Mae Sariang – Telegrams and Static

 

Marcia, holding a large katydid/grasshopper
outside our house in Mae Sariang

Moving to Mae Sariang for me, was no sacrifice. I suppose I am suited to live in a small town and Mae Sariang was certainly small, but still a town. At the same time, we lived at the end of town where many Karen were living and it had a village feel. We wound up being in Mae Sariang for most of the rest of our first term and for all our second term. Looking back, I feel that Mae Sariang was where we did our “real” missionary work as opposed to the more administrative role we played in later years based in Chiang Mai. With a view likely enhanced by nostalgia, I’d say Mae Sariang might be my favorite among all the places we’ve lived (and we’ve moved 20 times so we’ve lived in quite a few places).

Of course, not even Mae Sariang was perfect. For one thing, Mae Sariang had no telephones in 1984. Never having been a big telephone person, I didn’t mind and largely saw the fact that there was no phone service as a positive. No one could get in touch to tell us we were doing something wrong so we were pretty free to interpret our instructions on our own. Truly, without phones, as the saying goes, it was easier and preferable to ask for forgiveness after doing something rather than ask permission beforehand.

But no telephones also had a down side. At the Post Office, there was a government operated radio phone that could be used in an emergency, but I don’t recall ever using it. Also at the Post Office, we could send and receive telegrams. The sending part was OK. I’m quite confident our messages whether coming or going, zipped through the wires at the speed of light. But the weak link in the system was that someone needed to print out and deliver the telegram on the receiving end. Whether the printing process took some time or not, I’m not sure. But what I do know for sure is that delivering the telegrams could take days or even weeks. If we only knew, I suspect we are still waiting for some telegrams today!

Here we are in our front yard

Of course, we’d only know if a telegram had not been delivered if we eventually met up with the sender.
They might well be miffed that we hadn’t followed through with something requested in their telegram but we could legitimately be excused because we never got the message.

The main problem with unreliable telegrams though, was when someone was trying to let us know on short notice that visitors were coming. There were a few times when telegrams were sent but none of us in Mae Sariang knew about it. Visitors would arrive and hang out at the bus station looking lost as indeed, they were. But it was assumed that any tall, ungainly, overly hot, western looking person carrying way too much luggage was going to meet the missionaries at the Christian hospital. So, some kind soul that spoke no English, might give them a ride (though many visitors were hesitant to get into a vehicle or sit on a motorcycle when they had no idea who the person was or where they were going). If not, at least someone would take it upon themselves to run down to the hospital and let someone know some strangers had landed in town.

A couple of downsides to Naw Bae’s house and in true Thai/Karen/village style, it was quite close to the neighboring house. It’s tropical too, so houses are not insulated and sound easily carries through the thin walls and open windows. With our bedroom being right adjacent to our neighbor’s bedroom, we can give personal witness that he snored. And he snored with gusto all night long.

We can also verify that our neighbor had bladder control issues. His bedroom was on the second floor, but apparently, his indoor plumbing (if any) was on the ground floor. I don’t blame him for not running up and down the steps off and on all night, but if we were awake, we would often hear the tinkling water flow as it splash-landed on the plants and ground below. I don’t recall any doors on that side of his house, so I suspect he was using a window for his midnight urinal but I can’t say for sure and we earnestly avoided investigating the matter.

The Ban Pong, Karen Baptist Church in
Mae Sariang

The worst thing about our first house in Mae Sariang though, was the loud speaker. It was mounted right outside our bedroom window and part of a government operated system that covered the whole town (and the whole country for that matter). This system would broadcast news, weather, general information, music and whatever starting at 6:00 am and ending with the national anthem at 8:00 am. It was broadcast at max volume over poor quality speakers and to my non-native ears sounded like two hours of static with a Thai accent. As much as I loved Mae Sariang, I hated that speaker. It was not uncommon to return from village trips in the wee hours only to be awakened at 6 am to high volume static. I’d lay awake, forced to listen, plotting how I might sneak outside and snip some strategic wires. I never figured out a way to do it without getting caught and thrown out of the country so alas, I never took action.

Even without a watch, it was easy to see when it was 8:00 am. Once the anthem started playing on the loud speakers anyone walking along the street would stop and stand at attention. Even cars driving down the street were expected to stop which was problematic for vehicles with air conditioning and the windows up. Even with the AC blowing, drivers were still expected to pick up on the visual cues. If it was morning and yours was the only vehicle moving, and everyone in view was standing ramrod stiff glaring at you, it was time to stop. Right now!