I think its time to activate this thread again.....

I am in Malaysia for the moment, having a good time here. I have contacted Mr Lim and has got a shipping date that suits me well at the 17th of june.

I have a Carnet and it is properly stamped when I crossed the border from Thailand. Do I need to worry about other papers as have been mentioned earlier in this thread such as recomandation from Indonesian motor organisation and/or police authorities?

Insurance in Indonesia? Must have? Should have? Dont need? Where to buy insurance if needed?

Tourist visa 60 days - Several persons mention 60 day touristvisas to Indonesia are available. But such a thing is not mentioned in the Indonesian embassies and consular websites. Is this still something that one can get if one goes to an embassy or consulate or is it old information? If still available I would try to get it at the Indo consulate in Penang. What do I need? Airticket in and out? Others? How many days to get such a visa if possible?

Freight options from anywhere in Indo and Timor to anywhere in Oz. Are there any other options than the little dobious Dili to Darwin one? Bali, Djakarta, Surabaya etc. Anyone had any experiences lately or any suggestions?

Thanks in advance!

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

evey embassy is different. My advice is go to the embassy in Penang and ask what you need. We didnt need airticket. mostly they are ok with overlanders. we coild only get 30 days but as I said every embaasy seems to have its own rules

Last time I was in Penang, I asked about an Indo visa service - The answer was, you needed to go to the embassy yourself.

The people who will tell you exactly what you need to take with you to the embassy are - Banana Guest house 1 in Lebu Chula, if you want to double check, Jims Guesthouse a few doors away. He is a star.

I'm thinking you might require a return ticket, or some kind proof of funds.

You will need passport photos with a red background, Banana can do that for you, but there are other photoshops on the way down the hill to little India, same side of the road as Jims.

ETS: At the embassy you get 60 days, if you do VOA then you only get 30 days. I spent so much time in Sumatra, just being invited to peoples houses for dinner, sleeping on floors and hanging out - I don't know your timescale, but it may be a long journey.

Stephridestheworld did Bali to Oz. check out her blog

BTW Dili to Darwin isnt dubious. It all works well.

Steph airfreighted her bike from Bali to Sydney wasnt it? I think so. Anyway - thats not what I had in mind.

There are many stories about the Dili - Darwin freight that have postponed and delayed endlessly. Thats what I want to avoid. Dont wanna be stuckedin Dili for months. Its expensive and its not the most interesting place in the world. Of course one could fly back to Lombok or Bali in the meantime or similar....

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

the delays are usuallyy weather related. we found them ok to deal with. public hols etc pop up but im not sure why they would be delayed for months on end. they will send you their shipping schedule and they keep you up to date via email if you establish contact with sandy from anl.

A little update on the situation getting a bike from Malaysia to Indonesia with Cakra Enterprise and Mr Lim. (or actually not an update...)

Boat sails from Butterworth on saturday and arrives Belawan sunday and bikes can be picked up on Monday. Same as mentioned before. But as mentioned before - they like to load the bike on wednesday.

60 day visa to Indonesia seems easily obtained in the Indo consulate at Jalan Burma 467. You need a copy of your index site in your passport, the passport, application, a passportphoto with red background and a airticket in and out of the country. Travel agencies downtown seem to easlily make a fake return ticket if you book a real one way ticket with them. Or you can of course book a cheap return flight yourself and just dont use it. I saw several tickets as low as 79 Ringit and thats a real ticket not a fake one as the agencies give you. The visa were processed in one day so it was to deliver the apply and other papers one day and pick up the passport. It costed 170 Ringit by the way.

Thanks to Recom273 for info about this. Couldnt find any Banana guesthouse downtown in G'Town but talked to Jim in Jims Guesthouse in Chulia street and he seems to know most of the things travellers ask for....

My bike is loaded into the ship today and I will fly over to Medan on sunday and hopefully pick up the bike on monday.

So theres really only one question thats left:

Indonesian insurance. Where and how? Anyone travelled with foreign bike in Indonesia - what did you do?

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

We skipped the insurance alltogether for Indonesia, most people told us that it is not worth the paper it´s written on. but this is up to everybody...

VOA was for us not an option, we prolonged our two month visa without problems (30 days you cant prolong). Check here on the HUBB for Lutson from HTML (Honda Tiger Mailing List) they can help with everything in Indonesia, Visa, tires, spareparts ... If you like you can check our Blog for Details about route, visa and how we got accross when the banana boat was not going we found an alternative, which was probably not better or worth - but at the time the only way (Mr. Lim had to stop for some month due to the regulations on the Indo site...)

And do not forget: HATI HATI!

(and dont get mad it really gets better 400km east of Jakarta (when u r there you know what I was talking about))

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Round the world by bike. www.RTWbyBIKE.com

Thanks for comment and info RTWbyBIKE.com. Much appriciated. Have read through your TR a couple of times, interesting read.

I feel a little better if having a third party insurance when in a remote country although as you say in many cases its probably not worth the paper its written on. At least it shows that one tried to get some insurance and that one not are not of the "just dont give a f***" person.

About visa it looks like a 30 day VOA can be extended - although the process seem a little complicated with 3 times to the immigration office and an indonesian sponsor/contact.
Visa on Arrival | Indonesian Embassy
I dont know if a 60 day visa can be extended. Anyhow I hope that I am ok with 60 days in the country for this time. If I like it very much I will simply go back later...

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

60 day visa can be easily extendet, took 30 min and 120k, even 3 month was short for us... went all the way to Dili and then to Darwin with T(r)oll... but that´s a different story.

have a grat ride!

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Round the world by bike. www.RTWbyBIKE.com