I mentioned briefly in the last post that we needed to jump through a few hoops to get from Malaysia to Bali, so I’ll explain a little more about that now.
As well as having to sort everything out for the Indonesian side of things we also still had to do some work just to leave Malaysia. I know, that sounds a bit daft right? They told us we had to leave, but they strangely still don’t make that the easiest thing to do when it comes to it. First we had to arrange our Indonesia visa, without that we aren’t allowed to check in for a flight to Jakarta. If we don’t have a place to go we can’t leave, that bit’s easy to understand. Jakarta is the only airport in Indonesia currently accepting international arrivals and there is a certain type of visa that you specifically need to grant you entry to the country during the current pandemic. I wont go into what that visa is now, but if your interested in heading there a quick internet search will give you all the answers you need.
So with our visa sorted for a handsome fee the next step was to book our flight from Kuala Lumpur to Jakarta. I know it seems like I’ve jumped ahead from the Malaysian exit conundrum but all will become clear. Malaysia currently has an interstate travel ban. That means you can’t fly out of Langkawi which is in Kedah state to Kuala Lumpur’s smaller domestic airport in the state of Selangor without a police permit. In order to get that permit you need to provide a legitimate reason and evidence to back that reason up. Our reason is that we are leaving Malaysia (in line with the immigration departments rules) and the evidence we need to supply to get the permit stamped is proof of a flight out of Kedah state and a flight after that out of the country.
So with our visa and both flights sorted we had to head to the police station in Langkawi to get our travel permit stamped. It was a very easy process to be fair and we were in and out within a few minutes. That was that part of the process checked off.
Also in order to board an international flight to Indonesia we had to have proof of travel insurance covering covid up to $100,000 and a negative PCR test result with the sample taken 72 hours prior to flying.
The day we flew was a little chaotic. With our Police permit and flights in order we caught our plane from Langkawi no problem, and we were pleasantly surprised to see that Heinne was also on our flight, doing the same thing as us and heading to Bali.
This is the thing I don’t really get with Malaysia kicking us out. It’s bad enough that they are doing this while a pandemic is still raging across the world but they are also hurting their own economy, particularly the tourism sector, at the same time. All those travelers that were in Malaysia are now headed to either Indonesia or Thailand. You speak to the locals in Langkawi and most are frustrated that Indonesia is now benefiting from those tourist dollars that are rapidly leaving Malaysia.
So back to the moving process. Once we landed in Subang airport we hopped in a taxi straight to the Sunway medical centre for a PCR test. I have to say we were a little nervy once we were there. Selangor state is a major hotspot for covid cases right now and turning up at a mass testing centre with hundreds of other people didn’t feel like the safest thing. But hey we didn’t have much choice.
The tests were simple enough and after about 2 1/2 hours in the baking heat we had finally made our way through the various screening and testing process and were on our way to our hotel near KLIA, the bigger International Airport.
Heinne was still in tow and stayed at the same hotel as us and it was now just a waiting game for our results. We had to make sure all our flights are tightly scheduled as you don’t get much leeway in the flight from Langkawi to KL, the testing and result time and then boarding a flight to Jakarta within the right time frame from test result.
Thankfully the next morning our results were mailed over to us and all of us were negative. Next stop, Jakarta.
Leaving Malaysia through immigration was an easy process with hardly a question asked about our over stay. With our passport stamped we were on our way through an eerily empty KLIA to our flight to Indonesia. As expected they check your visa and PCR result carefully before checking you in.
A few hours later we touched down at the impressively huge SGK airport in Jakarta. It took about an hour to get through the process at that end. You fill in a medical form, download their health app and have your PCR result checked yet again. After that passing through immigration and entering Indonesia was plain sailing. That was it we were on our way…..now just five days in quarantine and another two PCR tests to get through!
We already had our quarantine hotel booked as there are only certain government certified ones that you can use. It was a bit of a strange process prior to getting in to our hotel transport. Firstly a hotel rep met us and collected our passports. He took various photos of them and sent the photos on a message to someone via Whatsapp. He also retained the passports as well, much to our discomfort. Your passport is the most important part of any travels and when it’s not in your possession it’s a tad worrying. But, we had to put our faith in the process and after having some strange random photos taken of us stood next to our hotel rep by the soldiers on duty there we were allowed through the final checkpoint and bundled in to our transport and taken to our hotel.
As soon as we arrived at the hotel we ushered in for our first quarantine PCR test. My nose was starting to tire of being prodded at this point and I was glad to eventually get to our room. Our room that we can’t leave for the next 5 days.
The room though was pretty decent and comfortable and we also had a balcony so we could breathe in some of that smoggy Jakarta goodness. We quickly settled in to a life of Netflix and 3 badly timed meals a day. Despite the hotel being nice and the food being of a good standard their planning and service was shockingly bad. Many a time we would have to call 3 or 4 times before our meals were brought to our room. Sometimes waiting past 11pm for our evening meal.
The days quickly slipped by though and before we knew it we were allowed out of our room to go downstairs for our final PCR test.
Thankfully our last test was also negative and we were able to check out and get on our way to Bali. As we checked out our passports were returned to us along with our test result and an additional sheet declaring we were fit to fly.
We wanted to get to Bali as soon as we could, so instead of booking a flight online and printing it at the hotel we hopped straight into a taxi and 20 minutes later we were at the domestic terminal buying our flights at the airline counter.
With a couple more final checks of our fit to fly letter and negative test result we were able to board our flight to Bali. It only took us about 2 hours from checking out of our hotel to taking off from Jakarta. We were finally about to reach Bali.
As the title of this post suggests, the day we flew in to Bali was Dani’s birthday. It was certainly a decent way to spend a birthday, touching down in Bali and heading to our nice, comfy modern villa, with our own pool.
By the time we got settled in it had already been a long day. We had planned on going out the same night for some food and drinks to celebrate, but given how nice our new digs were we decided to order some food in and spend the rest of the night relaxing in the pool and hot tub with a few drinks.
Prior to arriving in Bali it seemed like we had a myriad of hoops to jump through in order to get there. It was a little stressful trying to pull everything together. Coordinating the timings of our flights and tests and also hoping that immigration on both the Malaysian and Indonesian sides didn’t give us any hassle or ask any awkward questions. I guess that’s just how travel is these days, and understandably so given that this pandemic is still spreading rapidly in it’s many new variations.
What I’ve realised throughout this process, leaving Malaysia and heading to Indonesia, is that there is a hardcore of travelers who are finding ways to stay on the road and not go home. Like all the others we have been closely monitoring not just the country we were in but which other countries in the world are willing to accept non-nationals into their borders. We have seen others fly off to Turkey, to Thailand, Mexico, Albania, even Peru!
For those who seek adventure and a different environment to their home country, there are still ways and means to do it. You have to put a little bit of work into it, but the rewards certainly make it worth while. It’s a birthday neither of us will forget.
