My new 60 days sosbud visa just came out fresh from the embassy! Guess it's safe to assume that I'm not on a sort of black list then... but to make my way into Indonesia bullet proof, I'm going to take the ferry to Batam.

have a look out for this while you are there:

haha! sorry, I'm not into bencongs! They freak me out ever since I got sucked by one as a naive first-timer to Bali 11 years ago!

Why not swim across? 100 % guaranteed.

I'm a fucking idiot. Yes, I know that. But I'm also a lucky idiot! I finally made it to Batam, and I truly recommend to everybody having something to hide to enter through this port. Imigrasi just looked at the page with the visa and stamped it promptly! No entering of any data into any computer system. They didn't even bother to look at the passport ID page! I could just as well have entered using somebody else's passport...
Haha! Well, it's great to be back in a great country, and Batam is not a bad place to spend a night or two either!

Oh well, we will have to wait until you extend it before you get slung out - you aren't Polish are you?

Captain, please don't ruin my good mood now I am in for a beer I guess very soon.
Nope, not Polish.

OK, take "polish" as being east european.

If not - Fillipino ?

He is beng nice, you don't want to hear about what they do to you before you are slung out. Do the smart thing, prepare all the needed paperwork, leave like you came in and go get a new passport.......

No again. West european.

West European? and you can't get a passport without waiting?

True. I can, however, get an emergency passport on the spot, but it's not of much use, just for tourists in need of a paper to get home.
They make passports so advanced nowadays, so they subcontract the making of them to a company with the right equipment.

Got to be a cloggy.

And finally, here is the (happy) end of the story:
I went to the imigrasi two days ago, filled in a form to apply for an extension, and submitted it together with the passport. Put a big innocent smile on my face and my best bahasa indo. Spent 30 minutes. Was asked to return today.
And after spending one hour at imigrasi today (waiting, and being interviewed by an officer), I was able to pick up my passport with the extension. A very smooth process. Guess it helps to apply in a relatively small city.
Price: 10k for the form, 250k for the visa extension, and free use of the photocopy machine.

And finally, here is the (happy) end of the story:
I went to the imigrasi two days ago, filled in a form to apply for an extension, and submitted it together with the passport. Put a big innocent smile on my face and my best bahasa indo. Spent 30 minutes. Was asked to return today.
And after spending one hour at imigrasi today (waiting, and being interviewed by an officer), I was able to pick up my passport with the extension. A very smooth process. Guess it helps to apply in a relatively small city.
Price: 10k for the form, 250k for the visa extension, and free use of the photocopy machine.

A big innocent (read dopy looking) is the only sort of smile I suspect you possess.


So now you have the visa extension, are you going to tear the page out?

Hopefully your wise advice Capt, has lead this wayward soul to chive his "happy ending"...........

Unfortunately, visa stamps cannot be teared out. Vista stickers, on the other hand, can be teared out. I never said I tear out any pages from any document.

Kirun, you are a spanner, you are a disgrace to buledom.

Why not change the date on the stamp then and colour it in with a happy smiley face?

Please tell me where you come from so I can at least gloat about that too.

haha, do you think I want to put disgrace to my country as well?
Sorry capt.

Well at least we agree on something Kirun.

"haha, do you think I want to put disgrace to my country as well?"

Dutch/German

Belgia?

actually, hard to tell the difference. they're all anal retentive and humourless ...

Great beer though. They will probably even whip you up a nice lemonade-heavy shandy if you ask nicely Kuku.