Exactly 3 years have passed since I left Oslo aboard a Finnair plane.
Below is a map with all Asian locations where I have spent one or more nights the last 3 years. I have marked these locations with my GPS receiver.
Asian GPS coordinates last 3 years.
I am now the happy and proud owner of a one-year Indonesian residence permit, and below is the detailed procedure I have been through the last couple of weeks. I have followed the regulation to the letter and haven’t had any problems.
11 July. Flew to Singapore.
12 July. Applied for Visa Kunjungan in Singapore. SGD 65. Submitted passport, application form, sponsor letter, copy of KTP sponsor, photo.
14 July. Received Visa Kunjungan, valid for 60 days. Entered Indonesia via Batam.
15 July. Flew to Jakarta.
19 July. Applied for conversion of Izin Kunjungan to Izin Tinggal Terbatas at Kantor Imigrasi (KanIm). Application form cost Rp 5000. Papers submitted: Passport, application form, sponsor letter, financial guarantee letter from sponsor (including a written statement from employer), copy of passport, copy of KTP sponsor, copy of marriage certificate, copy of Kartu Keluarga sponsor. They didn’t bother to check the original documents.
22 July. Received 2 brown envelopes from KanIm: One adressed to Kantor Wilayah (KanWil), and one adressed to Direktorat Jenderal Imigrasi (DitJen). I brought the former letter to KanWil.
23 July. Received one gray envelope from KanWil, and brought it, together with the third envelope from KanIm, to DitJen.
2 August. Picked up 3 brown envelopes from DitJen, one for me, one for KanIm, and one for KanWil. Brought the latter envelope to KanWil. The letters contained the positive decision regarding change of my immigration status, granting me one year temporary residence permit.
3 August. Picked up one gray envelope from KanWil, and brought it to KanIm. It was already lunch break, so I decided to finalize the procedure the next day.
4 August. Went to KanIm and paid the KITAS fee (Rp 700k), fingerprint fee (Rp 15k), and photograph fee (Rp 55k). They already had my digital fingerprints in their database, so they took my picture only (with a digital camera). However, the digital photo was not enough, I also had to submit another two physical photos (on red background).
6 August. Went to KanIm and picked up my passport, KITAS (Kartu Izin Tinggal Terbatas) and POA book (Pengawasan Orang Asing). At the same time, I applied, paid for (Rp 1M), and picked up, just in time before they closed, a multiple exit/re-entry permit, valid for one year. Papers submitted: Passport, application form (which again cost Rp 5000), sponsor letter, copy of passport, copy of KTP sponsor, copy of KITAS, copy of POA book.
9 August. Went to Kantor Lurah to get a so-called Surat Keterangan Domisili, to be used at Catatan Sipil (civil registration office) later. However, the people at Kantor Lurah told me they couldn’t do anything without a Surat Pengantar from RT/RW. So I went to get that paper first.
10 August. Went back to Kantor Lurah with the Surat Pengantar from RT/RW. However, this time Kantor Lurah said they couldn’t issue the document I was asking for. Instead, they directed me directly to Dinas Kependudukan Dan Pencatatan Sipil in Grogol. So I went there, applied for Surat Keterangan Tempat Tinggal (SKTT), Surat Keterangan Pendaftaran Penduduk Sementara (SKPPS), and Surat Keterangan Datang Dari Luar Negeri (SKDLN). It took only five minutes, and I didn’t need any document from Kantor Lurah after all. Paid the fee of Rp 30k. Papers submitted: Sponsor letter, copy of passport, copy of KTP sponsor, copy of KITAS, copy of POA book, copy of marriage certificate. No verification of original documents. Was told to pick up the 3 requested documents one week later. Afterwards, I went to Polda Metro (the police) and applied for Surat Keterangan Lapor Diri (SKLD). I filled in the application form and submitted it together with copy of passport, copy of KTP sponsor, copy of KITAS, copy of POA book. My fingerprints were also taken.
11 August. Went back to Polda Metro to finalize my application, since I missed something the day before: Submitted two photos (on red background) and sponsor letter, and paid the fee of Rp 100k. Was told to pick up the document two weeks later.
Done! Total expenditure (excluding transportation costs of course): SGD 65 + IDR 1910k = around USD 260. Now I just have to wait for those four last documents to be completed.
My ultimate goal now is to obtain permanent residency, and in order to do that I need to stay here two years continuously, meaning I cannot leave the country, not even one single time during that two-year period.
Polda Metro.
The last couple of weeks have been quite eventful:
14 June. Ellen and Uno arrives in Jakarta, from Oslo and Trondheim respectively.
15 June. Fitting of clothes for the wedding.
16 June. Wedding rehearsal. Dana and Christian arrives in Jakarta from Oslo.
17 June. Walks in Kebon Raya botanical gardens, Bogor. Mass in the evening at Cibubur to bless the water used in the “Siraman” ceremony.
Kebon Raya Bogor.
Ice cream.
18 June. “Siraman” ceremony at Cibubur, Jakarta. Siraman is a Javanese pre-wedding tradition.
19 June. Wedding at St. Aloysius Gonzaga church, Cijantung, Jakarta.
Uno and Vincent.
20 June. Wedding reception at Balai Kartini, Jakarta.
Caceil?
Filemon?
21 June. Uno and Ellen went to see our new rented apartment in Kuningan. Uno flies back to Trondheim. Dana and Christian fly to Lombok to stay at Windy Beach Cottages, Mangsit.
22 June. Ellen, Caecil and I fly to Lombok. We meet Dana and Christian at Mangsit.
23 June. Stay at the hotel. Not much else is happening this day.
24 June. Car rental (250k). With Caecil as the driver, we drive across Lombok to Kuta beach, via Monkey Forest.
Gasoline.
25 June. Boat rental, with boatman (700k). Snorkeling trip to the Gili islands. Ellen stays at the hotel, however.
26 June. Caecil flies back to Jakarta.
27 June. I take Ellen to see the Gilis, using public transport this time. We spend the day at Gili Air. Ellen wants to stay here, so we decide we’ll come back the next day.
28 June. Ellen and I check out from the hotel and charter a boat to Gili Air directly from Mangsit (400k). At Gili Air we stay at Sandy Cottages. I spend the rest of the day snorkeling off the beach.
29 June. I walk around the island. By coincidence I meet Hans, a local hotel owner I met ten years ago (at Made Cafe, Yogyakarta). I remember him very well. He remembers me too. He’s 55 and has four wives and 11 children, a rarity in Indonesia.
A bar.
Hans.
30 June. Snorkeling off the beach.
01 July. It’s time to relocate to Bali. We go with horse cart, boat, taxi, ferry, and finally taxi again to Ubud, Bali. We check in at Puri Saraswati Bungalows.
02 July. Bicycle trip around Ubud. In the afternoon I went to Lod Tunduh village to check out a private residence I and Caecil had stayed at seven years ago. It was just a ruin now, only one of the four buildings still standing.
Rice field.
03 July. Walking and bicycling in and around Ubud. “Ogoh-ogoh” festival in Ubud in the afternoon/evening.
Ogog-ogoh.
04 July. Ellen and I fly to Jakarta. We stay at the apartment.
Breakfast menu, Ubud.
05 July. Ellen flies back to Oslo.
11 July. I fly to Singapore to apply for another one of my endless visas. I stay at Sleepy Sam’s near Arab street.
14 July. I pick up my new visa in the afternoon and will take the ferry to Batam.
15 July. I plan to fly to Jakarta.
I’m soon moving from Cibubur (East Jakarta) to Kuningan (South Jakarta), so therefore yesterday morning I rode my bicycle to the new place, an apartment block. It was a nice trip along mostly small roads and alleys. The 27 km distance took 2.5 hours.
GPS track log.
I followed small roads…
…as well as big roads.
Arrived at last. View from 15th floor.
Thanks to a faithful reader of whereisrune.com, I was just reminded about the huge symbolic importance of this day, which otherwise would have just been another anonymous and rather ordinary day: It is now exactly 1000 days since I had the pleasure of boarding a flight from Oslo, Norway, bound for a warmer and more pleasant environment, for good. The big moment happened on 29 August 2007, at 13:15 hours (GMT+2).
Today’s event will most certainly be celebrated with a couple of Bintang or Anker, the local beer brew. Cheers!
Pasir Panjang, Pulau Kei Kecil, Maluku, Indonesia. Visited in June, 2009. The best beach I have ever seen.