jak2002003

He put many people lives in danger from this stupid action.  He needs to be arrested and charged. 

15 hours ago, boomerangutang said:

Thanks Jak and Rocky.  Sometimes I feel like I'm on an island with my noise problem issues.  It's heartening to hear other farang sharing their stories and insights.  Local Thais and hill tribers know not to even mention noise pollution (except perhaps when whispering to family members and close friends), even if it's blasted into their houses on and off from 4:30 am until dark.  

 

There appears to be a sad trend going on in Thailand.  The Dhammakaya Temples are the epitome of the Mickey Mousification of Thai Buddhism.   Other temple complex leaders have seen the success and money sucking possibilities of going grandoise, so some of them are trying it on for size - and usually LARGE SIZE.   Perhaps it's a trend that will last awhile, while Buddhism degenerates in Thailand. Everything goes through trendt stages and the Disneylandation of Thai Buddhism will prove to be no exception.  Maybe this trend will last 100 years?  250 years?

 

I've studied Buddhism since I took it up on my own at age 18 when I read a book on the Buddha's life.    I'm 64 now, and have gone through phases: HInduism, Zen, Mahayana/Tibet style.  Recently, like Jak, I've turned off to Buddhism, at least how it manifests in Thailand. Besides head monks being rude to neighbors and being dazzled by riches, there's stratification in the rankings, and gold images everywhere.  Thai Buddhism has as much to do with the original example of the Buddha (in my view) as a Hostess Twinkie has to do with eclairs made in the home kitchen of a French pastry chef. 

Don't feel like you are on an island with your noise problem.

Its good that we know many people have this same problem, including Thai people... so its not just us moaning farangs.

It does me some much good to talk about the problem to someone who actally can understand.  Most people I meet just tell me to put in some ear plugs, or turn up the TV louder.

They can not comprehend the actual volume and time the noise lasts.  No earplugs, no cushions over my head, not TV at MAX volume can even make the noise reduce.  How can it when the very walls and floor are vibrating with the base beats, and the actual

'singing' is still easily heard.

You are right about the Thai people not complaining about the noise.  But in the end they actually did in my village.  They made a petition and took it to the head man.  It was great for 2 weeks.  But now its gone back to the volume and frequency it was before.

I am dreading the next thing to happen.  As I said before the temple has took over the land just outside its gates... again next to my house.  They have spent a lot of money to clear, level and add soil to the land.  They now have 10 small bamboo huts, one to sleep in, and a huge open barn thing with straw roofing, and also built toilets for men / women.  The latest huge building... bigger than the temple, is nearly finished.. so I am thinking this is going to be for celebration of that event.. and the start of more money raising to buy a golden reclining Buddha statue to put inside it. 

9 hours ago, jacko45k said:

Either you like dogs or you do not.

I have a cat, it doesn't bark or shit all over the place. My neighbours have dogs and seem not to care if they bark any time day or night. I find this disturbing and would not want this in my own yard.

Pets can restrict your lifestyle as well as adding to it.

My neighbours cat sure shits all over my garden, rips open my bin bags, kills and eats my chicken chicks, and kills my parakeets through the aviary mesh.  They also scream and fight late and night.

My 2 dogs are quiet, don't kill anything, and stay in their own garden.

My point is, Its not about what animal it is, but it's about how the owners take care of them.

For the Soi dogs, our village is very rural and we have problems with large packs of them killing livestock, noise, and also biting people, causing people to crash their motorbikes, etc.

I like dogs, but I don't have any time for half wild street dogs.  I would gladly throw a few in the back of a truck and give them free to any grumpy expat who wants one. 

And, I don't advise giving the dogs around here a sausage to make friends with them... they would surround you and take you arm off with the sausage.

Maybe the OP wants single people not to have relationships with Thai women... better they have a personal relationship with Jesus.

Leave it all. 

You should have gone up to him and grabbed his balls when he invited you and gave them a hard twist! 

Seriously why are you even there now? 

Move on with your live and let them have the half built house.. which will never get finished. 

I fully sympathise with you.

I have similar problem with my temple which is virtually next door to my house.

For years just a normal traditional small temple, popular with the villagers and myself...... Then new Abbot monk arrived about 1 year ago.

Now my house is up for sale.  Some days it is bordering on torture to stay at home because of the noise.  I have become very stressed and developed anxiety over it.

The once small beautiful temple is now lit up like Disney Land at night with high powered flashing and coloured lights everywhere. Blinding security lights shine into our bedroom windows all night.   At just after 5am several times a week the huge speakers blast out ear splitting 'music' or old Thai pop music and comedy banter between a man and a women, screaming and laughing. 

Then comes the Abbot shouting orders out to the village demanding more money and more food offerings to be sent to the temple.  Listing all the villagers sins and faults.  After this the actual Buddhist chanting... which is also ear splitting loud.

We have to leave the house early morning, just after being shocked awake by the noise. Can still hear not noise several villages away! 

In the afternoon it will start up again.. but usually only for couple of hours.

In the space of less than a year huge sums of money seem to have arrived at the temple, despite the villagers largely abandoning the once busy temple.  3 new buildings have gone up, 3 very old huge rain trees have been chainsawed down to make space for more buildings, and the beautiful quite gardens, with tinkling bells and wind charms, pond with fish,  ripped up and concreted over.

Now they are making a huge long building for a reclining Buddha statue... and have purchased the field opposite the temple and set up what looks like a retreat hotel thing with lost of small huts and what look like its going to be a bar!

I miss the old temple and monks.. the chanting and real Buddhist ways.. early morning seeing monks walk down through the village collecting their alms. 

Now I fear to go into the place, with its pack of big 'securing dogs'.  Most of the time you can't get into it anyway, the gates are locked up, even when the party music is going.. so must be their own private party! 

It seems now to be about the Abbots ego to get the biggest and most expensive temple, and their priority it to get as much money and wealth as they can.  Its so out of place in my tiny village, and not like Buddhism to me. 

In fact his actions have turned me away from Buddhism and I now have almost an aversion to seeing any temple or monk!!!  I am sure that's not the way its supposed to be.

Walking around a shopping mall and a farang guy, a total stranger walking along saying 'hello and good morning' to every person he passes by... he is getting near to me... I think this guy must have some kind of mental problem or be just another crazy farang, (maybe one of the bible squad) so I try to pass by him without being noticed. 

But he homes in on me just to get in my face and say his 'hello good morning' with a scary false smile on his face.

I would not smile and reply... and I don't think most people would, as his behaviour is strange and unnerving and out of place.

30 minutes ago, manfredtillmann said:

condemning keeping birds in cages is a reflection of being 'quirky, self-opinionated, irascible '? i would love being 'quirky, all my opinions are my own and i am completely calm about this - unlike the op.

i just like to give a voice to the ones who don't speak human.

how would you like to be kept in a cage by someone 200 times your size and power?

 

Do you have any pets, do you eat meat, eggs, fish? 

A domesticated pet bird in a large cage, allowed freedom to fly and play, and cared for correctly is not cruel. 

Have you any experience with keeping pet birds?  I keep and breed many kinds, from fancy pigeons, chickens and ducks, to parakeets, songbirds and finches.  All are captive born, raised and cared for properly, most living in large aviaries outdoors.  Sometimes I accidently let one or 2 escape when I go into feed / clean... and they always come back and are desperate to get back into the cage.  If they were so unhappy they would not do that.

They get a better life than in the wild, they never go hungry or thirsty, they have shelter from rain and wind, they don't have to worry about predators or attacks from territorial male birds. 

They do not die if they get sick, as they get medical treatment to help them recover. 

If they were taken out and released into the wild they would die within a few days from starvation or getting killed.  This is because they are domesticated birds and don't know how to live in the wild. 

Would you say people who had pet dogs were cruel because they kept them in a house and not let them run free in the forest?  If I took my kittens and cats and dumped them out in the countryside you would think that a good thing for them to starve to death? 

Yesterday just missed a Chinese tourist man who walked out backwards into the road without looking for cars or bikes, and just crouched down to take a photo of his girlfriend... my wing mirror just clipped his shoulder!!!!  I see them cycling down the wrong side of the road into oncoming traffic, walking down busy main roads in the middle with their suitcases and bags on the way to their hotel, and many many times just walking right out into traffic while looking back talking to friends. 

Tour companies need to make sure they stop busses at safe places away from main roads... and also warn the tourists about crossing roads... like kids at school. 

7 hours ago, invogue said:

Yes I am addicted and can't live without it.

Feel free to tell me what the adverse affects are.

If you are addicted and can't live without it.. I would say that is an adverse affect.

Another one would be you keep getting stopped in airports and waste peoples time because you are carrying white powder in unmarked packaging.

I must be one of very few people who does not have a mobile phone.  Will they force me to buy and use one?  If they do I want them to pay for it too!

Can't you just not eat the stuff?  I am sure you can survive without it.  If its that addictive it can't be good for you anyway.  I would be annoyed if someone was holding up the line because they were taking stupid bags of sweetner on a plane trip! 

OMG.... I'm leaving..... the usual TV farang freaks are out... no wonder some people are not welcomed into the general Thai society.... they would not be welcomed in their own.

On ‎06‎/‎08‎/‎2016 at 7:01 PM, NanLaew said:

 

OK, I'll play silly buggers.

 

How was the used condom in the bin? He was having a second helping.

 

How did it get there? He (or she) put it there.

 

How did she know he had died? He had stopped breathing.

 

Why did he fall out of bed? He was dying.

 

Difficult stuff, eh?

If he went to the trouble of using a condom the first time, why would he not the second time?

If he fell out the bed it seems strange he is not at the side of the bed, but rather at the end of the ben lengthways?

And from the photo looks like he has a black T shirt on... surely he would be naked, at least for second go?  As was he wearing that towel, or did police throw it over him? 

We will never know.

3 minutes ago, JJGreen said:

 

 

You are not part of Thai society and never will be. Why should that matter?

And why should pricing be the same for everyone?

 

You are joking right?

You don't want to be part of the society in which you live?  Do you live alone in a cave in the National park by any chance? 

The extra pricing is just not right.  It's not about the money, for me its about making me feel like I am not part of this society and am being discriminated against for my nationality. 

At the national park or tourist attractions I can look over it.. because for locals these things should be free.  But when I come across it in restaurants, on street food vendors, and in day to day life with Thai people trying to charge you more money for stuff just because they think they can con a stupid farang this is what really upsets me.

Imagine going to a shop / restaurant  in London and seeing and knowing the price of an item.. then going to the cash desk to pay and getting told you have to pay 5 or 6 times as much as everyone else just because you are black, white etc.  It's not right.

I am under 55, unmarried and been living here 10 years.  Life in not easy for everyone.  If I had a choice I would return to the UK now, but financially I can not.  I have no home or family left n the UK and am now disabled, so now finding new work over there and coping on my own would be very difficult.  Don't judge everyone just by what you think they earn or their age.  People are all different.... but prices should be the same for everyone. 

What is this pool used for?   Is it a duck pond, a lake, a fish / frog rearing thing?  Or is it just a big pool or rainwater or leaking water from a drain?

Really there is nothing you can do.. but you could ask the owner yourself! 

Come and live in the villages... surrounded by rice fields.. plenty of standing water there.  And also in the city mosquitoes can live just as easily in a tiny puddle or can of water.

I am visually impaired and would find it easier to use the site if there was more colour contrasts... everything seems to be very similar shades of white and its hard to see separate things... like headings to click on as they are just text on white background on white screen... sorry hard to explain.  If there was a background colour behind them its easier to see they are separate things to click on.

11 hours ago, JJGreen said:

11 hours ago, JJGreen said:

 

 

I didn't say or hint either of those things.

Another poster made up some stuff in his head he wanted me to have said. You have taken his fantasy as fact. Very odd

But thanks for proving my point about people who feel the need to justify themselves... unasked
 

 

 

 

You did say you have yet to meet someone who drinks that is able to control the amount they drink, which would suggest that person has an alcohol problem, or is an alcoholic. 

You did say that if people drink alcohol they have next day tiredness .. and for days after, and slowed down brain function.  An average person drinking a moderate amount will not suffer these problems.........

Also, what is all this stuff you keep on about saying people have to 'justify themselves', like you think they are committing a  crime or a sin? 

You come across as someone who has a problem with alcohol and is trying to put down anyone who drinks it.  You are either some religious freak or you yourself have n alcohol problem.

Why else would YOU 'feel the need to justify yourself' in putting down anyone who drinks alcohol?

I

11 hours ago, JJGreen said:

 

 

1 hour ago, JJGreen said:

 

 

What problems dude? Next day tiredness and for days following? Slowdown of brain functions. Lighter wallet?

Yet to meet a guy or girl who defends their drinking who can actually control it.

Anyone who truly controls it doesn't give it much thought and wouldn't bother to comment to defend themselves and drinkers in general

 

I don't drink and get drunk.  I drink in moderation.  So I don't get hangovers, aching heads and slowed down brain function or a much lighter wallet.  I know my limit and stick to it, unless its a special thing like Christmas or a big birthday party, even then I don't go over the top, perhaps just a bit groggy the next day.. and this is perhaps only 5 or 6 times in a year!

Why don't you think people who drink can control themselves? 

If you had a problem with alcohol in the past and had to give it up then I can understand.  But the for vast majority of people drinking a little alcohol in social situations is not a problem and a very enjoyable experience. 

I don't know why you commented on this thread hinting that all people who consume any alcohol are alcoholics, unless you just wanted to start silly arguments.

If you can't have one drink without going crazy and over the top drunk then that's you personal problem. 

Get used to it.  It can be a lot worse... come to my house and your ears will actually hurt when the temple is playing its old Thai pop music for hours at a time in a loop, before the monk starts shouting out orders for money and food and telling everyone how evil they are.

We have to leave the house at 5.15 am as its torture to stay in. No ear plugs, loud TV or other attempts can make the noise reduce.. even the walls are vibrating.  then it all starts up again for a couple hours in the afternoon.  At night the place is not lit up like a fairground with bright powerful lights shining into our windows.  

No one will complain about a temple.  They are immune, and seem to be outside the law. We now have out house up for sale........

The man should have the death sentence. There are no excuses for his actions. Even if mentally ill that man will always be a danger to other children. The death sentence is not cruel or barbaric if done properly.

The women needs to be imprisoned. We don't know what was going through her mind. Perhaps she was afraid of the man, perhaps she was working here as an illegal immigrant and feared arrest and being separated from the baby. Maybe the hot water thing was a mistake, Who knows, but its her duty as a mother to do the right thing, even if she abandoned the baby at the hospital... to keep the poor child suffering all that time is not forgivable and totally selfish.

I hope that baby survives and is not put back into such danger again.

Recently our water in Isaan often smells like burning rubber and plastic. To bathe in it irritates your skin and makes your hair very dry and bristly, its bad enough that we bathe in it, drinking it, especially when the water red-lines and also smells like paint thinner, and I am sure you would end up in hospital. Our dogs and plants get rainwater and we have to drink bottled water. RO filters are also not good for the environment, the filter residue is highly toxic.

A new water tower was built in our village last year, a huge towering structure, easily the tallest thing for miles around, to help with water shortages and water pressure, we endured many days of water cuts during the hottest days of the year while village volunteers tried to connect pipe and make the connection to the storage towerr only to have the whole project run out of money. We were told no money would be forthcoming in the foreseeble future and that we would have to make do on whatever we could improvise. If I am not mistaken, the old water cisterns and set up has been cleared away and now the new one won't be functioning, there's worse than nothing left. We will be installing our rainwater collection and filtration system at I'm sure a great expense, those without money to do that will be suffering for years with unacceptably polluted and erratic water. Drink up!

This sounds very similar to what happened in our village in Chiang Mai.

Our water was very bad, and the supply often went off for days, even in the wet season. When it came back on it would be grey / black, full of black particles and smelled like engine oil.

The village got money to install more blue pipes and sort out the filtration problems. During many weeks we had virtually no water while they were working on it.

After it was finished the water was WORSE than before.. but we had 24 hours supply of the filthy smelly stuff.

It was not safe to drink, or even bath in. We got regular village updates over the loudspeakers telling people the water was not safe, and the TEMPLE was giving out free chemicals and filter stuff to make the water safe to bath in and wash clothes.. but still not to drink.

In the end they dug up the pipes and found that whoever had installed all the new equipment had used substandard, cheap materials, and also botched up the job badly. The inquired where all the money had goes for this project as the materials and work done had obviously cost next to nothing.

Surprise.. the money had vanished and no one was found accountable.

We had to live with the worse than before water.. but they did manage to improve it somewhat.. but and told us it was now safe to drink. I won't chance it.

During the worst time I took a shower and got a really bad skin reaction / infection all over my neck and back and had to go to the hospital to get treatment. I have no proof, but I suspect this came from the dirty water as I have never had a problem like that before or since.

Last week I was pleasantly surprised to see diggers and workmen installing more blue pipes and taps in the village main street.. so hopefully, finally the water will be better.

Maybe in Bangkok city its OK.

But here in Chiang Mai, out in the villages, its not

I have 'city water' pumped from the village well to our house. Many months of the year is off as not enough in the well.

When it is running it changes in appearance and smell often. Sometime clear and clean, other times grey or tinted yellow with lots of black particles in it.

As another poster says, pipes are often cracked or not joined together properly, allowing soil dirt and run off water from the roads and ditches to enter it.

Out water meter blocked up. When taken apart to clean lots of smelly slime poured out onto the ground. I would never drink this water, it even stained out white clothes brown.

Telling everyone to drink the tap water as a blanket statement regardless of where they live seems a bit risky.