“Compounded" in Chiang Mai - Part One

 

The Single Women's Boarding House".
Our first home in Chiang Mai - 1983

Interest at banks can be compounded which might be good or bad depending on if we’re receiving the interest or paying it. Problems are often compounded which is a negative, but why aren’t good things compounded? In any case, for better or worse, Marcia and I were duly “compounded” the week of October 13 – 20, 1983 when we moved onto the “Mission Compound” in Chiang Mai.

The compound consisted of two full size houses separated by a common driveway. Toward the rear of the property was a small guest house for travelling missionaries and visitors, situated above a couple store rooms. The store rooms in theory, were to store the belongings of missionaries that were in the US on their traditional “furlough” year but, tended to be perpetually full of all kinds of things belonging to a number of mission related people.

Pulling in the drive to the compound, our house was the one on the right. Apparently, the house had previously been occupied by a number of single women missionaries over a number of years. So, we soon learned that we had moved into what was known as “The Single Women’s Boarding House”. Whatever it was called, it was a nice house well shaded by large bamboo and trees. There was no air conditioning but it was built with lots of windows, high ceilings, ceiling fans and the shaded grounds so it was fairly comfortable. Still, we generally lived with fans blowing on us while sleeping. Of course daytimes were even hotter, so we quickly became adept peeling papers off our flypaper-like forearms and weighing down loose sheets as we did writing and paper work chores while sitting in the full breeze of a fan.

Our new dining/letter writing table complete
with new curtains on the windows

From reading earlier posts, it might be recalled that we had sent quite a lot of freight by sea from the US before we left. Most of that freight had been quietly waiting for us in the store rooms under the guest house and now we finally had access to it. We were glad to see some of it, some of it we’d forgotten about, and some we wondered why in the world we ever sent it. On our earlier orientation visit to Chiang Mai, we’d also bought furnishings and appliances from some Swedish missionaries that were returning to Sweden. We still needed to buy a few things like a bed, and living room furniture but not too much.

With all the windows, Marcia was also eager to get curtains as without them, it was rather like living in a fish bowl. Without a stitch of a curtain or blind anywhere, the curtains were a big purchase. In Chiang Mai in 1983, there were no department stores and there still is no Walmart so there were no curtain rods or pre-made, standard size curtains we could run out and buy and hang. There was however, a fellow in town that would custom make curtains and drapes complete with drawstring closures so we soon had window coverings.

Marcia explaining the intricacies of the
wringer washer to Somjit.

Doing laundry was also an adjustment. Today in Thailand, automatic washing machines and dryers are readily available but practically non-existent in 1983. We had been warned about this while still in the US and had been told we should absolutely ship a wringer washer with our freight. Compared to an automatic, a wringer washer would likely last without breakdowns which was important since no parts would be available. We could go with no washer and hire out our laundry to be done by hand in washtubs but our clothes would be worn out a lot faster.

It wasn’t easy to find a wringer washer in the US in 1982 but we eventually found a used one in good condition. So we shipped it to Thailand with our freight and unveiled it in Chiang Mai. Indeed, it did serve us well for 10 years until we sold it to our house helper in Mae Sariang who continued to use it after we left. I wouldn’t be too surprised to still see it hanging around Mae Sariang somewhere.