My 30 day visa was up and it was time to do a visa run. The easiest and cheapest place from Padang is Kuala Lumpur, a one hour flight and around £35 for a return ticket.
Le Meridien - Kuala Lumpur
Will and I were looking forward to having some home comforts for a few days and weren’t too keen on staying in some cheap dingy hostel. We decided we would splash and go for a hotel. We used Wotif.com to book a mystery hotel for a set price – after booking it turned out that we would be staying at Le Meridien, SCORE!
We left the HODR crib in perfect timing – there were about 8 cases of the Plague/Dysentery on the day we left.
We arrived at Le Meridien and felt pretty intimidated in our dirty clothes with our dirty bodies, it was cool at the same time seeing wealthy business people stare at us.
We had 4 days to catch up with work, shopping, washing and EATING. Work plans went out the window for me when I found my flash drive had broken – more time for eating.
The highlights of the trip were;
A 7RM (£1.25) haircut from the Kimarie Academy – later learning that ‘academy’ meant it was where the new hairdressing students tested their skills out.
£1.25 haircut
A casting for a TV advert. Will was asked in a shopping mall to come along to a TV studio and bring a friend. They were looking for a couple of Western Backpackers for a Nestea advert. And so, slightly skeptical about the whole thing we went along the following day. It was the real deal – we each signed forms and did a 40 mintute casting. Taking profile pictures and then auditioning for the part. We played the role of a backpacker asking a monk on how we could relieve our body stress, the answer was apparently Nestea. Whilst there we were offered another TV advert for the following Sunday. It was to appear in a property advert and we would receive £100. Unforetunately it didn’t fit in with our plans and we had to decline. We are still waiting to hear about the Nestea advert.
the casting
It was my third time in Kuala Lumpur, each time has been for a visa run or on route to somewhere else. I think that KL isn’t really worth anything other than a visa run or transit visit – there’s isn’t much to do or see other than lots of shops and restaurants and the Petronas Towers. Still, I’d recommend it for a 3/4 day trip – no longer.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Great to hear from you – and to see your new career as a movie star – dont forget us when you are rich and famous!! Looking forward to the next update – it would be good to see some desert island pics and some surfing ones from Bali.
Glad you had the good sense to escape before the Plague got you!
Take care. LOL Mum XXXX
P.S. Ashley reckons no one else puts comments because I am embarassing – please put some to prove him wrong!
Sorry but he is right!