Hi All,

I thought I would dedicate this entry to my next door neighbor, the man I share a balcony with. Although the balcony is partitioned at about waist-high level with a cement wall, it's in full view of his, so I often involuntarily view the antics of my neighbor, one retired French man named Jean-Claude, (pronounced as in Jean-Claude VanDamme). I've only had a couple of conversations with Jean-Claude. He's friendly enough, often waving a hello to me as he wanders around on his side of the balcony, cigarette in mouth, usually dressed in only a towel wrapped around his waist or tight colored briefs with his large 65+ year old belly hanging out in full view.

Jean-Claude is one of the many men here in Phnom Penh that lives a nice comfortable existence on his retirement and frequently has "guests" over. His guests are Khmer women just over 18, some being around 20, I suppose. One looked suspiciously under 18 but who can tell for sure? It's very difficult to judge age in Khmer, they often look much younger than they are. These women almost always stand next to the wall smiling, and want to talk to me even if they know no English, and maybe say "K'nyom choo-muah...(their name)" at which I reply my name and smile back and say hello. For whatever reason, they gravitate toward me and don't seem to want to spend time with him, often staring at me and spending up to 15-20 minutes just watching whatever it is I am doing. In one week alone I counted about 5 women that he had over for a 'visit.' I try not to be judgemental or think about what is going on next door, so I block it from my mind, but I feel sorry for these girls and what they have to do to survive. One seems especially sweet and young, and doesn't speak a word of English, but I am able to at least say 'hello' to her and ask her how she is in Khmer. She often stares at me as I am just going about a routine, maybe watering the plants or putting more water into the large pots I have with goldfish. There seem to be five or six returning 'regulars' of Jean-Claude, one even does call herself his girlfriend, but she says he's bad and has other girlfriends behind her back. Once, one of them that does speak a little English asked me if I go to Martini's, a local club that is very much geared toward traveling or expat western men to find what are called here, "taxi girls." 'Taxi girl' is of course the synonym for prostitute, with the difference being that some of them don't do this strictly for a living or full time.

One day, I saw Jean-Claude walking back and forth from his apartment to the end of the balcony and looking over as if he was waiting for the arrival of someone. A few trips like this, and I saw him waving happily to someone on the street, then about a minute later I could hear through his open door, "Five dollah, five dollah, five dollah!" about six or seven times. She wanted her five dollars, and let it be known very clearly. I feel sorry for these girls if they have to give themselves to men for only $5. I think about the many times I've bought a coffee and maybe a pastry at a Starbucks or a Coffee People and paid about $5, without a thought to spending the money, and then think that these often very pretty and smart girls have to stoop to doing this work by force because of the very cruel existence here in Cambodia.

I don't mean to make Jean-Claude out to be an ogre or anything. On the contrary, he seems like a very nice but kind of strange guy. In the limited English that he speaks, (and I speak no French), he has told me a little about his life and his (at least) 2 wives, one of which was Thai. He says he can no longer go to Thailand, but the reason isn't quite clear, but he alluded that his former wife has gotten him into trouble with the law there. So, he says he likes Cambodia and has been here for a little under a year. He is a retired construction worker, and said that he used to build roads in France. If I recall, he may have a degree in Engineering.

I feel kind of sorry for Jean-Claude because what does his future really hold? If he became ill would he have anyone who cares about him? I get the feeling after being here a while that the answer is 'no.' While his life may be idealistic at least now to some men-- just doing whatever he pleases all of the time; it seems so empty in some ways to me, and I wonder what will become of him in the end.

Just a thought folks, that is bouncing around inside of my head... :)