4x4 into Indonesia
 

I am travelling in SE Asia and want to visit Indonesia with my Totota Landcruiser. Could anyone please clarify the following points is possible.

-Is it possible to enter by road from Sarawak (Malaysian Borneo) after shipping to Kuching, or must the car be shipped to Indonesia in a container?

-I would like to explore Indo for 5-6 months, can I get a visa in Malaysia/Thailand etc... for this long or if not, am I able to extend it as needed in Indo?

-Are there any special permits needed to travel in Indo with your own tourist car? If so, how would they be obtained?

-Any ideas on inter island ferry costs for 2 adults + a 4x4?

-Is there anything else relevant as to travelling in Indonesia with your own 4x4?

Many thanks indeed!

Hi,

You don't say where you are right now, so I don't know why you want to ship to Sarawak. A biker friend of mine did this from W MAL and found it to be very expensive for a bike. A German biker recently travelled from the Philippines to Sabah, Brunei and Sarawak and then crossed into Kalimantan without a problem.

Apparently, you can only get a 2 month visa which can be extended once for 30 days. However, you can leave your car somewhere, fly out and back in with a new 60 day visa and continue that way, as long as your carnet stays valid.

I have heard and read a lot about special permits needed for Indo. These people Worldrecordtour, Overview, Guinness Book of World Records, Toyota, LandCruiser, Emil Schmid, Liliana Schmid spent a lot of time in Indo and got one from Interpol! I believe that some customs or police make these rules up as they see fit. Linda had her bike confiscated by police in Dumai and was sent to Jakarta customs to get the permit. They told her there that she didn't need one, but wrote it out anyway to get her moving. I don't have one and if any official asks for it I'll show them the carnet, which states clearly that Indo has signed the two relevant road traffic conventions. However, from reading in the "bike from Malaysia to Indonesia" topic I take it that shipping to anywhere other than Belawan is likely to cause trouble.

The Swiss site above has the name of the co. that operates a car ferry from Pontianak to Jakarta, Surabaya and another port in between. We are currently in Palembang, trying to ship to Pulau Bangka and whence to Pontianak, but I'm not holding my breath...

What else relevant? I hope your car has the steering wheel on the right or it will be very tough for you... Roads and driving remind me very much of India, but not quite as bad. however, I'm hell-bent to avoid Java, which is said to be one big traffic jam. Getting to Palembang was bad enough. The main roads are OK, minor roads range from good to very bad to unrideable.

Cheers,
Peter.

thanks, I am in Mayaysia, I would want to go to sarawak anyway to explore that region and Brunei also. However, I wondered if you could enter Indo by road into Kalimantan.

As I wrote above, that's what our friend did with his bike and I believe the Swiss people did the same with their Landcruiser, so I see no reason why you can't.

Hi there! Where are you in Malaysia? We are at Cameron Highlands right now with our 110. We looked in going to Indonesia as well, but seems rather expensive. When to you want to go to Indonesia? We'll be heading North first and will ship from KL (to Australia) again unless there is a cheap way of going to Indo.

Grtz,
Don

thanks, I am planning to go next month or July. What did you find expensive, was it the shipping/inter island ferries?

We have already been in Indo for about 5 weeks, completed loop around Sumatra and landed yesterday in Java. Please contact Cakra Shipping in Georgetown. They specifically said that they do ship cars and the way they shipped our bike I think it will simply be hoisted aboard, maybe on a frame or something, definitely not container. Their email is posted in the topic 'bike to malaysia', please look there, I don't have it any more.