We recently took a trip to the future site of a Chinese Buddhist Monastery with local friends here in Commewijne, Suriname.
WORLD CLASS COMMEWIJNE MUD 🏆
Many of you already know we are far from world travelers, more akin to migrants longing to be immigrants, and now with COVID-19 and Suriname's economic collapse, we are stranded migrants. We did make a few good friends here, and they have taken us on some adventures that have allowed us to see more of this country than just the local market and immigration offices.
@RafaelChan and @FaustoFraser spearheaded this trip, which was part affordable apartment hunting and part adventure, with adventure being the highlight of the journey. Rafael has a Chinese immigrant friend who is responsible for prepping a 400 hectare land grant for the construction of a Chinese Buddhist Monastery.
We happened to pass Rafael's friend on the road, and he invited us to go have a look at the land plot, but we certainly weren't in the right car nor wearing the proper attire for a muddy walk. Not keen to shy away from adventure, we tried to tread as carefully as possible so as not to bring too much mud back into the freshly cleaned car interior.
Able to communicate a bit with the Chinese guy because he spoke Sranang, which is much easier to understand than Dutch, we wowed him with our 20 or so words of Mandarin that we know. As many folks do, he took a liking to Monkey-B, and within a few seconds of the journey he was carrying her like a sack of potatoes.
This man has lived in Suriname around 35 years, so he seemed quite excited to meet some other Asians from Asia, if that makes any sense. My Cambodian family actually has some Chinese ancestry, and even @Sreypov's family name, Heng, is of Chinese origins.
We walked and walked along the mud road until we reached a clearing in the forest, not anything to marvel at yet, but the future site of the monastery. The Chinese gentleman then invited us to do some surveying and marking in the next few days, for which there would be no pay, but lots of good karma.
Okay, so the cynical Rasta within me couldn't see how I could gain supernatural karma by helping to build a manmade temple where a perfectly natural temple of the most HIGH previously stood. "To each their own" as the saying goes, and I never let thoughts like this escape my mouth. We gave a polite answer in letting him know we'd come if available.
Having conquered the road of mud, we were now faced with retracing our steps back to the car while pondering how delightful it would be to have even just 1/8th of an acre to call home.
On the way back to the car Monkey-B upgraded her economy "sack of potatoes" ticket to a first-class "piggyback" ticket.
"How would we solve the muddy shoes problem?" The particular car we were riding in was a business car and normally kept spick and span, so we had to be creative with a spare trashbag to keep things clean on the way home.
It is now I should mention Suriname has little to no international tourism, so I've been trying to come up with a catchy slogan to lure tourists to muddy Suriname and away from the tropical islands with crystal clear waters. The best one I have so far is...
"Suriname, have you seen our mud?"
Monkey-B once again got first class treatment, and was give a proper foot wash on arrival back at the car. This kiddo is just as happy walking in mud as she is getting the princess treatment, and I enjoy watching the world through through their eyes because it makes a muddy road an adventure exciting enough for a post.
🙏 THANKS FOR READING 🙏
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