~ a day overstay and then a full passport ~
Sat. April 03. Today's the day my US$25 thirty day "visa on arrival" visa expires. It's been a whole month since Dumai. I have secondhand knowledge of passenger ferry schedules to Tawau, Sabah. For example there is a ferry and it should cost Rp.300k. Down at the correct wharf early and it's bad news. There's no direct ferry today. This is probably because it's a long weekend. Immigration's closed. Only here. Not at Nunukan, the border proper. I have to catch a small local boat there for Rp.170k. At Nunukan there's a few hours' stopover allowing me to check out. The bigger international ferry to Tawau for Rp.100k runs 24/seven.
My last day in Indonesia. The small passenger boat with the locals to Nunukan is interesting. It races along close to a mangrove-fringed coastline. The water's clear. It doesn't make any stops. A couple of hours later we arrive in the heat of the day at the main Nunukan wharf. It's a very relaxed atmosphere inside the terminal. I'm sweltering. There are big fans but none is turned on. In fact where is immigration?After half an hour I finally saunter over to what seems to be the office to find out the story. I recognise one of the officers from Tarakan the other day. He reckons I'm one day overstayed. Maybe I am. It's relaxed around here. He says that it's no problem! Malaysian immigration is on arrival in Tawau, of course. So it's about to be a couple of hours through no man's land on the international ferry.
The bigger ferry boat arrives from Tawau about 2pm. There are no other travelers. Rather there are lots of Indonesians returning home from a Tawau shopping trip. It's incredible the amount of cargo the returning passengers get the boat-boys to offload. Consumables like electronic stuff mainly. Once everybody and everything has disembarked we board and it doesn't hang around.
The boat to Tawau, Sabah is exactly like the ones from Melaka to Dumai or Penang to Medan. It's probably the same company. The passenger cabin is like being in a plane. And it's cold too. I spend the entire trip out on the small rear deck which is the living space for the crew. The hot air rushes past. My cigarettes don't last long. It's not a slow or fast ride through what I'd almost describe as fiord-like channels usually less than a kilometre wide. About halfway to Tawau it opens out for the last hour. Tawau grows in size as we approach.
The ferry has to wait for departing smaller ferries to dock. Malaysian immigration. Great not to have to buy a visa and just to get a small stamp giving you ninety days. Very civilized. However I've got a minor problem forgotten at a decisive moment. Before I know it the very casual officer has used up my last full passport page with his tiny Malaysian entry stamp. There's four or five other pages the stamp could have gone! I now need a new passport for a Vietnam visa. Obviously I'm still not feeling a hundred percent. Still recovering from the Tarakan sunstroke episode. The 'last page' situation just didn't occur to me. I don't give him instructions on where to put his stamp. Most officials don't seem to mind this if it's done politely. As his stamps falls I suddenly realize the situation. I have the urge to yell 'stop'. But it's already too late. I grab it to check. No pages left in an-under-three-years'-old passport! It's British. It cost US$ 300. Outside now I need an ATM. I'm getting the nicotine levels back to normal. I'll deal with the passport issue in true course. What I need now is some reasonably priced accommodation. The trip through Sabah and Sarawak was always going to be just a quickie, even without this.
I'm in not-so-cheap Sabah. It's hard to see a silver lining. A friendly bus tout chats about 'cheap' Tawau hotel rooms. He means for RM50 or about US$15 a night. There are Indonesian bank ATMs right here. I want to use a Malaysian one. He drives me in his car. Yes. Everyone's got one. ATM's in Malaysia, strangely enough can be rather more difficult to find. I withdraw RM 1,000 or about US$340. I tell him I know there must be cheaper digs...like for the locals. He takes me to a 'lodging' right close to the long-distance bus terminal place on Jalan Chen Fook not far from Tawau's esplanade. The very small, basic windowless room's RM20. It shares a well-used toilet. Great sleep. Not spoiled by the fact that Chelsea 2 beat ManU 1.