Article Archive for January 2016
Fruit Juice, Dinner, and a Travelling Carnival
Thursday, January 14, 2016
Well, the dust has settled, and I have my 30-day tourist visa extension. It allows me to stay in Indonesia until February 10.
I wrote a summary of my terrible experience, and I posted it to a bicycle touring group on Facebook. It has gotten a fairly emotional response from both foreigners and Indonesians. I’ve had some other funny moments, too. I told …
Tanjungbalai Immigration Nightmare – Final Chapter
Tuesday, January 12, 2016
At long, long last, I have my 30-day visa extension. In total, it took 14 days, countless hours, and incredble stress and frustration. But I got some valuable life lessons (assuming I needed to be reminded again that most of the world is inefficient and corrupt).
I went back to the government office first thing on Monday morning. I really had to push …
Tanjungbalai Immigration Office Nightmare Continues
Friday, January 8, 2016
This is the day after my momentous trip to immigration to finally get my visa extension. So the question is, “Do I have it?” The answer, not surprisingly, is “No, I do not have it.”
I went there on my bicycle as usual. This time, I didn’t arrange to arrive when they opened at 8 a.m. I’d learned that nothing happens until 9 …
Ferry Ticket Confusion
Thursday, January 7, 2016
Today is the big day. It’s time for my trip back to immigration. Two days ago, I met up with Rea, and we put together all the documents that I needed. I thought that it would be easy. She had already written my sponsorship letters on a computer and printed them out the first time. I thought we could open the files …
Crushed in a New Year’s Eve Crowd
Friday, January 1, 2016
Happy New Year. Well, the end of the year was not exactly great. I was sick a lot and then I had all the problems with my visa and immigration. I had been hoping for a better experience. But it’s not really such a big deal. I just have to wait until January 7 and then apply for my extension again. And …