Thanks for your comments! Yeah, I actually once had a 115cc Yamaha Nouvo in Thailand, and did some great tours to Cambodia & Laos with it (was actually with some friends, and trying to get into Vietnam, we tried real hard, too, but in the end the customs wouldn´t let us in!)...

And you´re right, you don´t really need a bigger bike for anything over there (unless you´re doing a long tour 2-up maybe). Small, lightweight local bikes have clear advantages in many places, and you´ll even find parts for them in every remote village!

A 125 bike or scooter from Indo might be my best choice, and that way I could probably get around the carnet-thing, too ... (or I don´t know yet, maybe Philippines could also be a possibility).

Seems very hard to find accurate info about the options to transport you & the bike across the seas in that region.. like the Pelni website, that lists newest departures in 2006!! Didn´t expect it to be like in Europe, though

I believe beddhist maintains a spreadsheet of vehicle ferry schedules for Indonesia. Don't ask me where to find it though. I could probably tell you what days they go as of 2 years ago, but they may have changed by now. I think the key thing is that nearly all of them go at least once a week. Other than that it's a bit of a lottery.

Come to think of it, beddhist's girlfriend was on a Thai registered 250 coming through Indo, so maybe he can shed some light on the paperwork.

And just to clarify the Pelni thing - if you walk into a Pelni office they will flat out refuse to transport your bike. They're passenger only. But as I said, there are ways around that.

One thing to be aware of also if you're trying to map out a rough plan, is that vehicle ferries and Pelni usually follow completely separate routes.

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Lucas & Ann
http://somemustard.blogspot.com

I was in Sulawesi a couple of years ago backpacking/researching for Rough Guides, and spent most of the bus journeys longing for my bike - a lot of the roads, especially in the south of the island, are surprisingly good, though other traffic on them is not!

Can't add much to what has already been said about ferries, other than that there are companies other than Pelni operating on certain routes. As has been mentioned everyone there drives wee scooters, however I did meet a local guy, based in Java, who organises tours on BMW 1200GS. Not what you want, but he may be able to give you some info on how best to get bikes between islands - I have his card at home so will post the info when I'm back in a few days (feel free to PM me if you haven't heard, it's been a busy few weeks!).

Hope that helps.

Laura

^ Ok thanks, sounds very interesting!

And yes, I´ve thought so many times in Asian traffic (especially in India and Indonesia!) that I do NOT envy the backpackers, who´ll need to trust their lives in the hands of the crazy local bus and car drivers.

Probably not the safest thing to do to ride a motorcycle in those countries, either, but at least there are a few ´survival tactics´, that you can use. When you´re sitting on a bus or a pick-up, all you can do is pray.. and that´s just what I did, when I saw them make their passes on blind curves, with other heavy vehicles coming straight at them!!

Following a long-distance bus in India for a while (doing about 100kph in very heavy traffic) was among the craziest experiences, that I have ever had!

Hehe, we did quite a bit of that on Java, and while we grew to really hate the bus drivers, I've gotta admit it was pretty hilarious sometimes watching them barrelling down the road towards us, traffic scattering in all directions. That said, there were times I just wanted to drag one out the front door and beat the living shit of him. All part of the fun I guess

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Lucas & Ann
http://somemustard.blogspot.com

I just found this today and as we are currently in Indonesia it sums up my feelings completely. I had some really nasty thoughts about those murderous bus drivers and some real dreams about their demise.

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Wrong way to Kathmandu - A Sidecar Misadventure

I can add some info to this. Having taking a BMW to Borneo previously and regretted it, I am also looking at options for using a local bike. One problem that foreigners face in Indo is that you can't own bike without a residency permit. I'm fortunate that some local friends are willing to be the proxy owner for me.

There are no bikes commercially available in Indo that are bigger than 250cc. In fact anything bigger than 150cc is rare. Bikes 150cc and less are mostly made in India, Thailand or elsewhere in S-E Asia and cost about $2k. Anything bigger is made mostly in Japan and cost a *lot*. Example: Kawasaki KLX250 costs about $7,500.

I'm looking at either a Yamaha LC135 (5 speed manual clutch) or Suzuki Raider 150 (aka Satria) which is a 6 speed manual clutch. The Yammie is EFI which is not so good if you are a expecting to fill up outside of cities, so the Suzuki looks the goods. For me the availability of chunky tyres is the make-or-break issue as I will be hitting the logging roads, but local riders tackle pretty bad roads with normal city tyres.

Lack of suspension travel is probably the biggest problem with scooters - it means they are badly affected by potholes (of which there are about a billion!). I had a confy ride at say 40 kmh on the BMW where locals were carefully weaving around the holes at about 20 kmh.

Re ferries, the info about Pelni is likely not useful to you, since they don't have RO-RO. You can get your bikes carried as freight, meaning it has to be hoisted on and off, with the associated costs and delays.

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www.motoindo.com
One-way and multi-island rentals ex Bali

Hi Pecha72,

You can get your bike to Pontianak, Kalimantan from Semarang in Java, the ferries (PT Dharma Lautan Utama) schedule only comes out close to the end of the month.

PT. Dharma Lautan Utama | armada pelayaran nasional

Use google translate if you have snags.

Mr Lim's onion barge (Cakra Shipping) is also running from Penang(Malaysia) to Belawan (Sumatra)

I'm in Kuching at the moment and heading to Kota Kinabalu, plans are to get from the east coast to Sulawesi, no idea yet how thats going to happen, I'll just cross that bridge (sea) when I come to it.

As for bikes, smaller ones are more handy and much less hassle on the dodgy roads of Indonesia. Much easier to pick up when you drop them :-) the main issue is comfort and the kit carrying capability of it. I'd happily swop the GSA for a 125 but to carry my kit would be impossible. Travel as light as poss and enjoy.

The blogs well behind due to a crash in Sumatra but it might give you a heads up somewhere, or maybe the links page of all the other bikers we've met on route. GSA World Tour . Com

Hope that helps a little,

John