Pelni timetable and Sandakan/Tawau Northern Borneo - 5

From article 4 of this Pelni series we now know where Indonesian consulates are located in northern Borneo.

One in Kota Kinabalu and one in Tawau, but not in Sandkan (for entry into Indonesia).

       (Tawau consulate)

Let us consider why consulates come into the picture in the first place, of border crossing from the Phyls through Malaysian Borneo into Indonesia and in fact this is where things get muddy.

So, best to concentrate on one direction only for the moment.

Going through this route from Indonesia into the Phyls is not a problem, simply because both Malaysia and the Philippines offer visas-on-arrival, assuming, of course, that you

 have a valid passport.

The only thing that then matters is that you cannot bypass Malaysia, but that is not a big issue. By the sea route from Indonesia you simply arrive at Tawau and the rest will be more or less domestic matters within the boundaries of Malaysian Borneo.

However, coming down the other way is a lot more complicated.

There are good reasons. In theroy, then:

1. The Philippines immigration will not let you out into Malaysia unless you have a valid ticket for going out from Malaysia once in.

2. Malaysian authorities in Sandakan will not let you in without a valid ticket for going out of Malaysia,

3. let alone with Indonesian authorities letting you in at Tawau, unless you have a valid ticket for going out of Indonesia with proper entry records into Malaysia.

All this sounds formidable and :

You may wonder why, and my own answer to that is the strict passport control by Indonesia. For instance, once you are in Malaysia and/or in the Phyls you can extend your visa without going out of the respective country.

With Indonesia you cannot do that and in fact that is why some people tried in the past to solve this problem by going into the Phyls via Surawesi-General Santos route. I will come to that later, as it is an important topic on its own.

What you should know as the Tawau paperwork is as follows.

1. The visa you can ask for is a 60 day once only entry visa. If you apply in the morning you may get it in the afternoon of the same day.

2. You shoud have a valid passport.

3. Copies of the passport main pages and in particular a copy of the page with the Malaysian entry stamp. (I always make copies anyway for renting cars and bikes)

4. Ticket for going out of Indonesia

5.  Two Photos

You are expected to pay for all this by MR. So, have ready MR 200.

Having cleared your passport business you then proceed to the pier and your boats shoud be waiting for you as follows.

                   

 

Let us recap here what we have been looking at. Will it be a long way from the ferry terminal at Zamboanga?

Once you are in here go to the ticket office and pay PHP 3100 one way. As I remember it the other way is something like MR 250, I think.

Immigration office is in the waiting section on the right as you enter this area. There are lots of 2 Go service notices, but this place is not exclusively for their 2 Go ferry service. So, just walk in.

                   (2 Go ferry, domestic only)

Liners depart twice a week (Monday and Thursday) at noon, taking approx. 24 hours to reach Sandakan from here.

I would not reccommend taking high speed boats as they will make stops at Islamic radicals infested islands down the way to Sandakan.

(SRN Fastcraft : 062-992-3765 by Weesam Express boats twice weekly, PHP 5400 and approx. 8 hours)

            (Alleson liner PPA Terminal)

Aleson Lines : 062-991-2687

                   1st deck space is used for cargos and passengrs occupy levels above.

Here perhaps, I should touch on Indonesian visas-on-arrival. There are 2 types, 7 day and 30 day visas at 10 and 25 USD each.   

You need a valid passport and show your outgoing ticket.

Airports are:

Bali, Jakarta, Denpasar, Surabaya, Medan, Manado, Balikpapan, Surakarta (Solo), Lombok, Padan, Makassar, Kupan, Yogyakarta and Pakanbal

Sea ports are:

Jakarta, Batum, Medan, Makassar, Surabaya, Bali,  Jayapura, Bintan, Dumai, Padan, and Belawan

Keep in mind that there may be a few omissioons and new additions.

I once flew into Tarakan airport from KK via Tawau aiport. My passport was confiscated for obvious reasons. So, you really need to tun up at the Tawau consulate.