Sumatra / Indonesia
 

Some remarks after 3 weeks in Sumatra :

- Very friendly people
- Stunning countryside
- Heavy traffic, many potholes, average speed 45 KmH !
- Excellent guide in Bukit Lawang : Doni Pesik, mobile +628 52 61 27 30 27, donipesik@yahoo.com
- Fuel is nowhere a problem
- No police checkpoints

Albert

any pictures albert? are you still travelling in Indonesia heading east?

I left the bike in Jakarta, will come back next year to continue the trip. Have published some photos on Facebook
Albert

hey, now it becomes interesting
 

you mentioned that you left your bike in jakarta for one year. how do you manage this? can you leave your bike on one carnet for the whole year in indonesia?

regards from nepal

bernhard



bernhards.reiseblog

One can extend the carnet for another year.
Albert

hey albert
 

could you pleas post more details for me. how to extend and where, maybe you know a place where i can leave my bike? i am since mai 2009 on my journey and i search for a place in se asia where i could leave my bike for a while. because at one point of my holidays i have to earn money again... thanks in advance

bernhard



bernhards.reiseblog

The Automobile Club that has issued the Carnet will extend it.

I can recommend storing your bike in Kuala Lumpur. You can contact Vickky, mobile 012 288 08 24, email miceroi@yahoo.com

Have a safe trip
Albert

thanks for that
 

but kuala lumpur is in malaysia... if i understood you right you stored it in jakarta indonesia? is the motorbike allowed to stay in indonesia for one year without any custom-paperwork and without any other administrative barriers? you need just the carnet for this time? thanks and


greetings

bernhard

Since you are still in Nepal I assume that you will fly to Bkk, then at some point travel down to Malaysia. We crossed the border at Padang Besar into Malaysia and you can enter there without any documentation, although I strongly recommend getting insurance for MAL. You can then leave your bike there for as long as you like. Take your carnet home and bring back a fresh one.

Contact the people on this forum for a place to leave your bike: Bikers Lounge

yes yes yes
 

thats exectly the information i needed, :D great! i also had a look on your page and have to say thank you for sharing your experiences. i could find many interesting informations for me. now i just have to decide what i wanna do, europe, oz or nz to make again a little bit of money... but thats another story....

thanks a lot for your suggestions and auch weiterhin eine schöne reise

bernhard



bernhards.reiseblog

Hi Bernhard, we met at the campsite in Islamabad. Me on the ktm 640 and my brother on Africa twin.
Just a bit of info, I entered Thailand twice with my bike on a tempory import document (not carnet) which was free and valid for one month, however I stayed in Thailand for 3 months and then flew home for another 3 months to work.
I had no problems just riding past customs on my way to Malaysia an then used ther carnet. It is a little risky but all the bikers I been traveling with have all skipped customs.
Just for your information

Cool to see you are hitting a new country, you have been in India for ages!

hey morgan
 

nice to hear from you. thanks for the information it's great to know that there are possibilities to leave the bike for longer without a carnet because i`m running out of money and would like to go down to oz and nz without the bike to make some there... afterwards i might visit those places on my bike...

yes i've been in india quite awhile but the last three month we just worked on the motorbike. i had a hard accident in south india, as you maybe know, and i fixed myself and the bike there... however, at the moment i am in pokhara and have again problems with the bike...

again thanks for the infos and greetings to your brother, take care

bernhard


bernhards.reiseblog

Hi albert,

where did you leave your bike at?
Cause I gotta leave my bike in Jakarta for around 2 weeks. Think they can still take a tiny little russian bike?

Also would you say it's a safe, kinda safe or dodgy place? Cause I need to leave luggage down there as well.

Thanks a lot
Tim

Hi Tim,

I left my bike with a personal friend who unfortunately does not accept other bikes. Sorry but I cannot help.

Albert

OK.

Thanks you for asking.

so, after almost 2 months in Sumatra and only 300kms on the Trans-Sumatra some alterna routes to the Highway.

Gayo Highlands - Sidikalang to Bireuen in Aceh is packed with amazing scenery and a great 3 day drive if taken easy. Acehnese people are incredibly friendly as tourism is minimal cause of the civil war shadow hanging here. Best of all it's empty, I think in 4 days I counted only about 8 cars outside town during driving

http://ridingtherussian.files.wordpr...1041.jpg?w=800
Tangkenon in the Highlands


Road in the Highlands
http://ridingtherussian.files.wordpr...2221.jpg?w=900

Though the Road is not always as goo as here, more honestly it's often real crappy, even for sumatran standarts

The Road alsong the east coast in first perfect and Aussi-build, then gravel for 20km and finally Sumatra Standart again, though you got to do 2 River Crossings as not all the Tsunami damage has been rebuild

http://ridingtherussian.files.wordpr...1781.jpg?w=800



The Road into Samosir from Tele is extremely stunning though in poor condition.

The 44 bends down to Maninjau

http://ridingtherussian.files.wordpr...5771.jpg?w=800

and the viewpoint where extremely beautiful

http://ridingtherussian.files.wordpr...ma-6.jpg?w=900


The Road through the Kerinci Valley was a great and stunning drive with surprisingly good road conditions and amazing landscape, though I saw a lot of it on the back of a pick up as my piston blew, still awesome, though few pics.

FinallyThe Road on the West Coast south of Bengkulu especially after Bituhan is littered with perfect and completely empty beaches

http://ridingtherussian.files.wordpr...a-21.jpg?w=900



People are great, though sometimes act in extremely retarded ways. Mainly when it comes to parked bikes Sumatrans simply assume they're there to be rolled around on, or trying untill the chein in the Wheel stopps them, playing with Switches and other things. Luckily no one dropped it before I could chase them of. Also I was pushed of the road and into the other lane at 60km\h by 2 crazy freaks just cause they wanted to take a photo. Not cool

And finally, Bintang is a pretty decent beer

Enjoy it, great place.