In Malaysia getting bored, rode from Switzerland to KL, thinking of jumping on that ferry... If I do I'll let you know, in the mean time would love to hear reports...

Hey, if you're bored, will be meeting a few travellers tomorrow night in Sids Handlebar, just off Jalan Maarof in Bangsar (less than 5 min walk from the LRT). Welcome to join if you are free

just google location of American Chopper as its next door to the bar

__________________
Mike


www.singapore-scotland.blogspot.com
www.argentina-alaska.blogspot.com
My little Vid: India/Pakistan

BMW R1150GS
Suzuki DR650 SE: Ride it like ya stole it. Oh, somebody just did...

Hello Max and Mike

I,m currently in Port Klang and are about to Meet Mr One dollar from Aseantex about shipping across too Indonesian.
Also just visited Aerospeed and their 1535 ringgit fee.
hope to find use tonight at the bar , just booked into a hostel online in KL.

Got a time?

Regards Bryn

Cool, i'll probably head along there around 7pm, hopefully see you there

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

__________________
Mike


www.singapore-scotland.blogspot.com
www.argentina-alaska.blogspot.com
My little Vid: India/Pakistan

BMW R1150GS
Suzuki DR650 SE: Ride it like ya stole it. Oh, somebody just did...

Hey,

Has anyone made the crossing last few days or have any more information? In Thailand now, heading down to Malaysia to cross over hopefully mid-end December. 2 people, 2 bikes.

Lim from Akra says their boat is still impounded (03/12/15) But passed on your message Dean re: Jetstar Atlantic so thanks for that!

Any or all information would be great! Sounds like it's a better option to plan a little and get a price locked in before arriving into Indo.

If anyone has travelled across to East Timor as well I'd love some information on route and ferries along the way as well!

Hope you're all well,
Thanks
Luke

This guy has pretty much nailed it when it comes to information about ferries and ports in Indonesia:

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...682#post489338

I "crossed" Indonesia june to september this year and can add a tiny bit more from my memory:

Sumatra - Java: Ferries all the time, 2-3 hour crossing.
Java - Bali: Ferries all the time, 1-2 hour crossing.
Bali - Lombok: Ferries quite often, also at night, 4-5 hour crossing.
Lombok - Sumbawa: Ferries relatively often. Around 100 kms from the ferry port to ride to the first place with accomodation. Crossing took around 3 hours.

Sumbawa - Flores: Two ferries a day, one 9 am and one 4 pm. Crossing took almost 7 hours. The 9 am ferry was full even though I was at the port 8 am. The 4 pm ferry left 6 pm. At this point in Indonesia things are getting a bit uncertain about schedules and information. There are several hotels and guesthouses in the little port town on the Sumbawa side.

Flores - Timor: At this stage information and schedules seemed quite blurry.
There seems to be ferries from at least 3 different places on Flores going to Ende on Timor. Namely from 1. Aimere (once pr week - but I dont know what weekday)
2. Ende - once pr week - I think it was saturday but not sure.
3. Larantuka - twice pr week - friday and monday. I took this one and the crossing took around 15-16 hours.
However schedules and times can change due to bad weather, technical problems which seems to occure quite often.

Food on the ferries arent much to boast about. Instant noodles mostly. You better fill your stomach before you enter the ferries, at least the two last legs.
The Larantuka - Ende ferry I took was horribly overloaded so not for the faint hearted. But its all a part of the adventure as they say....

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

Right, here an update from us. We crossed from Tanjungbalai to Port Klang on the 23rd of December 2 up on one bike.

First: It still works pretty much as described. It seems the people involved are getting the hang of it. There are only a few things to add to Deans initial post:

The biggest: Prices are going up. Everyone involved knows they are sitting on a monopoly here and that we depend on them. The asked price for me was 4.2 million rupiah plus a surprise RM350 (Indo Agent was telling us RM200) asked by the ships owner on the Malaysian side. With some squirming and begging we ended up paying 4 million rupiah and RM300.

Regarding the chance of doing it without an agent: I think this is out of the question now. The ships owner knows about bike travelers and the crew will always refer you back to an agent. So does customs and they might get ideas if you are on your own. But that may just be my view, feel free to try if you have the time.

We did sort out the carnet before meeting with Mr. Ade, which did nothing to change the price.

Sidenote: Do not go with Mr. Ade's suggestion of a hotel (Hotel Ananda) - we fled after an hour due to the insane amount of bedbugs in pretty much every room.

__________________
on the road NZ to GER - check our blog @ www.charowo.net