It's been a while since I wrote about my Dad in this blog.  Partly because I became aware that a few people that know both me and him are reading it. Well, Dad had a knee replacement in early December and has been in various hospitals and rehabilitation centres ever since.  He had hoped that a new knee would effectively "cure" his increasing immobility, but this always seemed like a long shot and the actual outcome has been fairly predictable - the new knee was successfully fitted, but the long period of recovery has meant that his mobility is worse not better and he has had problems with the various infections one tends to pick up in hospital. So Dad is now in that grey area in which so many older people find themselves - on the cusp of being able to survive at home and being cared for in an institution, at the boundary between the NHS and local government social services, unclear whether he is sick enough to be looked after for free or is suffering from the ordina...

We spent last weekend at Batang Ai where there is a tribal longhouse "resort" run by Hilton Hotels of all people.  Lots of Sue's fellow mentors were there and we had a very chilled time walking, swimming, eating and generally hanging out.  The resort is in a remote spot on the edge of a large reservoir near the Indonesian border and can only be reached by a twenty minute ferry trip from the nearest road, adding to the sense of peace and isolation.  On our first morning we got up to see and hear the dawn and in the jungle above the resort found the grave of a Headman of a longhouse.  In the early morning light surrounded by the jungle, a rope bridge and the deafening dawn chorus of birds and insects, the spot had a mysterious and melancholy air and I felt sad that the grave was now a tourist sideshow rather than a place of veneration. When we got back from our weekend I did some research and found out that the reservoir is part of a hydro-electric project constru...

There is a saying in Malaysia that "the sea unites and the land divides" and this is certainly true of Sarawak.  The place is really a collection of inhabited islands surrounded by rivers, marsh and jungle, traditionally linked by boat.  Tarmac roads are a new development and there is only one single lane highway which connects the main towns and cities.  Kabong, the town where Sue is based only got a connecting road a few years ago and the village of Perpat, where one of her schools is located, still does not have one.  To get there Sue has to wait by the riverbank for a ferryman to show up.  This can involve balancing on rickety jetties and clambering up slimy ladders, depending on the state of the tide. Normally when we want to go to Kuching, the provincial capital, we drive - a trip of about 300 kilometres which takes about five hours.  But last weekend we took the ferry.  By sea it is 150 kilometres to Kuching, which takes about three and ha...

Last week I finally bit the bullet and handed out a simple flyer to three local shopkeepers who have been enquiring about English lessons.  I've been delaying because I was in a real dilemma about what to charge.  If I offer free lessons there is the risk that I will be inundated with requests and will end up working too hard for nothing and resenting it.  On the other hand if I price lessons at European rates they would simply be unaffordable for most local people. On the basis that it's easier to drop your prices than to raise them I've started high, basing my rates on my earning forty ringgits per hour (about £10).  Bearing in mind that an hour of teaching will take me at least an hour to prepare, then that brings me down to £5 per hour, lower than the minimum wage in the UK, if there still is one.  Not much for Europe, but still a lot for rural Borneo, where a school teacher earns about £500 per month and a shop worker maybe a fraction of that. Why bot...

After a few days in KL we flew last week to the holiday island of Langkawi, just on the Malaysian side of the border with Thailand.  We stayed in a slightly rundown resort hotel with a big pool next to a quiet beach.  People fly to Langkawi from all over the world and I don't think I've ever been to a place with a wider mix of tourists - Indian, European, Australian, Chinese, US, Malaysian and many others I'm sure.  Oddly it seems particularly popular with Russians with several Russian restaurants in the main tourist hotspots. For me the highlight was a visit to a museum devoted to rice cultivation.  In Borneo we see lots of activity associated with rice growing and the museum helped us make sense of it all with a gallery explaining the cultivation process surrounded by working padi fields.  What struck me most was how much hard work is involved in rice production by comparison to wheat.  The fields have to be prepared and flooded, the irrigation care...

It must be a sign of old age, but Sue and I are finding that travel knocks the stuffing out of us these days.  Last Friday night we arrived at Kuala Lumpur Low Cost Carrier Terminal (KL LCCT) at ten at night after an hour and three quarter flight from Kuching and a five-hour drive from Saratok barely able to stand.  We got it together to find a taxi driven by a trim Malay lady complete with headscarf and cruised near empty neon lit motorways as palm oil plantations, mosques, smart new housing estates and industrial units flashed past. After forty long minutes the Petronas Towers came into view, illuminated like two giant feature lampstands and I suddenly realised that “play that funky music white boy” was coming softly out of the car stereo.  I looked at the driver’s eyes through the rear view mirror and noticed they were beginning to flicker shut and the car to drift over to the outside lane.  “I like this song” I said, loudly.  “Mmm, me too” she said, sn...

OK it's official.  I got my passport endorsed last week with a permission to stay in Malaysia until September 2013.  The downside is that I'm classified as a "dependent" and am not meant to work.  Sue and I knew this would be the deal even before we embarked on this adventure, but it still feels strange. So, Sue is working incredibly hard being a mentor and also studying with the Open University for an Msc and having the time of her life.  She loves the work and the people she is working with and it's great to see.  Meanwhile I am playing the role of the house husband.  I start most days with a run or a cycle ride, I go to market every other day, do much of the washing and the housework, watch daytime TV (much better than in Italy, we have an HD TV and I could, if I wanted watch UK soaps), have an afternoon nap and cook supper. There is the possibility of some informal teaching work and I have volunteered to do some work for the British Humanist Assoc...