Travelling across Indonesia to Malaysia
 

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I am trying to plot a valid route across Indonesia to Malaysia with a motorbike. Essentially East Timor to Malaysia.

Anyone done this of late? When I look at ferry's, it doesn't say if you can take a bike or not.

Also I have heard warnings not to try to go into Singapore due to paperwork issues....

any help appreciated

I shall be doing this route in Jan next year. Mr Lim's onion boat takes man n machine. Lots of islands in Indonesia, so u have to pick carefully. I will fly in with my bike into Denpasar and bike upwards towards the ferry into Singapore. There is no other way to Malaysia. So paperwork has to be suffered. I will ride further into India. Cheers!

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Aditya raj kapoor
where you travelling from?

I will be going in January

It seems to me there is a way from Eat Timor with plenty of ferry's exept the final part to Malaysia.

I was thinking of shipping straight to Bali at first.

I was under the asumption SG was very costly and hard to get out of customs and much easier to go straight to Malaysia then onward

Hi Marty, I will start my RTW in three weeks from Vladivostok and move westwards. I will fly from somewhere in USA to Indonesia. I presume to Denpasar Bali. Then I will spend two weeks here and move to Malaysia through Singapore, so on and bike back to India. My Indochina route isn't so finalized as it's time away.

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There is no problem travelling the route you plan. The main ferry company is called ASDP and all the ferries between all those islands do carry vehicles.

From Timor to Flores:
At least two options, both leaves from Kupang, one option is to Larantuka, second is to Aimere. The Larantuka option is twice pr week, not sure about the Aimere one but I think its only once pr week. There used to be an option to Ende as well but I have heard it doesnt run anymore.
In my opinion this is the only hard/rough crossing. Its only a couple of times pr week, it takes 18-20 hours, the ferry I took was EXTREMELY overcrowded and in an emergency it would be a total mess. And it was almost no facilities at all.
I have also heard that ferries often dont operate due to bad weather.

Flores to Sumbawa (Labuan Bajo to Sape) two crossings pr day, 6-7 hours crossing. I arrived in good time for the first crossing but had to wait for the second as the first was full. They also said the second crossing would leave 3 pm but in theend it left after 6 pm. So a little flexibility is good...

Sumbawa to Lombok (Pringabaya to Poto Tano) a relaxed crossing, approx 3 hours, several ferries pr day. No need to have the schedule.

Lombok to Bali (Padang Bai - Lembur) ferries very often, also at night. Approx 4 hours crossing.

Bali to Java (Gilimanuk - Ketapang) ferries all the time, one hour crossing and we waited almost one hour to dock because of all the other ferries.

Java - Sumatra (Bakauheni - Merak) ferries leaving all the time. I think the crossing were 2-3 hours.

I travelled this stretch 2015 in the opposit direction. All ferries take vehicles, no worries about that. And all crossing were quite ok except the Timor to Flores which was really bad, in my opinion then. So if you can stand that one - houre ok. The rest is easy peacy.
They sell snack and soft drinks onboard but not much decent food, mostly instant noodles. So you better stock up with some food before the longer stretches if possible.

For Indonesia I also recommend to try to get a 60 day visa - I think its called a social visa. A normal tourist visa is 30 days and to extend a visa in Indonesia is a PITA. You need a indonesian sponsor and you need to go to Immigration 4-5 times.
And travel in Indonesia is extremely slow. Dont calculate more than 300 kms a day and average speed of 40-50 km/h. The roads are narrow and winding and the traffic is extrem! Indonesia is still maybe the highlight of my trip!



And remember - hati hati.... :D

ASDP-ferry schedules: https://www.indonesiaferry.co.id/ind/index.php

Can u go straight to Malaysia Bypass Singapore?

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Yes - and its the only option there is I think. From Sumatra (Indonesia) Me Lims "Onion Boat" from Belawan to Penang or Passenger ferry from Sungok Galei to Port Klang. Even though its a passenger ferry it can fit a couple of motorbikes unless its BMW-boxers as they are too wide and dont fit through the entrance gate.

Theres no point going to Singapore with a bike unless you are shipping to or from or have a very important errand to do there. You have to park your bike at the border, take a taxi into the city, find somewhere to buy insurance (which is very expensive) you have to buy a buypass equipment to pass automatic tollgates etc. No point at all to take a bike into S'pore. Find a safe parking in Johor Baru and take the bus into Singapore.

Yes and thanks. I didn't want to go to Singapore and was looking at some way around. That's a good ideA.

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Some good info, although i heard the indo - Malaysia ferry (Mr Lim) had stopped some time ago and you can now only ship.


Next part is where to - ship to Nepal due to Thailand now being too expensive to bother with. Myanmar the same

Mr Lims services is a cargo ship, not a ferry. This boat has been stopped from working now and then (probably not enough "tea money" paid or similar) but he always seems to have been able to restart his services after some weeks.

Fly your bike from Kuala Lumpur to Katmandu I would belive is the easiest option from what I have heard and read the last years. Malaysian airlines seems to have reasonably priced services for motofreight and seems to be easy to deal with.

Yes, I will ferry from Indonesia to Malaysia and then ride on.

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You can get a passenger ferry from tanjung balai to port klang. Bike goes ontop of the boat and it will be unloaded at the other end where you get off. The benefit is that you don't need taxis/hotels/etc as you would with the onion boat.

We are currently avoiding Thailand and shipping from Malaysia to Mongolia. Probably leaving before you get here but it's def an option.

Keep in mind that British citizens now need a guide as well for Iran. So even if you fly to Katmandu you might still end up paying the Adventure tax in Iran.

Anyways, best of luck and ,yes the route is completely doable and everything will fall into place.

Enjoy.

Its a real shame you can't ride through Asia anymore.

My other option was to buy bikes in each country and ride around Thailand, Laos , Cambodia, Myanmar but its impossible to do that as they have banned vehicles going from one country to the next so if you bought in Thailand you cant now go to Cambodia and Laos etc unless on a tour which is a rip off.
Fly and hire seems an option but you have to come back and drop off the bike which isnt great if its a big country.

Anyway shipping to Mongolia then Russia is the route but early in the year too cold

This is not true. You can buy a bike in for example Thailand (although the buying procedure isnt all that easy as you need a sertificate of recidense - which isnt always easy to get if you dont have a recidensy in the country) and take it to Laos, Cambodia and Malaysia. Theres some restrictions though - theoretically a bike less than 250 cc isnt let into Laos from Thailand. This law has not been that much enforced earlier but now it seems to be - at least at some bordercrossings. And theres also a province in Laos that dont let foreign bikes in at all through their bordercrossings - Xayabouli. But theres lots of other bcs - so no worries.

And a Vietnam plated bike should still get you into Laos and Cambodia - with two different bikes you should be able to cover most of SE-Asia.

Another way is a cheap Indonesian domestic ferry crossing from Java to Kalimantan (indonesia)

then ..,

A Land boarder crossing from Kalimantan Indonesia to Borneo Malaysia .

then..,

A Malaysian Domestic Ferry crossing from Borneo Malaysia to The Malaysian Peninsular mainland


Regarding entering Indonesia , I have heard mixed reports, and read stories online from other bike overlanders having to suffer Indonesian customs official holding bikes at ransom while they demand - ie; charge you/ bill you / scam you for ridiculous made up fees and charges and expect you to pay before releasing your bike.(ie; they have you powerless and by the balls) .., hopefully your air cargo thought is better, but I am more pessimistic than optimistic from all my dealings with them here over the years :( . Once your in though, the place is amazing for adventuring.

I am currently living in Indonesia and have copped similar crap to this from customs from just getting parcels sent here, and I have even suffered from courier companies like DHL doing it also as they are in cahoots with corrupt customs officials.

I am also planning a trip similar to yours, where I intend to buy myself a bigger bike in Australia (because they are too expensive in Indonesia due to an added 125% luxury tax)

.., Then I will ship it from Darwin to Timor Leste (Dili) , then ride across overland via the West Timorese boarder into Indonesia where I am hoping is a much more quiet , relaxed , and hopefully less prone to corruption than the big major international ports.

Also don't forget for Indonesia you need a Carnet and an invitation from I.M.I
- ie ; Indonesian Transport Dept (heres a link for where you need to apply for the invitation : imi@imi.co.id )