What Next?

If the Hilton hotels chain needed to send an executive into exile they would almost certainly chose Batang Ai.  This massive Longhouse Resort on the edge of a reservoir in the middle of nowhere is slowly dying on its feet.  It was built for hundreds of guests, but usually accommodates only a handful.  The fact that you have to get a ferry across the reservoir to reach it adds to the sense of sleepy isolation. It has however become a kind of country club for British Council mentors in need of peace, quiet, club sandwiches and an "international" buffet.

For local people the idea of going to Batang Ai is insane, why go to a fake longhouse when you can get the real thing for literally a fraction of the cost?  But for mentors it's the tourist ambiance that is so attractive, because it makes no demands and can make you feel for a while that you are one with the pink kneed, camera bejewelled holidaymakers that roll up from time to time.

Last weekend we went there to celebrate some birthdays with a crowd of mentors.  It was fun, everyone did a lot of talking and drinking and lounging by the pool.  And, for the first time since I've been here there was a lot of talk of home and "what next?"  The project now has less than a year to go and so people are thinking "this is the last time" I do this or that.  The end of school atmosphere is reinforced by the fact that some mentors are already leaving and a large tranche have contracts which expire at the end of January.

Teaching English is a nomadic, low-paid and insecure life and for some, really big questions loom.  Questions like "should I retire?"  "Where shall I live?"  "Where is home?"  "Should I carry on with this life?"  Being a nomad in your twenties is fine, but when you reach your thirties and forties it can begin to feel like you're pushing your luck.  Also, many mentors came to Borneo on the run from something, I suspect, and so now they must decide whether to turn and face their demons or just keep on running.



There are worse places to reflect on these things than sat in a lounge chair on the deck at Batang Ai watching the Sun set spectacularly over the reservoir, as it always seems to do.