Noisy Neighbours

[nisei23]

The woman in the apartment opposite mine is such a nuisance, I work from home and she makes so much noise if she's not blasting out power ballads with her karoake machine, she has her TV and Radio so loud I can hear it in my apartment, sometimes it hard for to get any work done. I've complained to the aprtment manager several times and everytime she goes quiet but it never lasts more than a day or a few hours.

This is driving me crazy, is there anything I can do about this?

[Crossy]

Headphones with soothing noises, whale music

Trying to get noisy neighbours to can-it is a nightmare anywhere, in Thailand, forget it

[alaina]

It would help if it's not just you complaining. Thais are very tolerant of the noise of others and it may not be enough to bother the other neighbors. Generally, cooking smells bother them more than noise.

But, there is a limit to the amount of noise that they put up with and once again, generally, the higher the rent the less they tolerate. Some children were riding their bikes and ringing their bells in my apartment hallways early on weekends I thought since they were cute kids that there was no use in complaining about it, but several neighbors did complain and it was stopped.

So, see if it bothers any of the others in the building and if not, you can try making Indian food with the door open and see what comes of it.

Edited February 11, 2008 by alaina

[lazeeboy]

face your speakers towards her and blast her ,and go out

[Murf]

Ask if any other rooms are free and if they can move you for free... or you will move out.

[Furbie]

The woman in the apartment opposite mine is such a nuisance, I work from home and she makes so much noise if she's not blasting out power ballads with her karoake machine, she has her TV and Radio so loud I can hear it in my apartment, sometimes it hard for to get any work done. I've complained to the aprtment manager several times and everytime she goes quiet but it never lasts more than a day or a few hours.

This is driving me crazy, is there anything I can do about this?

Have you spoken with her?

[PadThaiGuy]

Thais like noise. The more the better.

If you do find a quiet place... hang onto it. Very rare.

[jasreeve17]

I feel sorry for you, but you'd better get used to it.

Noise pollution is rife here, particularly in lower priced blocks. I live in a cheap apartment in a Thai area, and it's like living in one big house; babies, surround sound, arguments, workmen - any time of the day or night. They just don't care.

I'm thinking about moving to a rich Thai apartment block (if they let me in), paying treble the cost and improving my quality of life.

Good luck, and don't get involved (they will likely be vindictive against the outsider - you).

[nisei23]

Thanks for the all the responses to this.

It's filipino couple, he works and she doesn't I have actually tried talking to her, the first time it happened I politely aske her if she could turn it down and she was very rude to me, the second time she just slammed the door in my face.

I don't anyone else could complain because I think the people in the apartment next to hers are out all day so it's just me that get's disturbed by this, although sometimes she starts up at 5am when my wife gets up so she is going to complain.

I have tried the speakers option, I blast a repetitive song at her for 2 mins at high volume and after the 3rd or 4th go she usually turns it down, I guess it's like rubbing a dogs nose in sh*t, eventually she realizes she shouldn't do it

[jasreeve17]

Thanks for the all the responses to this.

It's filipino couple, he works and she doesn't I have actually tried talking to her, the first time it happened I politely aske her if she could turn it down and she was very rude to me, the second time she just slammed the door in my face.

I don't anyone else could complain because I think the people in the apartment next to hers are out all day so it's just me that get's disturbed by this, although sometimes she starts up at 5am when my wife gets up so she is going to complain.

I have tried the speakers option, I blast a repetitive song at her for 2 mins at high volume and after the 3rd or 4th go she usually turns it down, I guess it's like rubbing a dogs nose in sh*t, eventually she realizes she shouldn't do it

If they are non Thai they will get put in their place soon enough. Different rules for outsiders. Leave it to your Thai neighbours to sort out - they will.

[candoman89]

Play a really obnoxious song (the candy man can by Sammy Davis Junior comes to mind) really loud for a long time (you say you only blast it for a few minutes). Blast it continuously until someone complains then state the obvious....I am trying to drown out the people next door.

[Wolfie]

System-of-a-down, full blast, speakers facing her wall (as close to the wall as you can get it) - turn it all on and then go out for some lunch/dinner. Repeat until she complains.

Alternativly, if you know the guy who lives there works, just repeat the above method at a time inconvenient for him...

this might get you into a little trouble, but it should have a certain satisfaction level

[backflip]

When I first moved to BKK, I rented a cheap apartment, and my next door neighbors were a bunch of students from France. They loved loud music from 9P to 3A, and the building manager couldn't help. I spoke with them, and they ignored by pleas. I like to get up early, 6A or so, and I started to play disco music loudly. Within a couple days, the French students asked me to turn down the music and we struck a bargain: if they wanted to party past 10P, they would go elsewhere. Problem solved.

[britmaveric]

Ramstein at Full Blast might stop the annoying neighbor.

[selftaopath]

I feel sorry for you, but you'd better get used to it.

Noise pollution is rife here, particularly in lower priced blocks. I live in a cheap apartment in a Thai area, and it's like living in one big house; babies, surround sound, arguments, workmen - any time of the day or night. They just don't care.

I'm thinking about moving to a rich Thai apartment block (if they let me in), paying treble the cost and improving my quality of life.

Good luck, and don't get involved (they will likely be vindictive against the outsider - you).

Thanks for your post; I have experienced similiar situations. I wonder if there is NO such thing as CONSIDERATION to other people in Thailand? How a/b this one: there is a very large outdoor bar at Thonglor and Petchaburi which NEVER closes. I can not count how many times there "music/singing" etc has woken me up at 2am, 3am,4am,5am. Oh and the noise can be heard two blocks away. Maybe it is owned by a "respected" person who, like your neighor, is SPECIAL and devoid of such trivial matters as caring about or respecting "other people."

[PadThaiGuy]

I had noisy neighbors a while ago.

This couple would stagger in at 4AM every nite and fight like hel_l.

Screaming bloody murder all the way thru the parking lot, stomping up the stairs, slamming doors, breaking things...went on for two or 3 hours, almost every nite!

When I complained, the biatch threatened me with her Police brother and friends at Immigration.

[jingjoke]

The woman in the apartment opposite mine is such a nuisance, I work from home and she makes so much noise if she's not blasting out power ballads with her karoake machine, she has her TV and Radio so loud I can hear it in my apartment, sometimes it hard for to get any work done. I've complained to the aprtment manager several times and everytime she goes quiet but it never lasts more than a day or a few hours.

This is driving me crazy, is there anything I can do about this?

Get her phone number, then try to determine when they sleep (probably when the music dies down each night). Pass the number to your friends too who ,at the most inconvenient times (to your neighbour) ,use a street phone to call, wait until she or her husband answers, say nothing, and then hang up. Obviously do not mention the noise she is making as she will soon know it's you. This may prove inconvenient using a street phone at say 3 AM every couple of days but it is immensely satisfying. Whenever you or your friends are out into the wee hours just dial up the filipino noise freak; have your friends pass along the number to their friends and so on, and simply say it is a joke (less they inadvertently spill the beans). Do not use your mobile or home phone as the numbers show up on hers. Pass the number around to some Thai teens - whomever - and provide a tip for a certain number of calls. Pause for a week or two and then start phoning again. Keep it up until the noise abates; or even if the noise does stop wait until you are satisfied which may be never. Good luck....

Edited February 13, 2008 by jingjoke

[kiakaha]

I have the Muppet Show greatest hits album on cassette tape. There is this great song, by Gonzo I believe, sung by a bunch of chickens. Blast this back at her 24/7 at 100 decibels and I promise she'll swan dive off her balcony.

[Furbie]

Some of you people must live in some cheap ass buildings. Pay a little more and move up in the world.

Despite issues with outside noise (which management may not wish to involve themselves with unless forced to), I have almost never had management fail to act on a noisy neighbor issue - in all cases, I found I was not the first to complain. As I have said before, middle class and upper class Thais will complain long before a Westerner decides to take action.

[Furbie]

I had noisy neighbors a while ago.

This couple would stagger in at 4AM every nite and fight like hel_l.

Screaming bloody murder all the way thru the parking lot, stomping up the stairs, slamming doors, breaking things...went on for two or 3 hours, almost every nite!

When I complained, the biatch threatened me with her Police brother and friends at Immigration.

Did she also have a cousin in the royal family? How easily cowed you are. If you are here legally, you should have no worries.

[submaniac]

I have the Muppet Show greatest hits album on cassette tape. There is this great song, by Gonzo I believe, sung by a bunch of chickens. Blast this back at her 24/7 at 100 decibels and I promise she'll swan dive off her balcony.

I have this album too. Second greatest album ever after "Dark Side of the Moon".

[siamesekitty]

I have the Muppet Show greatest hits album on cassette tape. There is this great song, by Gonzo I believe, sung by a bunch of chickens. Blast this back at her 24/7 at 100 decibels and I promise she'll swan dive off her balcony.

I have this album too. Second greatest album ever after "Dark Side of the Moon".

Ohmigod... ME WANT!!

(the album, that is, not the swan dive over the balcony)

[siamesekitty]

... if she's not blasting out power ballads with her karoake machine, she has her TV and Radio so loud I can hear it in my apartment...

Try recording her when she's singing off-key on her karaoke machine, then do the stereos-turned-towards-her-apartment-at-full-blast thing with the recording playing over and over again.

Of course, you might want to leave your apartment for a while during that time, for your own mental health's sake.

[Hawkup2000]

... if she's not blasting out power ballads with her karoake machine, she has her TV and Radio so loud I can hear it in my apartment...

Try recording her when she's singing off-key on her karaoke machine, then do the stereos-turned-towards-her-apartment-at-full-blast thing with the recording playing over and over again.

Of course, you might want to leave your apartment for a while during that time, for your own mental health's sake.

I lay my wote in this one or the system of down suggestion. And as someone said, Rammstein is requires a special taste, a taste a young filipina certainly not have. You can find it on youtube. The lowkey, but yet disturbing, alternatie would be to find a clip on youtube with a crying baby. Crank it up. Who can complain about a crying baby? If they would complain; "Sorry you woke my baby up. He don´t like your singingvioce".

[Wolfie]

The lowkey, but yet disturbing, alternatie would be to find a clip on youtube with a crying baby. Crank it up. Who can complain about a crying baby? If they would complain; "Sorry you woke my baby up. He don´t like your singingvioce".

Now i like that idea!

[01322521959]

I had noisy neighbors a while ago.

This couple would stagger in at 4AM every nite and fight like hel_l.

Screaming bloody murder all the way thru the parking lot, stomping up the stairs, slamming doors, breaking things...went on for two or 3 hours, almost every nite!

When I complained, the biatch threatened me with her Police brother and friends at Immigration.

Not just me then,,, Today I got so fed-up with a kid two doors down from me who seamed to scream every few minutes, that I went out shouting loudly as I slammed my door, "bloody noise" well, it made me feel better. On my return the father saw me and asked "do you have a problem with my kid?" I was quite shocked and couldn't think of anything to say. Felt quite angry with myself afterwards for not saying anything. Anybody else had the same problem and how did you sort it out? I was thinking of putting some of that triangular acoustic foam on my door to cut the noise from this noisy room. Has anybody tried it?

[XpatJohn]

If noise from your neighbors bothers you, don't ever move to China. haha

Every morning at 5:00AM I am treated to blaring Chinese music as a horde of sword wielding seniors practice tai chi for 90 minutes. Even though I am on the 11th floor of my apartment building, I can distinctly hear normal volume conversations from half a block away. When the neighbors phone goes off, I instinctively reach for my own since our ringtones are similar.

Then there is the absolute bane of any Chinese apartment dwellers existence. The hammer drill. I think every apartment building by law must hire at least 3 of these sadistic block-heads that will use the hammer drill at random times day and night. These things cause the very walls of the entire building to vibrate. And it is impossible to track down where the offending driller is because the building itself acts as a speaker system for the noise.

And all this (and oh, so much more) happens at the high-end place where I live. In China, money doesn't buy you a better class of neighbors.

Sorry, I know this is off topic, I understand that it is not nice to have noisy neighbors. By perspective, it seems like a huge step up from where I am now.

[differentbutsamesame]

Confront the husband and tell him to control his bitch. Then gang up with your neighbours and beat him up.

Otherwise just move out and go live in a decent building, it sounds like you live in some cheap place so you get what you pay for.

[3SoiDogNight]

I'm dealling with the same issue at my place. Cost of the place has nothing to do with it. This is a problem on the high-end as well.

One of my neighboirs is a Thai Airways flight attendant and she is one of the most low-class, tackiest neighbors in the building. I've met bar girls with more class and respect than her. She sings her karaoke machine really loud and yells & screams at her mother. Mind you she is in a 40sq. meter studio. Another noisy brat is the son of a very large rubber plantation in northern Thailand who thinks it's perfectly fine to blast his home theater system at 2:00AM on a work night. He even earned a Masters degree from USC - an elite American University. That is out of reach for most Thais unless they have a LOT of money.

Then there is a family down the hall that leaves their front door open all day & night. I can hear dishes clinking around in the kitchen, doors slamming, loud TV and I can even hear when they're taking a dump in the toilet. Yes they leave their bathroom door open too! It is so embarassing and my building has a lot of well to do Thai people.

I've complained several times but they seem to forget within a 48 hour period. I've complained to property management and their attitude was that these noise makers owned their condo and since I was a renter, I couldn't do anything. Nevermind the fact that I'm looking to buy a condo in this very buidling and I am looking at larger, more expensive places than these noise-makers in the smaller studios. I'll most likely get ripped off and pay the Farang price.

I just may hold out and find another building all together. I do however like being close to work. Not too many choices in Ratchyothin.

I've looked in other buildings and even in the really high-end places, I still see the tacky, low-class people that leave their front door open with a mountain of shoes piled up. I would think in a building with condos selling for more than 20 million baht, people would have some class and want to have some privacy. Was Thailand always like this?

Any advice is appreciated.

[MrJohnson]

I'm dealling with the same issue at my place. Cost of the place has nothing to do with it. This is a problem on the high-end as well.

One of my neighboirs is a Thai Airways flight attendant and she is one of the most low-class, tackiest neighbors in the building. I've met bar girls with more class and respect than her. She sings her karaoke machine really loud and yells & screams at her mother. Mind you she is in a 40sq. meter studio. Another noisy brat is the son of a very large rubber plantation in northern Thailand who thinks it's perfectly fine to blast his home theater system at 2:00AM on a work night. He even earned a Masters degree from USC - an elite American University. That is out of reach for most Thais unless they have a LOT of money.

Then there is a family down the hall that leaves their front door open all day & night. I can hear dishes clinking around in the kitchen, doors slamming, loud TV and I can even hear when they're taking a dump in the toilet. Yes they leave their bathroom door open too! It is so embarassing and my building has a lot of well to do Thai people.

I've complained several times but they seem to forget within a 48 hour period. I've complained to property management and their attitude was that these noise makers owned their condo and since I was a renter, I couldn't do anything. Nevermind the fact that I'm looking to buy a condo in this very buidling and I am looking at larger, more expensive places than these noise-makers in the smaller studios. I'll most likely get ripped off and pay the Farang price.

I just may hold out and find another building all together. I do however like being close to work. Not too many choices in Ratchyothin.

I've looked in other buildings and even in the really high-end places, I still see the tacky, low-class people that leave their front door open with a mountain of shoes piled up. I would think in a building with condos selling for more than 20 million baht, people would have some class and want to have some privacy. Was Thailand always like this?

Any advice is appreciated.

Here's some advice. Don't buy. Rent. Long term it is a much better prospect. When/if things go sour you can always up and move. eg. noisy neighbors, construction site next door, karaoke bar opens next door, etc. Renting here is very different to the west. You can do pretty much whatever you like to the apartment i.e. paint it etc. I don't event think you will get very good capitol return on real estate investments here. Good luck.