Why?

[fishtank]

Once again my life is being blighted by excessive noise.

Got woke up this morning at 5.30 by ear shattering distorted "music".

Got this now for another five days.

As usual the last day will be total hell.

Will have to get out for the day.

 

If they want to have 5 days of monks and music cos someone is brown bread.

No problem.

Why does it have to be so ridiculously loud and distorted?

Surely anyone interested will go there anyway.

Why does everyone for miles around have to suffer?

 

I have yet to find anyone who can tell me why.

They just look at me as though I am nuts.

 

Thais must be the most selfish and inconsiderate people on the planet.

I can think of no other explanation.

 

[transam]

How can they be selfish and inconsiderate if the Thai population all do it.....????

 

Do you need to be reminded you are not in your own country, though I suspect Muslim countries may give you an early morning call......

[PatOngo]

Why?

 

It's a cultural trait, you'll never change it!

[VocalNeal]

The "WHY" is. Why did you choose to live within earshot of a Wat?

 

Wat did expect would happen. 

[Moonlover]

Instant fix. Always have them on your nightstand.

 

[essox essox]

3 minutes ago, Moonlover said:

Instant fix. Always have them on your nightstand.

 

these do NOT work well.....have tried many times can still hear the noise which one is trying to erradicate

[worgeordie]

Not as bad as "Battling speakers" at malls and fairs,each one

trying to outdo the other,.

regards worgeordie

[RichardColeman]

1 hour ago, fishtank said:

Why does it have to be so ridiculously loud and distorted?

Have you ever had to wake mass drunks up ? 

[fishtank]

14 minutes ago, RichardColeman said:

Have you ever had to wake mass drunks up ? 

 Especially when they are all deaf through to much noise.

[fishtank]

1 hour ago, VocalNeal said:

The "WHY" is. Why did you choose to live within earshot of a Wat?

 

Wat did expect would happen. 

Who mentioned anything about Wats?

[fishtank]

52 minutes ago, essox essox said:

these do NOT work well.....have tried many times can still hear the noise which one is trying to erradicate

Yes they don’t work.

I have expensive ear plugs and Bose noise cancelling headphones in use together.

can still hear the racket.

[guru]

The "WHY" is. Why did you choose to live within earshot of a Wat?
 
Wat did expect would happen. 

The 5 day noisy funeral party, gambling and chanting monks can happen at the family home of the deceased which may be nowhere near a temple.

[fishtank]

1 hour ago, PatOngo said:

Why?

 

It's a cultural trait, you'll never change it!

What did they do before electricity and Glastonbury size speaker stacks?

[Hayduke]

Why?

 

Because...the more noise you make, the more fun you're having.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[VocalNeal]

9 minutes ago, guru said:

The 5 day noisy funeral party, gambling and chanting monks can happen at the family home of the deceased which may be nowhere near a temple.

But more likely at a temple. Best not to live too close.

[thaiguzzi]

1 hour ago, fishtank said:

Why does it have to be so ridiculously loud and distorted?

Because they can.

[CharlieH]

Get some of your favorite music in your phone, get a Bluetooth earphone/ear buds and your all sorted. ????

It's a way of life here, you won't change it, so you need to adapt, that's all there is to it.

 

Change your attitude toward it, as nothing else can be changed.

[guru]

But more likely at a temple. Best not to live too close.

I can only speak from my wife’s village where every funeral I’ve attended over the years has been held in a family home with food, music, gambling and chanting monks over a number of days with the body then being transported from the home for cremation at the local temple. Those funerals I attended in Bangkok were just one day at a temple for the cremation.

[Tayaout]

Try noise canceling headphone. 

[fishtank]

2 minutes ago, Tayaout said:

Try noise canceling headphone. 

I have Bose top of the range. They help a bit but not a lot.

[fishtank]

What gets me is if you are ever unfortunate enough to find yourself at one of these events they always give you a chair next to the speakers as though it is an honour to have your hearing damaged.

[PatOngo]

45 minutes ago, fishtank said:

What did they do before electricity and Glastonbury size speaker stacks?

Banged on drums and blew trumpets.....live music!

[thasoss]

In the main thais are not affected by noise like westerners,it doesn't bother them like it does us.

You just have to put up with it,or get out of dodge.

[KiChakayan]

1 hour ago, fishtank said:

Who mentioned anything about Wats?

The OP was complaining about noise. Hence too many Watts. He also mentioned distortion, which implies non-linear Watts. Or non-linear Watt output, to be correct.

[Isaanbiker]

30 minutes ago, fishtank said:

What gets me is if you are ever unfortunate enough to find yourself at one of these events they always give you a chair next to the speakers as though it is an honour to have your hearing damaged.

That's perhaps only because nobody else wants to sit there. And nobody will hear the noise that's coming out of your mouth.....????

[ballpoint]

Five days seems a bit long.  Funerals in our neck of the fields go on for two or three, depending on who snuffed it.  They start with a day of the standard funeral tune (as in the YouTube link), which is not bass heavy, and easy to drown / filter out, while the body lies in an open coffin.  They don't want that to go on for too long in the heat.  Then the monks chant and the coffin is transferred to a refrigerated outer casing, and then there will be a night of loud music, though, again in our neck of the fields, this only goes on till around 22:00 if it's an old person who's died.  Next day is the procession to the wat, and usually more music that night.  After that, it's all over, unless the deceased was a young guy, in which case his buddies may want to continue partying for another day or two, or it was someone 'important", so they go on a bit longer to show how "important" he was.

 

Weddings are another story...

 

In my younger days, a friend and I would actually seek out parties and go along to strut our stuff on the dance floor.  I remember one night, me riding my old dirt bike, him on the back, crossing the fields because we could faintly hear some music from a distant village that neither of us had ever been to before.   The look of delight on the party goer's faces as two young farang guys crashed their party and joined in the fun was priceless, and really makes me appreciate the joy that most Thais have in life.  Now, unfortunately, as I grow older, I hide in my house.  I have speakers and a sub-woofer beside my bed, and there are some very good free white noise apps on the Google Play Store, which do a good job of drowning the music out, without actually having to be too loud.  If the party is closer to home, and shakes the house, then I'll make a tactical retreat to a local hotel or resort for a night or two, or turn it into an excuse to go a bit further on my motorbike for a few days.

 

I don't know what they used to do in the distant past, but I've been visiting the village I now live in since before it had electricity, and back then they used to have a truck with generator and speakers come in to provide the noise.  You must remember, for many people in villages and small towns, these events are the only time they can blow off some steam, much as my friend and I used to do in the good old days.

 

 

[fishtank]

Five days is the norm up here.

sometimes when you think it is all over you get careoke or an open air cinema blasting  into the early hours.

[fishtank]

I have a small Sonos speaker in my garden. Loud enough for anybody.

[OneMoreFarang]

"Why" implies that there is some logic involved.

There is no logic in Thailand!

Get used to it and life is a lot easier. 

[jak2002003]

 

1 hour ago, VocalNeal said:

But more likely at a temple. Best not to live too close.

BUT it's not a temple is it... read the OP again!  Also Thai funerals are more often held at family homes... and weddings always are.. same as other parties... not at a temple. 

1 hour ago, guru said:

I can only speak from my wife’s village where every funeral I’ve attended over the years has been held in a family home with food, music, gambling and chanting monks over a number of days with the body then being transported from the home for cremation at the local temple. Those funerals I attended in Bangkok were just one day at a temple for the cremation.

Same here.  Funerals are usually only at a temple if the family is too poor or did not have enough resources to hold it at their own home.

46 minutes ago, thasoss said:

In the main thais are not affected by noise like westerners,it doesn't bother them like it does us.

You just have to put up with it,or get out of dodge.

This is still a battle for me.  I have super sensitive hearing and so you can imagine that loud music (particularly base) drives me mad.  Base can also still be felt / heard through sound blocking headphones and ear plugs.  

 

For me I can put up with it if it was for a reasonable time.  But here in Thailand once the noise starts up its usually not just a one off evening party... it can go on for days, day and night, morning and evening.. and randomly going off (so I thin it all over and feel relived) and then starting back up again.  After midnight its usually quite or soon stops, but then there are the drunk people shouting and arguing, talking and knocking over things, or revving their motor bikes and cars up.  

 

Even one party is over its just as likely someone else in the street will then start their own, or the village will have a festival or something.  It really is the one thing that could make me leave here.