JUST A SHORT MESSAGE ENQUIRING IF ANYONE KNOWS IF AT ALL ITS POSSIBLE TO CROSS INTO INDONESIA FROM MALAYSIA,AND IF SO WHAT ARE THE CHANCES OF DOING SO.WHAT IS THE SITUATION WITH AUTHORITIES,CARNETS,VISAS,ETC?IF ANYONE AS DONE THIS TRIP I WOULD BE VERY GRATEFUL OF ANY INFO.ALSO IS IT POSSIBLE TO SHIP TO OZ.FROM SOMEWHERE IN INDONESIA?CHEERS,PETER.

This is the latest news from Ken and Carol:

"Shipping the bike can only be done on a cargo vessel. We were directed to an
agent by the Customs Officer in Melaka who was very helpful.
Company name.............Jalinan Muara Enterprise, 865-1 Jalan Semabok,
75050 Melaka. H/P 012-6238438 Tel/Fax: 06-2921867. This office is located beside the ferry terminals.

Cost to ship the bike is 400RM
Passenger Fares + Dep. Tax is 59RM each

There will be charges on the other side but that will be negotiable. We will forward other info. connected to this once we have reached Indonesia. We have heard that entering through this port the Customs are 'very gentle' and only the Carnet is required. Not a letter of Invitation as was necessary in the past. Hope this is of help."

Ken and Carol Duval

Dear Peter,

We biked in Indonesia this year in Jan. and Feb.. However much effort it is getting the bikes in to the country, it will be worth it. Until now (going to Mal., Thai., Lao and Japan) none of the countriess have been so wild, the people so friendly.
We started our trip in Jakarta, shipping the bikes there from Rotterdam. It took us aalmost two weeks to get the bikes out of ccustoms, lot of bribing, lots of negotiating.
If we would go to Indonesia again, we would ship to Surabaya, Java, we made very good experiences there when we left the country, shipping the bikes to Singapore. Customs was (almost) straightforward, NO bribe(!!!), also the port is smaller and more oranized. At least it seemed to us.
If you still have to wait and negotiate, Surabaya is a terrible ccity, but so is Jakarta....
If you want to know the whole story please read our journal on www.transasia.at .
Please write if you have any detailed questions we can help ypu with.
grretings, Patrick