10th to 19th of November - Melaka, Singapore, Port Klang, KL
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11th of November – Melaka to Singapore, 270km
Again I missed the customs. It happened before at the Thailand/ Malaysia border. Now here again. The passport control lady on the Malaysian side told me that the customs office is “on the other side”. When I went over the big highway bridge at Tuas towards Singapore I thought already that I would be too far “on the other side”. At the Singaporean passport control the police had to guide me back through the whole terminal building inclusive the opening of 3 security gates and stopping the outbound traffic from Singapore :-) ok, stupid tourist me.
After some internet research and many calls together with the hotel staff I tried to find a shipping possibility for my motorbike to Indonesia at the harbour front terminal.
Well I found it: a cargo shipment for 2.700 SGD via Batam to Medan/ Sumatra. Are they nuts, just for crossing the straits of Malacca?
Another forwarder offered me a shipment for 350 SGD to Batam Island. But then from there? There are also no car ferries from Batam to the rest of Indonesia.
I knew that Singapore is expensive but so expensive? I mean, hotels, restaurants, beer anyway but also drinking water...
In the evening and at lunch time I met my former colleagues from EPCOS and Infineon; really nice.
No smoking sign in Singapore, at least this one is a bit funny. And after all this travelling I have to say that Singapore is really moderate with its smoking law. I thought differently in the past.
In Melaka for example they banned the whole tourist attraction areas including open air restaurants and bars from smoking; at least they try to. That means you are not allowed to smoke in an area of around 2-3 square kilometers. I know of course how most of the non-smokers tick :-)) but come on, this is a bit drastic. Shouldn't we be open to all people on this earth including smokers? :-) Tolerance....I have to tolerate also other's people behavior I might not like.
14th of November – Singapore back to KL, 455km
In Kuala Lumpur I tried to find the right agency or forwarder to get my bike across the Straits of Malacca. I was at Port Klang, tried the Northport, the Southpoint and a friendly customs officers sent me to a warehouse inside the port...many telephone numbers, many calls and after a couple of days I got at least one concrete quote. The freight would have been approx. 200Euro, but the crate for the bike would have been another 350Euro which was for me a no go. The final hint I got from a hotel receptionist of a guesthouse in KL further down the road. Another motor biker stayed with them a week before and he “just made a call to someone” for shipping his motorbike to Indonesia. Wow, so easy? What I am doing here? I contacted Fernando, the biker via his homepage and that is how I got the contact details of Mr. Lim in Penang. Ok, then back to Penang. As Fernando wrote to me “what are 400km for a round the world biker” :-)
Again I missed the customs. It happened before at the Thailand/ Malaysia border. Now here again. The passport control lady on the Malaysian side told me that the customs office is “on the other side”. When I went over the big highway bridge at Tuas towards Singapore I thought already that I would be too far “on the other side”. At the Singaporean passport control the police had to guide me back through the whole terminal building inclusive the opening of 3 security gates and stopping the outbound traffic from Singapore :-) ok, stupid tourist me.
After some internet research and many calls together with the hotel staff I tried to find a shipping possibility for my motorbike to Indonesia at the harbour front terminal.
Well I found it: a cargo shipment for 2.700 SGD via Batam to Medan/ Sumatra. Are they nuts, just for crossing the straits of Malacca?
Another forwarder offered me a shipment for 350 SGD to Batam Island. But then from there? There are also no car ferries from Batam to the rest of Indonesia.
I knew that Singapore is expensive but so expensive? I mean, hotels, restaurants, beer anyway but also drinking water...
In the evening and at lunch time I met my former colleagues from EPCOS and Infineon; really nice.
No smoking sign in Singapore, at least this one is a bit funny. And after all this travelling I have to say that Singapore is really moderate with its smoking law. I thought differently in the past.
In Melaka for example they banned the whole tourist attraction areas including open air restaurants and bars from smoking; at least they try to. That means you are not allowed to smoke in an area of around 2-3 square kilometers. I know of course how most of the non-smokers tick :-)) but come on, this is a bit drastic. Shouldn't we be open to all people on this earth including smokers? :-) Tolerance....I have to tolerate also other's people behavior I might not like.
14th of November – Singapore back to KL, 455km
In Kuala Lumpur I tried to find the right agency or forwarder to get my bike across the Straits of Malacca. I was at Port Klang, tried the Northport, the Southpoint and a friendly customs officers sent me to a warehouse inside the port...many telephone numbers, many calls and after a couple of days I got at least one concrete quote. The freight would have been approx. 200Euro, but the crate for the bike would have been another 350Euro which was for me a no go. The final hint I got from a hotel receptionist of a guesthouse in KL further down the road. Another motor biker stayed with them a week before and he “just made a call to someone” for shipping his motorbike to Indonesia. Wow, so easy? What I am doing here? I contacted Fernando, the biker via his homepage and that is how I got the contact details of Mr. Lim in Penang. Ok, then back to Penang. As Fernando wrote to me “what are 400km for a round the world biker” :-)
