Visa run from hell

What was I thinking of? Pizza, pasta, cheese, cafe latte, hot shower... And a slack line. Was it worth it? Without the slack line hell no... I had a 60 days tourist visa for Indonesia which I could extend 4 times for 30 days each either in Gorontalo or Palu. But I decided to fly to Kuala Lumpur, get a new one for 60 days & eat eat eat something else than rice & fish. Good plan, not so good execution.

My flights to KL were really cheap, around 40 e total. Ok, the 10 h bus ride from Ampana to Palu is never a bliss but this time I had company at least, thanx Randhy for the chat. I found a nice small hotel in Jalan Alor, THE food street in KL though it is quite asian so I ended up eating mostly in the food court of Pavilion mall. They have a decent italian restaurant and a subway. All good so far.

Not so good anymore at the Indonesian embassy. I was there really early in the morning, delivered all the papers they wanted just to find out the next day that they give me a visa only for 30 days but for the same money as the visa for 60 days. Which is double amount to visa-on-arrival, which is also valid for 30 days. No thank you. And no explanation why. If you do this shit on purpose please put the information on the website, saves many tourist the trip to KL.

I was pissed off, booked a flight to Jakarta for the same evening, what the hell, I'll just take a VoA, even though I can extend it only once. So I waited, waited, waited in the airport until I got the notice, that the flight is cancelled. A volcano in Java is erupting. Yea. Nobody of course knows what's gonna happen in the next days/weeks, and I still remember too well the shit going on when Eyjaflallajökull in Iceland made the flight traffic in Europe to stop for quite a while. I did a quick check in the internet and found out there's still one flight to Kota Kinabalu on the same night but from the other airport. And it can't be booked online anymore.

So quick quick quick, bus from LCCT to KLIA and then I had to wait for an hour in the line for the Malaysian Airlines ticket counter. Luckily I got a really nice lady who put me in front of the waiting list so I got my ticket (yea, expensive) and could board the plane.

The weekend in KK was really nice, just hanging out with my old buddy Cliff and some of his friends. Cold beer!!! I also managed to finish some work. Then I decided to try out with visa in Tawau, which has a reputation of being efficient, fast, and easy... Some people go in and out in one hour. I flew to Tawau on Sunday and went to the consulate early in the morning. Only 2 tourist were applying for a visa so I thought this is going to be more than fast. I waited. And waited. At one o'clock they were closing the counters for a lunch break so I went to ask what's up. They told me Jakarta is offline and being so they can't process visa applications. And no idea when they'll be online again. I went back to town, had a lunch and took a bus back to the consulate in the afternoon. And met a smiling clerk who wanted 170 ringits from me and handed out my passport with a 60 days visa. Hell yea!

The consulate in Tawau was anyways very different from the embassy in KL. They didn't wanna have any photocopies as they also have a printer and they took the photos directly at the consulate. No onward ticket? No problem, they just took a photo copy of my credit card. No plans what to do in Indonesia? No problem, here's a letter, just copy this and put some other information & dates in it. And everybody was more than friendly, unlike in KL. I can only recommend this place!

The next problem. Booking flights at last minute is really expensive. There would be a ferry to Tarakan on the Indonesian side but it leaves around noon. Which means I for sure would have to spend a night in Tarakan. If I take the Maswings flight I could still connect with Lion Air to Palu via Balikpapan the same evening. Still, 85 e for 40 min flight in this continent is loads of money. And I'm paying... I also cannot book the forward ticket online as Lion Air flights inside Indonesia cannot be paid with foreign credit cards. So they also will be extremely expensive.

Weirdly Maswings told me at check-in that Tarakan has some new regulations and I should have an onward ticket out of there. Well I don't have as I cant book them online. But I do have a visa already. Nope, I need on onward ticket. Luckily I had booked a really cheap one from Jakarta to Singapore as I had planned to go back with VoA and they for sure want to see a ticket. That was sufficient for Maswings, I hope it's also okay for Indonesian immigration in Tarakan. I'll find out in a few hours...

No photos again. I took only one and it was of food in Kuala Lumpur. I don't think anyone else than Tanja would want to see it.

And coz Tanja wanted to see it here it is. My only asian dinner in KL. Sushi doesn't count as asian. The western food was in my belly before I could take out my camera/phone.

Taking it easy at Manana & KK

Feeling sick is no fun at Kota Kinabalu as there's no hammocks at a beach so I made my way to Manana near Kota Belud, north of KK. Lovely isolated place where's not much to do. Exactly what I needed. I got a nice room where I fell asleep listening to the roaring waves coming in, stood up just to lie in a hammock and dip to the water once in a while and I red a few books.

I was quite lucky as when I came in 20 people left the place the same day. I love the silence. And as there was not much to do I really had to take it easy and also started to feel better after a few days. If Manana would have had internet I could have stayed longer but a freelancer has to work so I had to head back to KK to meet a deadline. And I also wanted to check out if I can make it to the jungle or should I start booking flights to the Philippines as I need to dive.  

Beach at Manana. 

So back in KK. What to do? Quite easy actually.

Drink.

And sleep.

And as Philippines still has unpredictable weather and diving in typhoon/thunderstorm doesn't sound appealing I ended up booking a flight to Balikpapan in Kalimantan, from where I'll hopefully fly forward to Manado in Sulawesi. Or somewhere. If I ever make it there as for now the flight has 5,5 h delay.

Back in KK

When I came to Kota Kinabalu in Sabah, Borneo the first time last year I could have never thought that one day I'll actually come back here just to visit the city. I thought KK was quite uninteresting, ugly and it has too many malls. I loved the food though. But I traveled through the city again a few times in January and the place started to be more and more appealing. Hell, I could live there! So I flew back there from Malaysian Peninsula, especially as a few friends were in town I really wanted to meet again.

I basically just stayed in the town for a week (thanx Cliff first for the couch and then for the whole room), enjoyed cheap beers & not so cheap cocktails in good company & ate loads of seafood in the filipino market. I did one day trip again to Mamutik island for some snorkeling and an overnight trip to Kinabalu park with a friend. I still didn't climb the mountain though. Drunk more beer instead. That means I have to make a new trip back here again maybe still this year, maybe next year.

Not much to tell or to show. I took maybe 5 photos. But I enjoyed the week tremendously. Good to be back!

I'm actually really sad to leave but it feels like it's time to move. Next destination: Nusa Lembongan in Indonesia. I really hope to spot some Mola-Molas & Mantas!

Hello Gunung Kinabalu. Next time I'm climb up.