Philippines possible? Ferry from Sandakan
 

Hey folks,

Are there any news about the Philippines? Is it possible to bring the bike in with a carnet?

I was considering taking the ferry from Sandakan to Mindanao (afaik it's the only public ferry for foreigners?)

Cheers,

Frank

Hi Frank.

It is possible. I came in through General Santos by way of Bitung, Indonesia by ferry and then through the small island of Marore of which I found a small fishing captain who I paid to load me onto his Pom boat. I was actually held in custody once I entered Gensan as immigration said that port is not a legal entry for foreigners. To make a long story short I was able to prove my innocence and let go to roam free after 2 weeks of back and forth with immigration and the Manila office. I have been here for 6 months. I had to purchase a bond as they do not accept Carnet's.

I am actually looking to leave PI soon and considering Zamboanga to Sandakan. I think your plan should work, but no guarantees and make sure to have some cash to purchase a bond. Feel free to email me. When are planning to enter PI?

I suggest you contact Darius. He used to live in PI and took the Zamboanga ferry in the opposite direction.

I have confirmed Zamboanga has a ferry from a friend that works in customs in Sabah. She says the ferry leaves Zamboanga on Mon and Thu and arrives the next day. I will be touring for 3-4 weeks in the Northern islands of PI and will be most likely taking this route once I get back to Cebu as a ferry goes directly from Cebu to Zamboanga. I will post the details when I complete my tour in PI. If anyone has info on boats to West Malaysia or Singapore from Kuching, Borneo please post on here. Thanks!

Here is a map of my South East Asia journey this past year and a half.

http://i338.photobucket.com/albums/n...aps1024x76.jpg


Here is a map of my touring in the Philippines.
http://i338.photobucket.com/albums/n...-GoogleMap.jpg

Thanks for the great info! My bike is currently in Australia. I'm planning to ship from Darwin to Dili and then island hop to Borneo to take the ferry to the Philippines.
Plan B would be to skip the Philippines and ship from Sumatra to Malaysia.

It's a shame they don't accept the carnet in the Philippines. How much bond did you have to pay (are you riding a KLR?) Do you think you'll get it back???

How did you go to Taiwan? Air freight? Do you have a travel blog?

Cheers,

Frank

No ferries between Borneo and W Malaysia. A Malaysian friend shipped his bike and paid a fortune.

There are, however, quite a number of ferries from Kalimantan to Java, from where you can have further adventures in Sumatra before taking the well-trodden shipping route to Butterworth. There is a comprehensive topic on this elsewhere on HUBB.

You are welcome Frank. I had a web site started for blogging, etc but it has been put off for quite some time and I really need to get it done to share with everyone. I am hoping to find a generous web programmer/designer to help me. I have been posting lots of pictures and write-ups on Facebook in the meantime.
I actually shipped the bike to Malaysia and toured all the countries shown with the exception of Taiwan where I just backpacked for a month circling the island. I was able to use a friend’s scooter in some places in the South. I really loved Taiwan and it is a wonderful place and touring on a big bike would be a great experience. However, I am not sure what it entails as I considered it would be too much on this trip to have to re-crate and ship the bike again to Malaysia.
As for my bond here in the Philippines I was very fortunate and the Customs officer gave me a big break and allowed the insurance agent to value my bike at $700.00 which brought down the cost of the bond to only about 5000php for 6 months. I just renewed it again and will not get the money back when I leave. I would get this bond thing cleared first as for me I was a bit of a renegade how I came in through North Sulawesi and I think since I was in custody for 2 weeks that is why they gave me a break. (when I entered my Carnet was still valid also)
Both plans of yours should work fine as the ferries between the major islands in Indonesia are pretty straight forward and regular with the exception of the one to Sulawesi from Flores.
Going to Penang from Medan should be fine as this is the route many take in reverse.
Good luck and enjoy!:thumbup1:

If you don't get it back then it's not a bond. More likely the money went into the customs officer(s) pocket(s).

That is the Philippines for you :mchappy: The paperwork says bond and it was definitely an insurance company I was dealing with. Whether it went directly into their pocket or not does not matter to me at this point as it was a good deal compared to what I was told by other people living in PI. They had said there would be a huge import tax if you bring in a bike. My carnet was over $2400.00 for a year and my stay in PI for a year would be around $220.00 paying the 'bond'. So the Carnet is a much bigger wallet lightener in my opinion, but if that is the law of the land we do not have much choice. :scooter:

Hey, me too!
 

Hi all -- I'm on a RTW attempt on my Vespa P200E, starting in Belgrade. I've made it as far as Pontianak, Kalimantan, and starting tomorrow I'm going to go around the north side of Borneo to Sandakan to catch that aforementioned ferry.

I have no idea what to expect once I reach Zamboaga, though. The one dude in this thread (sorry I forgot your name man!) said he had to pay a sort of "bond", as they don't recognize the Carnet de Passages en Douane. Assuming that this is still possible, paying this little bond-like piece of baksheesh, how does that work? What kind of turnaround am I looking at? I'm under an enormous amount of time pressure here to get to Manila and I don't want to be stuck in Zamboanga for two weeks. I'd rather be there for no more than a day.

I'm also very concerned about getting my bike *out* of the Philippines. Anybody know of any good air freight agencies out of Manila? Again, based on what I'm reading at this late date, this might be hard to do. My only saving grace might be the fact that I have a 198cc bike, which sometimes helps things when it's classified as a scooter and not a proper bike.

Thanks, everybody, for any and all advice.

Cheers!

Looks like some fantastic travels right there..!

Just out of curiosity: what are you travelling with (registered where?) and I see you´ve toured Taiwan. So how was the entry to Taiwan, was it troublesome, and what was required?

See, while in Indonesia, I met a German biker, who had shipped by air from Japan to Taiwan, and did not manage to clear the customs with his German-plated bike, even though he had tried for several weeks. (In fact his trip got even more rocky afterwards, ´cos he then had the bike airlifted to Jakarta - where Indonesian customs had also refused entry, even though he had the carnet, I don´t know if he finally managed to get it into Indo or not!)