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Recommendations and Comments for other travellers

Glossop to
Canberra...

...and back
again

Recommendations and Comments
Country info (list) - General notes - Border crossings

Road Atlas and Jakarta map
The Periplus Travel Atlas of Indonesia is the best road map of the country.

Overall, it's a good publication. Included are street maps of the major towns. However the 3 sheets for Jakarta warrant a nomination into the "Academy of Blind Cartographers".

For Jakarta itself, get the
Mas Tara map. Although its creators decided that advising the map's scale was not necessary, it does have a street listing, and covers all Jakarta.

Both are available in Jakarta, although, if you have a chance of purchasing them in advance, do so. The Periplus Atlas is only available in better bookshops.

Police
On sight of your letter from the Ministry of Tourism, the police will issue their travel letter.

The police office is on Trunojoyo Road, east of the ASEAN Offices. You can only enter the police compound on foot using its east entrance, and you need to enter the building itself on its north side.

You need your passport, a photocopy of your passport, the Ministry of Tourism letter, a couple of passport photos, your "story" and your Carnet. Topped off with a Rp 50,000 note.

In return, you are given a travel letter, with your vehicle's registration number, your photograph and an expiry date.

Now present these letters to your custom broker, and he'll interact with the Customs. See later for my recommendation for a decent customs broker in Jakarta.

A good customs broker in Jakarta
As explained in the "diary" section, after almost a week persevering with a shipping agent listed under "pondlife" in the Yellow Pages, a phone call to NYK (my shipping company from Singapore to Jakarta, and generally a reputable RoRo/container line) left the details of their recommended customs agent on my notepad. A phone call, a couple of visits, and one working day later, I was driving my truck from the port.

Who were the good guys? PT Puninar Jaya. Find them near the port on Jalan Gadang 26, Tg Priok, Jakarta, 14330. Tel: 021 430 0169. The guy I dealt with was Willi. He spoke English, knew everybody in the port like his immediate family (including the customs guys), and enjoyed a good laugh along the way.

Who were the bad guys? Drop me an email if you need to know. Here is not the place.

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