Your neighbours in Cambodia

Hi Cheryl. Well I have very little interaction with our neighbors here it seems. Next door to our house is a beauty salon. They often wave and say hello when I walk by. Far more visited for me is the local store across the street. I go there every few days to get cookies but also I love to see the kids there. They will all say hello, wave, ask my name. Some of alin's family or friends visit the house every so often. She loves to cook and entertain them. The last time she made a dinner for one of her best friends and her American boy friend. Alin loves cooking on the traditional charcoal grill.

Khmer family used to stop by often to visit and talk but with all of us being sick at various times, this has lessened lately. I usually don't socialize too much with them besides to say hello. I just prefer the way it is. I do like Alin's daughter quite a bit. She has helped us many times with things and is a kind and considerate person. Another dear friend of Alin's comes over often to help since Alin has been sick. She will help with household chores, she cooks khmer food for me sometimes and just helps around the house.

Really the place for me to kind of socialize is the coffee shop I enjoy going to on a daily basis. It is a 10 minute walk for me. The owner welcomes everyone and people often stay for hours to just visit, listen to music, talk. I go there to read and write and people watch. It is right on the river and open so looking out from the small interior area is easy. Wifi is great there too.

We rarely go out for food these days. Alin is just too good a cook to spend money on food in a restaurant. Our big thing has been getting away. She loves to take me some place in Cambodia I have not been but even places I have been repeatedly she knows these little restaurants and cafes which I would never find on my own.

I'm not a big social type here. I prefer doing what I do. Usually that is walking every day, stopping for coffee and some reading and writing and then just going where I please.

@Cheryl

I live in a 100% Khmer apartment complex. My wife is Khmer, and when we married just over a year ago, I left my guesthouse and moved in with her. I stayed at the guesthouse 5 months, and during that time I experienced inconsiderate foreigners coming back after a night out sounding drunk and being very noisy. One came back night after night at 2AM, and then had loud cellphone conversations outside on their patio. Another would play music so loud it could be heard from every corner of the property. One foreigner repeatedly and angrily yelled at the guesthouse's Khmer owner for 3 or 4  days, always complaining angrily about something or other. Then I moved to my wife's low rent studio room type place, with only locals, and our neighbors are all quiet and respectful. Occasionally, when a neighbor has friends over for a beer party, the parties always stop before 10PM, and they never lead to any alcohol related behavioral problems. Whenever I say hello or good morning to people around here, I always receive a friendly smile in return. My wife is friends with most everybody, and she likes to joke around with them a lot, which always results in laughter and good cheer. There hasn't been one loud argument or other disturbance since I've been here. And we can leave our bicycles, shoes, and drying clothing out all night and everything's still here in the morning. Cambodian people are just plain happy, non-confrontational, and very good morally.  I think it's because of their Buddha consciousness. Thank-you Buddha! 

Cheryl, I wrote quite a long post but it was refused as email so there will be no answer from me. Sorry.

Joe

Hello Joe,

All posts are accepted on the forum even if they contain an email. The email is just hidden.

It might be a bug. Did you get an error message prompting that the post will not be accepted and why ?

Regards

Bhavna