Meaningful honeymoon

Dear sister Maria Mah, Salam !

The nine day trip is very meaningful to Mehdi and me, because it is our first trip after getting married. We feel so lucky that we have had such a meaningful and unforgettable honeymoon trip with you and our team members.

If it were not you, how could we meet together in Lanzhou, Linxia, and Xining China, how could we have the chance to visit the orphanage, the migrant center for kids, and do the charity work together. From the activities of which we feel more grateful to you for your kindness and mercifulness, to the caring team members for their friendly and affectionate manners towards the impoverished kids, to our happy life given by Allah. We have learned a lot. We will do whatever we can to help the poor and impoverished students in our daily life, because kids are the future we are relying on. If Junior are strong, China will be strong.

The local people are friendly to us, wherever we go, we receive looking with kind eyes and polite reception; The local flavor of food are memorable, unique and tasteful. Though lack of water, the local people have been keeping a very clean living habit and made the food very clean and natural. The assorted steamed bread and cakes made you difficult to choose. The radiant and enchanting scene of Danxia landscape in Zhangye made us know the power of Allah. What’s more, we team members helped each other in the trip and become friends after the trip.How attractive and amazing a trip it is, really unforgettable.

It is a trip, but there is something more than that. May Allah award all the team members! May we meet again both in China and in Singapore. Thank you dear sister Maris Mah!

Rainbow Tour Experience (22 - 30 NOV 2019)

Assalammualaikum, Brothers and Sisters.

Thank you for the opportunity to share my thoughts with you on our recent tour of Lanzhou, Zhangye and Xining. The tour was organised by Sister Mariah Mah, a veteran organiser with experience of over 30 years. Thus, it was not surprising that the members, 15 of us (a combination of Singaporeans and friends from China), enjoyed ourselves very much with abundance of food and comfortable and strategic hotel accommodations to facilitate shopping and interactions with our local brothers and sisters. What more can we ask?

Besides touring the places of interest in Lanzhou, Zhangye and Xining, we also visited the orphanages and the Migrant Centre for children. Looking at their living conditions, our children are indeed blessed. Visits to the mosques were also on our itinerary. The mosque that impressed me most was the 'Ling Ling Mosque' in Gongbei. It reminded me of the forbidden city in Beijing except that the doors were painted in green instead of red. As our visit to this mosque coincided with Friday prayers, I observed that muslims who attended the Friday prayers at this mosque also burnt incense sticks before entering the prayer hall which we do not practise in Singapore.

In the early years when Islam was brought to China by the Sahabahs . ..chinese customs like burning of joss sticks n incense was tolerantly assimilated into Islam as long as it did not violate the principle of Tauhid!

The Lanzhou Museum and the Tibetan Museum also provided insights into the rich history of Lanzhou and Tibet. We also got to view the amazing Great Thangka Painting of Tibetan Culture and Art, the main attraction at the Tibetan Museum. The highlight of the tour was of course the visit to the Rainbow Mountains where we climbed to the top to enjoy the views and landscapes. There were snow on some of the mountains in November. Some of the members went on camel rides. Not forgetting Singaporean's favourite pastime 'shopping', we would indulge in it when the opportunity arose.

This tour will indeed be a memorable one for me as I get to travel not only with my local brothers and sisters but also those from China. I also get to learn their cultures and ways of life and get to see how fortunate we are in Singapore.

Once again, thanks to Sister Mariah for organising this wonderful tour and bringing us together where I meet wonderful people like you. Look forward to travelling with all of you again in the near future!

Asalamu Alaikum everyone.

This China trip was one of my best and most memorable one. The planning and tour arrangements by sister Mariah Mah was indeed excellent. The visits to several scenic sites, ancient masjids and of course the breath taking views of the rainbow mountains was the highlight. Not forgetting the delicious traditional food. The visit to the orphanage and the migrant centre was something I will never forget. God willing, I hope to help in ways that I can and to keep them in my doas. Thank you sister Maria Mah and the rest for sharing the pictures.

Assalamu'alaikum to everyone from this Rainbow mts group..I would like to thank everyone for making a meaningful and memorable trip for me. My utmost gratitude to Sis Mariah Mah for being an excellent Leader and Organiser.??.Thank you again everyone for being a part of this wonderful trip!

This Rainbow Tour for me is not abt food.When I visited the Linxia orphanage run by local Muslim volunteers and the Migrant Center home.The kids are so happy tho they all living in such conditions. This trip is so meaning for me. Now for Zakat

I will know who to give to. Allah bless you always Sis.Mariah.♥

Assalamualaikum everybody

Alhamdulillah.. Thanks to Kak Maria for organising this beautiful, wonderful and meaningful China Rainbow Mt trip, where we saw the high rugged mountains, rivers, amazing landscape and the local people. We enjoyed the good food, speed train ride and breathtaking bus journey... and many more to describe!

Masyaallah! The hospitality of our accomodation and safety were Kak Maria's utmost priority during the trip. We were spoilt with amazingly good hotel accomodations and lavish delicious dishes at every meal. We also had the opportunity to meet and mingle with our Muslim brothers and sisters. We visited the Masjids, Orphanages, kindergartens and the Migrant Center runned by local Muslims volunteers. These visits were eye-openers and should made us feel how much we are blessed with the little things in life and how fortunate we are living in a small country with a different lifestyle.

My heartfelt thanks again to Kak Maria for arranging this China trip and would definitely return if there's opporunity. I also wished to thanked all of our group individual members for being helpful and comaraderie during the trip. !

Rainbow Tour Experience (8 -16 march 2019)

For me the scenery is very wonderful. MasyaAllah. The coloured mountain especially.. They are spectacular, cannot find elsewhere. The food there are delicious n fresh eventhough it was my first time trying them. The people are generally friendly. I am much impressed with this tour and particularly touched with the orphange school. Hope to go again

Assalamulaiakum everyone. This tour was my first ever to China. Alhamdulillah it was very interesting experience. To marvel at the amazing scenery. To see the people with their beautiful faces and kind smiles. To eat the delicious food and the tasty desserts. The visits to the orphanages and kindergartens were truly touching, and saddening as well. Insya Allah they will achieve all that they hope. I had fun getting to know the different tour members, each with their individual characters, some fiesty, speaking their minds and others quiet observors. We became friends as we mingled and I hope that we will continue the friendship . During the tour, Unfortunately I could not do much at the colourful mountains as I had stupidly forgotten my nebulizer at the hotel. Being an asthmatic I had to be careful with myself. Ms Mah thanks for organising this MM tour. And to all the rest especially my bestie Salbiah and my room mate Sabu.... I love you loads

Assalamualaikum! Thanks to all for the company and fun I had for the past 9 days. Special thanks to Mariah for organising this private tour. Being seasoned travellers, I am sure you will realise that no tour companies would provide 100% meals...lavish ones. I know and salute her for doing all these, even at her own expense, to bring awareness to our poor and disadvantaged brothers and sisters in China. In Sha Allah, hope we can channel part of our zakat towards her cause. Jazakallah K.

Salam to all. Thank you for everything. Its been a wonderful experience for Hassan n me. Special thks to Sarah Tan....for always being there to help...and moreso to sis Mariah for making all the arrangements. Its been our pleasure to have met all of you. Jazakallah khair.

Aslm everyone, Alhamdullilah we met, took our stride together as a group, ( with some flavours of difference in age and characteristics ) then forged friendship and networking and hope it will last for a long... time. ❤ This trip taught me to be patient, tolerant, adventurous with the new taste of the delicious food ?, beautiful scenes of the colored mountains and the snow covered mountains and terrains, much loved children in both the schools and orphanages. The beauty of Lanzhou and it's Muslim people adds to my - would be visiting list again. We are also blessed with the opportunity to travel with the young, the old, the fast, the slow, the melatah (Ms Mah - must remember not to touch her). A good reflections on humility, health and blessings that Allah has bestowed in us to continue to travel and appreciate HIS creations. Alhamdullilah. May we have more such opportunities. Insha Allah. Thank you everyone. ??

Yunnan August 2019 - Eid Ul-Adhah Tour

Traveling with this tour group made my first trip to China a positively memorable one, and I intend to come back.

Here are my top 3 highlights:

1) Food was delicious.

Almost all the Halal Chinese food we ate tasted great, both in Kunming and Qiubei. The villagers in Qiubei cooked a variety of mouth-watering dishes that were prepared hygienically and were mostly organic.

2) People were great.

The villagers were extrernely hospitable, kind and generous in ensuring that we were well fed and experienced picturesque sights and interesting activities.

3) Scenery was beautiful.

Favourites would have to be the flower fields and the mountainous landscape (and picking edible wild mushrooms in the forest). The city center in Kunming was very lively, lots to look around as well.

The completely different culture and way of living opened my perception of what China is and what it's people are like. Frorn my limited time there, what I personally experienced were mainly interactions with friendly and genuine people in a country where the rural and ultra-modern coexist.

Ultirnately, I believe that Sister Mariah's intentions in arranging these tours are sincere and pure: to propagate the spirit of giving through establishing relationships. Giving is always easier when you are personally connected to recipients of your sadaqah/zakat, it becomes more than just a cash transaction.