I’ve begun seeking quotes for shipping my belongings from Jakarta to Manila. It’s not easy to figure out what to bring and what to leave after 7 years.

I arrived in Indonesia with two suitcases and a smile – I’m leaving with 12 cubic meters of ‘stuff’. (well, and Novita) I’ll have to sell and give away many items just to reach 12 cubic meters (most of my friends ship less than 4); any thoughts on how to best sell/advertise these items in Jakarta? I’ve considered setting up a temporary site via my blog from which to list items and photos of what I’m selling. Things like Craigslist aren’t so hot over here – seems to be loaded with primarily spam.

I’m thinking I’ll just bring most of my electronics into Manila (HDTV, stereo, hard drives, etc) because I’ve seen some high prices on items there. If anyone wants to suggest online sites for price comparisons I’d welcome the advice, but thus far a 40″ HDTV in Manila seems to be around $1600 whereas in Jakarta it’s around $1000.

The biggest item to sell is my car; prefer to do that sooner than later. Surely I’ll lose a lot on it since the Rupiah was 8,900/$1 when I bought it and a now is at around 11,000/$1.

I’ll be shipping our items around the 2nd or 3rd week of June and will have a very empty and boring house for a month or so thereafter. I also may have to wait 2-4 weeks on the Manila side AFTER I arrive, so I’m looking at around 2 months without my stuff.

Good chance to catch up on reading and exercise!