tanahnya. Kami bertiga bersepakat dan berkongsi mengupah si Penjaga Kubur mengambuskan balik tanah kubur Mak dan menambah batu kecil atas kubur Abah. Alhamdulillah kedua pusara dikemaskini dengan baik.

Tanah pusara Mak terjerlus dilanda banjir...sedang dibaiki

Setelah semuanya beres, kami bertiga mengambil peluang untuk bersembang kosong. Banyak yang kami berkongsi cerita tentang diri dan keluarga masing-masing. Begitulah nampak gayanya kesibukan kami hinggakan nak berjumpa adik beradik pun cuma sekadar beberapa minit sahaja dibawah sebatang pokok kuini berdekatan pusara Mak dan Abah. Namun, kami bersyukur kerana dapat juga kami bertemu dan melepaskan rindu. Terima kasih aku ucapkan kepada Abang Ani yang membawa telur asin dari Pontian dan terima kasih kepada Han kerana membawa sebekas Asam Pedas Ikan Parang dan  belikan ikan segar dari Pasar Besar Muar. Terima kasih juga pada adik bongsu kami Intan yang berkirimkan sos Mee Bandung jualannya. Itulah kelebihannya punya adik-beradik yang ramai dan bersatu hati. Alhamdulillah.
                   

Abang Ani, Han dan aku.

Sebelum berpisah, kami mengambil peluang untuk bermaaf-maafan serta mengucapkan Selamat Beribadah dalam baki bulan Ramadhan dan selamat Hari Raya Aidil Fitri. Aku dan waris-warisku meneruskan perjalanan kami untuk pulang tetapi kami mengambil masa menyusuri jalan-jalan lama yang pernah aku lalui dahulu. Nostalgia sikit.Sempat juga kami melepaskan rindu pada rumah tua di Jalan Duku. Teringat aku macamana arwah Mak dan Abah akan sibuk bila anak cucu mereka pulang. Seolah-olah ternampak-nampak mereka duduk atas tembok depan rumah melambai-lambai kami. Itulah sebenarnya saat paling bahagia untuk mereka kerana itulah aku rasakan kini bila anak cucuku pulang ke rumahku.

Satu hari nanti, kita akan ke sini juga.
 Menziarahi pusara akan mengingatkan kita.....

Al Fatihah buat arwah Mak dan Abah serta arwah-arwah  yang sudah mendahului kita.

Doaku semoga Allah ampunilah dosa-dosa kedua orang tuaku. Murahkanlah rezeki mereka di alam barzakh berkat pahala dari segala kebaikan yang aku dan adik beradikku kerjakan selagi ada umur kami. Lapangkanlah dan terangilah kubur mereka Ya Allah dengan pahala sedekah dan amal jariah kami. Kesihanilah mereka sebagaimana mereka mengasihi kami semasa kami kecil dahulu... Semoga dapat kita semua berjumpa dan bersama di Syurga nanti...InsyaAllah.

Kami pun meneruskan perjalanan pulang ke Shah Alam. Puas hati dapat menziarahi pusara kedua orang tuaku dan lebih lagi ialah bersyukur dapat bertemu dua dari adik beradikku yang seramai 11 orang......  sebenarnya sedozen tetapi seorang meninggal kecil. Perjalanan pulang tanpa kesesakan lalu lintas berjalan lancar. Sempat beli kupang dan buah-buahan di tepi jalan. Sempat masakkan untuk berbuka  dan dengan izin Allah, masih ada kudrat untuk berterrawih penuh! Syukur kepada Illahi....... Alhamdulillah.....

Sempat juga beli kasut Raya.

When in Rome, do what the Romans do......

People say, 'We learn through history' and we always say 'History repeats'.  Well, it is not difficult to understand and I totally agree with those two phrases because history is about human behavior.  What people did those days are the same as now.  The only difference is that we are living in a modern world with full of human creations and inventions!  That makes our life easier but the behavior in needs and wants in human in the ancient and now are still the same.

  

@ Port of Rome, Civittavecchia

When we disembarked the ship at Port of  Rome, Civittavecchia, Italy (we had hard times to pronounce) but hey.... we are in Rome and that is the name of it's port.  Civittavecchia means Old City.  It is not as busy as Port of Livorno but many cruise ships docked here.  And not forgetting, it is a fishing port too where fishermen will tie their boats and set the fish for sale.  So because of that we have to take a short ride on Free Shuttle Bus from the ship to the pickup point.

 I remembered my history teacher told us that the Romans army are very strong and were experts with weapons.  No fear in them.  They will put on their heavy armored and helmets with  swords, bows and arrows, daggers and spears and they walk to war!  They walked with pride.  We listened to our teacher in awe!  Trying to imagine everything with the help of some photographs in our text book. Well, that was the best source besides going to the library when everybody wanted to grab the same reference at the same time!  My history teacher was a great story teller.  Now that I am here, his story came to life.  What I feel is to be a teacher in History, one must read a lot from as many sources and must be able to relay the history of one nation to another.  History is basically telling stories with facts. My History teacher Mr. Yip (wonder where he is now - thank you Sir) did just that. He told us stories ....... and children love listening!  We have to create the sense of interest in them.

I have been here before. Not once, not twice but more than that. I love this city very much.  I realized that, for every visit, I was unable to see all .  The whole city is history.  Everywhere you go has it's story.  May it be the story of the dictator Emperor Julius Caeser,  Emperor Octavius who love arts, the Mad Nero, the handsome Mark Anthony, the beautiful Cleopatra of Egypt, the gladiators and the lions fighting for their lives, the great Coloseom and so on. And now, I am standing here again, in the middle of Italy with all the big names and old historical buildings and ruins with loads of stories and trying to figure out what life must have been back then..... totally unimaginable!

Statue of Romulus and Remus suckling on the she wolf

Romans are well known throughout the world.  They were already civilized in the Cleopatra era, during Christianity and then in the era of Islam.  How can we just forget about the Romans, when even in our Al Quran there is a Surah called Surah Al Room.  The history of Rome spans 2,500 years from 510 BC started with the abandoned of the twins Romulus and Remus who were suckled by a she-wolf, that was what the legend says.  They grew up and decided to build a city by the River Tiber.  In an argument, Romulus killed his brother Remus and he became the first ruler and named the city Rome, after himself.  Rome grew from a small Italian village into the center of civilization that dominated the Mediterranean region for centuries. Rome is regarded as one of the birthplaces of the western civilization. 

The River Tiber

A civilization that almost concurred the whole of Europe as near as Egypt in the south.  Spain to the West, England to the North and Turkey to the East.  They really mean business!  Rome became the super power for thousands of years.  Many aspects of today's society have been affected by ancient Rome.  Creation of Civil law, the democracy system, the spread of Latin language, the used of Roman names like Cleopatra, Julius Ceaser, Mark Anthony and Brutus in writings by Shakespeare, in art, in infrastructure of Roman roads which uplift the center of the road to allow the rain water to drain off and in city planning are all areas where the influences of Roman ideas can be seen today.  Not forgetting the buildings .......

@year: 117 AD {from Google map}

On our way to the Colosseum, we saw other ruins of this city like the Roman Bath, the racing track for the chariots and the famous Roman aqueduct.  Deep inside me, I was telling myself that they must be rich enough to maintained and preserved their history for thousands of years!  What if the population multiplies in future?  Will Rome have enough land and space for their residents?  Well, just asking.... just wondering.

The ruins of Roman Bath.

The racing track for the chariots.

Upon reaching the majestic Colosseum, the guide told us that this is an entertainment arena for the rich to enjoy watching the gladiators fighting for their survival either among themselves or with lions!  The dead will be forgotten and the winner will have chances to see another day.  It sounded cruel to us but that is sports to them.  The poor would rather be a gladiator then to be a slave throughout their life.  Just imagine the cuts, the bloodshed and death.  But it is an entertainment to them just like us watching MuaiThai Boxing, The Kick Boxing, The Wrestling, The Rugby game, The American Football ..... they are practically sports just like the gladiators!  The difference is the gladiators fight for pride and freedom but the sportsmen (as a free men) now fight for fame and wealth. Hahahahhaha

@Gladiator and lion in the Roman Arena

From where I was standing on the lower part of the amphitheater, it was where the Emperor, his Senates and the nobles were seated and as the floors go up, the ordinary people were seated and the poor will be on the top most.  Just imagine the roaring, screaming, tears and noises when the fighting for survival was on.  The rich will be betting of whom they choose to win and the poor will be hoping their family will survive.  Two different hopes and wishes!

The Colosseum

The many beautiful highly decorated  fountains in Rome provides clean drinking water for everybody either residents or visitors and it really fascinates me.  I was thinking about the few fountains we have back home. What confused me why people throw coins in the fountains and making wishes. 

Having gelato at Trevi Fountain

In order to see Rome, it is better to walk because the streets are so narrow and all the historical places are nearby to one another.  We went to the Pantheon.  It was a church.  The building is circular with large granite columns.  There was an opening in the center of the dome.  You can see the sunlight enters the church.  If it rains, the water will be drain off through the holes on the floor.  Amazingly, it was the largest unreinforced concrete dome in the world and still standing for almost two thousand years after it was built! 

Pantheon

Dome

We passed by a number of obelisks. (Obelisk is a tall, four sided monument which ends with a pyramid-like shape at the top).  I remembered two but it was more. There were 13 in the city Rome. Eight were originally from Egypt and were taken back to Rome after the Roman conquest. The other five were copies from the original Egyptian obelisks. The one I remembered the most was built and erected in the center of a fountain in Piazza Nouvona and the other one was in Piazza della Rotondo. 

Obelisk of Domitian in Piazza Nuovona

Most ancient obelisks were often monolithic meaning they are are made of one piece of marble or granite.  Just imagine how many people (may be slaves) needed to make it stand because each were hundreds of tonnes heavy!  The heaviest is about 230 tonnes and stands 42 meters!  That's what power can do .... you can own anything you want, when ever you want! 

Once I visited  Vigelandesparken in Oslo, Norway.  A 14 meters tall monolith stands and carved of 121 human figures on it from a single stone. It shows the human cycle of life. It was sculptured in 1926.

@Vigelandesparken in Oslo, Norway

Rome is said to be the oldest city in the world and their civilization dominated the European for thousands of years. Rome started with the era of ancient Rome from the founding of the city to the Roman Republic  when they started to have enemies to the expandable of their power throughout Europe in the era of Roman Empire. They were the greatest power for many decades but somehow rather lost their grips. 

In one Malay saying, 'Ikan  akan busuk di kepalanya dulu' (A fish will go rotten from the head down) meaning when an organization or state falls, it is the leadership that is the root cause.  What is the difference between Caeser and the gladiators?  They are human beings with the same in needs and wants. Only power seperated them.  I let you think and scroll through the net to find out why and what made the great Roman Empire fall.

Cold Drinks and cold towel  awaits us.....phew.

The walking, thinking, the imagination and the hot summer,  really exausted me.  It was a visit full of fun and very educational indeed.  No doubt I was here before but for every visit is never the same.  I am so looking forward for the cold towel and a good dinner on board!

A giant statue of a sailor saying...
arrivederci  e spero di rivederti
(goodbye and see you again)

 Tomorrow's excursion .... another history of another ancient civilization and even mentioned in the Quran ....  

See you in my next journey!
---------------------------------------------------------------------
note *** 'When in Rome, do what the Romans do......'
in Malay: 'di mana bumi dipijak, di situ langit dijunjung'
'masuk kandang kambing mengembek, masuk kandang harimau mengaum......'