Call For Less Clamour In City Blasted With Noise

[george]

QUIET BANGKOK CLUB

Call for less clamour in city blasted with noise

Strident, irrelevant advertising having an effect on health

BANGKOK: -- The Quiet Bangkok Club, a group of some 500 Bangkok residents concerned with the increase of noise and its impact on health, will organise visits to quiet, pleasant places in Bangkok to raise public awareness about the intense noise pollution in the capital city.

The decision was reached after some of the members met yesterday at Wat Pathumvanaram, a city-centre temple which is flanked by mega-malls on both sides and a Skytrain route in front.

"We are concerned about the health hazard posed by the threat which is reducing the quality of life," said Uthong Kovindha, a core member of the club and a lecturer in philosophy at Thammasat University. "We want to do something before it's too late. Children today can't concentrate, and they show increasing signs of erratic behaviour due to the noise pollution, which affects their psychological state."

Another leading member, Oraya Sutabutr, also a lecturer at Thammasat University, said people in Bangkok found it hard to know themselves or search within their souls. The constant noise such as the prevalence of loud, irrelevant advertising on public transport like the Skytrain takes away their concentration and peace of mind. "It is everywhere, and many people still do not realise it is a problem," she said.

Kritika Lertsawat, a former official at the Department of Pollution Control and a member of the group, said that in some department stores it was difficult to have a conversation without shouting. She said that if people had a hard time hearing one another at a range of one metre, then the background noise was too high and long exposure could lead to stress, psychological damage and permanent hearing impairment.

One trip to be organised in the future will be dubbed "Bangkok Oasis Tour". Some members of the group want to launch a more adversarial approach through protests against business operators that thoughtlessly subject the public and customers to noise, but it appears that the majority of the club membe rs want a quieter approach to address the issue.

-- The Nation 2007-04-29

[leisurely]

Now that is a worthwhile cause. I really agree with the comment about shopping centres. I find Seacon to be the worst of all and avoid it as far as I can. Central is almost as bad, particularly when there are two women shouting inanities at each other or a particularly loud piece of video on the wall of telly screens in the middle. Add that to the individual shops who each play music at a volume to make your ears bleed and I do become disorientated.

Maybe my kids are right, I am becoming a miserable old trout

[The Skipper]

The noise is intolerable in some shopping centers.

When going to Big-C or others places, I see they turn on all the TVs, stereos, with lots of yelling into the PA system, all on top of the music / commercials coming from the stores entertainment system. The commercials played are laced with all kinds of irritating noises, explosions, bonks, bams, boings, crashes, like some giant video game.

Even at Ocean World, (which in my opinion shoud be tranquil) they have workers screaming into the PA systems.

I guess the worst is the California WOW jerks that put huge speakers on the sidewalks outside their establishments.

I notice allot of my Thai friends seem to suffer from hearing loss.

[marquess]

They could start by getting rid of those annoying TVs on the BTS, both on the train (especially) and on the platform! I can't see the campaign having much success, as people seem to love loud noises here!

[KireB]

Most Thais seem to enjoy the noise!

I've to agree with the fact that Seacon beats it all.

What a noise, it hurts the ears.

When I go shopping I go at 10 in the morning and see it as a militairy operation.

In out as fast as I can! Before they turn on their microphones!

[vermin on arrival]

I wish these protestors much success. As time goes on here in the LOS the noise pollution gets worse and worse.

The attempt to make the skytrain one big advertisement with large screen tvs at every station and monitors on the trains(not to mention the physical ads on every inch of spare space including the trains) has been decreasing the quality of the service which enabled you to avoid the hubbub of the traffic on the streets. Siam station is the worst with the large speakers blaring out the commercials. When the monitors on trains are on, the volume is at a level so that you can hear the commercials over the sound of the train, eliminating the potential for a peaceful ride. This is crass commercialism at its worst and I'm sure not what attracted people to Thailand when they first came here.

In the evening, I find the food court areas at MBK and Emporium to be so loud between the hubbub of the crowd and the blaring of the music that I don't even want to use the facilities. MBK food court is especially bad with the large screen tvs blasting out whatever dross they do. I only find that most malls, etc are tolerable when they are used midafternoon or morning(beteween 10 and 3) on the weekdays or after 9PM. It's a shame they shortened the operating hours of department stores under Thaksin as these were the best times to do any shopping with peace and quiet.

I think I'm ready for the a move to the provinces.

[ratcatcher]

Is it possible that Thais equate noise with progress and thus civilization?

After all it's not at all noisy in the rice fields is it?

[0Mix1up]

Definitely noisy.

Great sometimes cause it feels so vibrant, bad other times

That why music players are popular/important you can create your own space.

[FreedomDude]

So where do we sign up for the Quiet Bangkok Club? They don't seem to have a website. Anybody know?

[wpcoe]

One of the big reasons I left Bangkok was the noise (the other big reason was air pollution).

I currently live in relatively rural Jomtien on a soi far removed from Sukhumvit and Jomtien Beach Roads, and at night it is blissfully quiet (with clean, fresh air blown in from the gulf). During the day only a bit noisier with passing motorbikes and buses.

Bangkok, OTOH, was noise after noise after noise. Noise from the traffic. Noise on the SkyTrain. I think even Tesco and Carrefour were noisier in Bangkok than in Pattaya. It didn't help that the house across the street from my Bangkok apartment kept chickens, and the roosters would begin crowing as early as 0300. The dogs would start barking around 0600.

With the rate of development of the Jomtien area, I fear my days of relative quiet are numbered, but until then I will enjoy it. I don't mind side-stepping around cobras when I go for my walks around then neighborhood. Well, I *do* mind the cobras, but at least they don't make noise.

[Bottlerocket]

It's only going to get worse. There will be no where left to run. Population is going up, not down. More people, more noise, more cars, more production, more pollution, more everything. Once again, people focused on irrelevant matters that can't and won't be changed.

[Ijustwannateach]

Complaints and boycotts do sometimes work. Get a movement on to boycott any products advertised by BTS, any shops with loud music playing or touts shouting, etc., etc. They can't force you to buy there.

[thailien8]

The recent Money Expo at Sirikit Convention Center was unbearable to me. I had some questions to ask, but the amplified jabbering by the girls with microphones was painful to the ears. They never shut up in the brief time I was there. I couldn't speak over them, couldn't hear who I was trying to talk with, couldn't think, couldn't get out of there fast enough. This shrill loud yapping is a regular feature of shows and events like this. I pity the people stuck all day at booths near these miked-up shriekers.

[Florin]

The noise levels around here are definitely way too much...can barely hear the person calling me on the phone when in a shopping mall...I guess it's also due to the low ambiental noise the Thais make when talking, they need to fill up that air with SOMETHING

[Scott]

Well, I suggest you all spend a stint in Hong Kong if you think Bangkok is noisy! Now with that said, I am certainly in favor of anything that reduces the noise pollution in the city. It's absolutely terrible and it has an extremely bad affect on people--both physically and psychologically.

Where I live, it is rather quiet and reasonably serene. My mood is generally good at home. When I get into the city, I can feel the tension rising, I usually have to take antiacid tablets etc.

I think some of this comes from the Buddhist idea of tolerance. People have tolerated noise for so long. It's now, however, at the point where it's not tolerable or healthy.

Best of luck to this group.