many years ago i was in a band, my mate had a neighbour with a dog that barked all day when left alone. we got fed up so recorded the noise of the dog barking. at night, once the owner had returned, we rigged up a PA and played the recording back at him. two days later problem solved.
ok, back to the present. the experiences above show the need to research where you're going to live, any country can have noisy neighbors bit it's more difficult to deal with when you're the outsider. make sure you know the building your moving into, the type of people there, the way its managed.
my building has a good mix of middle class thai and foreign UN workers, it's well managed. anyone making a noise or being anti-social gets one warning and after that they're out. it's a wonderfully calm, considerate, friendly and quiet place to live, right in the middle of bangkok.