Ferries To Brunei Or Borneo ?

[AugustineB]

Well just got back from the Trang islands and it was lovely - thanks to all that advised it as a destination.

Just a quick question - does anybody know of any passenger ferries or boats from Thailand to Brunei or Borneo (prefer not to go onto Malaysian soil for Visa reasons) ?

Even hitching a ridfe on a cargo ship would be considered - though cruise boats are a little pricey for us.

[brianw]

If you have no luck from Thailand try Singapore which has more shipping. If you do not want to go from malaysia because of visa problems I hope you understand that parts of Borneo come under Malaysian rule so you will still have visa problems. I hope you get a positive reply as I would like to do this trip

[asanee]

as brianw points out-and whch should be known to someone wanting to avoid Malaysia-both Sabah and Sarawak come under Malay rules.

Brunei only has 1 shipping/ferry-to nearby Sabah. It exports oil-mainly by ship.

Your idea that cargo ships should be cheaper as cruiseships also does not hold much ground today anymore.

If one uses the right words: Borneo is the big island, divided up by 3 nations: Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia (all of which are mainly muslim), you CAN go-with a long and ,roughly speaking rather tiresome, succession of internal Indonesian ferries-mostly running every 2 weeks-from SIn to Batam-to Jakarta (port Tanjung Prijok), then to some ports on the Indones. part of Borneo (usually named Kalimantan). The all-Indones. state-boat lines are known as Pelni-sometimes they even succeed in getting their website working for more info.

the only other (possible, not sure if it still exists) is a ferry from nearby Phillippines (Palawan-as I recall also infest by terror) to Sabah. This brings the many Phillippino workers to their jobs. As said before-Sabah is also Malay.

Thailand here does not have any real ties with those areas, even direct flights are next to nil.