Not many things to search on this

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

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.

__________________
In the end everything will be fine. If its not fine its not the end....

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 )

This is a very interesting and helpful thread... I am planning this trip in June 2018 on a GS1200
Shipping the bike from Darwin to Dili then Kupang to Flores, Flores to Sumbawa, to Lombok, Bali, Java, Sumatra and then into Malaysia.

The problem i have encountered is getting the bike's from Sumatra to Malaysia... I cant find a ferry??

You cannot find any ferry on that stretch because there arent any. Well - there are passanger ferries from Tanjung Balai on Sumatra to Port Klang in Malaysia. And it does take bikes, but what I have heard/read is that the entrance door/gate is not wide enough for BMW GS-es. Although I dont have any personal experience from that stretch.

The other option is to let Mr Lim freight your bike from Belawan to Penang on his vegetable boats. He has shipped hundred of bikes on that stretch so thats nothing to worry about. His contact details are somewhere around here. Search for Cakra Shipping...

__________________
In the end everything will be fine. If its not fine its not the end....

West coast Malaysia - Penang will see the beginning of tithe monsoon in May but should still be ok. Penang is great for food and culture but not so much for nature.

East coast Malaysia will have the better weather. In therms of culture, it is way more Islamic than the east coast or Borneo. Taman Negara NP is the obvious choice for nature and is pretty accessible (I am looking at taking the jungle railway there and onto the Thai border later in the year.

I would take a look at Malaysian Borneo - Sabah and Sarawak which has it all and great weather in May. Some photos and detail of our time in Malaysia @ https://accidentalnomads.com/category/malaysia/

As far as Indonesia is concerned, Bali may suit but I do find it very crowded. It is however quite compact so would meet your requirements for not moving around too much.

If you wanted to ride from Australia and go into Thailand, are there any easy ways to get your bike in (I will have a carnet).

Are there any tour companies aiding you to do this but not needing to accompany you as the new laws suggest?

I will be coming from the Malaysia side

I cant even seem to find links to companies to help.....
I wont try for Myanmar, intention is to leave the bike in Thailand and hire/ride around Myanmar then come back to Thailand and ship the bike from there

Im about to start this trip, my bike just made it to Dili from Darwin and I will be heading there in a couple of days.

I'm planning to head up to Sumatra using the local ferries then assess the options once I get there. The bike is a versys 300x so much smaller than a GS type and it would be great to put it on a local ferry.

I'd be happy to let you know how it all goes. Hopefully it doesn't rain too much!

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....

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

__________________
In the end everything will be fine. If its not fine its not the end....

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