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How to get a local wat to not play a loud single song every day?


boomerangutang

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Only 2 x 15 minutes per day - Lucky you. In my soi, they have put speakers for every 50 meters and play old Thai songs before the national anthem, and for and hour or so in the morning and an hour or so in the evening, local politicians speak (shout) to the residents. Thai´s seems not to care about loud noise, so I guess no chance to stop it. If I don´t like the voice of the microphone ladies in the supermarket and shopping mall´s, I go to spend my money elsewhere (happened often).

So if you don´t like the sound of your neighbourhood, the best solution is to move to somewhere else. The temple probably was there before you. I once almost bought a luxury condo in The Pano BKK, but before signing the contract, I visited the place morning midday and early evening, just to listen to the neighbourhood. And luckily I found that the local temple next to the condominium was speaking and playing music very loudly every morning and evening, right in front of "our" balcony, so I happily cancelled my plans to buy that condo.

Now I just live in a village in another noisy part of Bangkok, where the biggest problem is some of the neighbours dogs, barking and howling all day, when they are left alone in the garden, while the owners goes to work.

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Moving may not help, every chance they'll start to do it in the new place. "Noise pollution" from a variety of sources (Wats, parties etc; in my village the village chief has taken to blaring sounds and announcements at an ungodly hour) is a fact of life in Thailand.

I keep earplugs by my bed.

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Why Thai's seem to like loud distorted music/sound, has always been a mystery to me. Even when school have special events like Children's Day the music for the kids performing is so loud and distorted, it hurts ones ears when close to the speakers.

Edited by metisdead
Bold font removed, please do not make it a habit to post in bold fonts.
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sound doesnt travel for 12km so there must be a speaker close to your house

sever the power cable or short it out with a pin (that will take so long to fix they probably wont since they wont know

why its not working wink.png )

make sure nobody sees you doing this biggrin.png

Oh yes, it (sound) does “travel” 12+ km under the right conditions...!

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OP, be happy your live in an area with a Buddhist temple and not a mosque (no offence) – a Thai neighbor could also play loud music or speech for hours from early morning before sunrise – do you think everybody loves the bell noise from “our” churches...? w00t.gif

Buddhist temples are part of Thailand, and we all knew that before moving in here, so we either accept it or live with it – even it may be irritating from some Westerners point of view (hearing) – or move on.

By the way, I know many who love the voice of the monk’s chanting in the early mornings – including myself – which can also be heard from temples several kilometers away, that’s part of the amazing Thailand we come here for. smile.png

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I have indeed given this a lot of thought, sound travels better over water you know, so I had plenty of time to plan the demise.

there is a book known as the cookbook. It may anarchist cookbook. It provides you with instructions on the boombox, you set that up next to the temples sound equipment then run.

I like the pin in the wiring though, I read about that before in a number of novels and think it would work. Just careful you don't shock yourself.

Speaker wire is low voltage. No problem with shocks.

Another suggestion is, if possible, to turn the speaker to face upwards towards the sky. Before long it will fill with water and cease working.

The same problem occurs in Vietnam in cities and towns - first thing in the morning (often just after 5am) you will have the local government/party/peoples committee announcements usually accompanied by some really awful music. Invariably the house rented to the foreigner will hold the speaker because no one else on the street wants it. The foreigner would eventually kill the speaker and in most cases that was that. But sometimes the repair crew would be out to repair the speaker. One very intrepid foreigner connected an electronic box to the speaker wire - the box allowed him to control the volume via a remote that he kept in his pocket. He would switch up the volume for when he was away or when the officials came around for their inspection. Variations in volume were explained by "wind direction."

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I feel for you mate. Three months ago someone in my area died and they held a funeral. ( party ). I was not aware that it was a funeral in fact, as at the entrance of my soi there is also a place that hosts a black witches meeting every so many days, so I thought it was a similar event.

The house where the funeral was ongoing is 700 meters from my house as the crow flies. I went on for a week or so, and I'm sure you understand what the sound level was.

Then last weekend it started again. The sound was so loud that inside my house with insulated windows and insulated cavity walls it was unbearable.

I drove up to the place and they had a speaker truck with maybe 15 speakers on it and communication had to happen with sign language as you couldn't hear your own voice. So i asked them to slow down the music as I am no part of their party. They agreed.

When I returned home I noticed they had increased the volume a bit. Luckily it was for the 100 day celebration and it lasted only for 1 day, but I could have easily given them a reason for some more funerals.

Damn bass line goes straight through you.

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Speaker wire is low voltage. No problem with shocks.

I doubt that the OP will really start sticking needles into the wat's speaker cables.

Still; I'd like to point out that many high powered pa systems can carry lethal charges. These system's cables can carry up to 32 Amps !

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Before starting to sabotage it's maybe a good plan first to talk with the abbot of the temple.

Most force pressed on Thais come back harder. Talk, smile and don't corner or confront them. That is the way civilized Thais solve problems.

Edited by SjaakNL2013
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sound doesnt travel for 12km so there must be a speaker close to your house

sever the power cable or short it out with a pin (that will take so long to fix they probably wont since they wont know

why its not working wink.png )

make sure nobody sees you doing this biggrin.png

Sound only travels as far as how big the wave length is and other mitigating conditions, such as which sales girl has the microphone in the Big C food section, or which karaoke drunk loves Frank Sinatra. But I like your idea about the pin, which I presume you mean the pin from a hand grenade - the best muffler I can think of right now (I'm also plagued by a noisy wat at the moment).

i was thinking more along the lines of a sewing needle sized pin and a pair of pliers and push it through until it shorts the circuit

(it will be near impossible to diagnose for the average somchai who will probably replace the speaker and when that doesnt work hel

give up and go for a beer )

REALLY, in Thailand there is no person who would diagnose an issue like that?

hmmmm... Best reserve my comment on this!

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Speaker wire is low voltage. No problem with shocks.

I doubt that the OP will really start sticking needles into the wat's speaker cables.

Still; I'd like to point out that many high powered pa systems can carry lethal charges. These system's cables can carry up to 32 Amps !

Many horn system with long speaker cables runs at 100 volt line w00t.gif

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Speaker wire is low voltage. No problem with shocks.

I doubt that the OP will really start sticking needles into the wat's speaker cables.

Still; I'd like to point out that many high powered pa systems can carry lethal charges. These system's cables can carry up to 32 Amps !

Many horn system with long speaker cables runs at 100 volt line w00t.gif

so wear a pair of gloves and use electricians pliars ......

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sound doesnt travel for 12km so there must be a speaker close to your house

sever the power cable or short it out with a pin (that will take so long to fix they probably wont since they wont know

why its not working wink.png )

make sure nobody sees you doing this biggrin.png

Sound only travels as far as how big the wave length is and other mitigating conditions, such as which sales girl has the microphone in the Big C food section, or which karaoke drunk loves Frank Sinatra. But I like your idea about the pin, which I presume you mean the pin from a hand grenade - the best muffler I can think of right now (I'm also plagued by a noisy wat at the moment).

i was thinking more along the lines of a sewing needle sized pin and a pair of pliers and push it through until it shorts the circuit

(it will be near impossible to diagnose for the average somchai who will probably replace the speaker and when that doesnt work hel

give up and go for a beer )

REALLY, in Thailand there is no person who would diagnose an issue like that?

hmmmm... Best reserve my comment on this!

i think your over-estimating the average joe who "fixes" things in thailand

anyway if they do manage to fix it ,just do it again in a differnt place :D

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Me too...

4am-5am is chanting.

5am-6am, some call in chat show...long unanswered rings are really aggravating..

Usual Anthem stuff and important news preceded by loud tunes.

The mosques of my past don't seem so bad now!

Edited by jacko45k
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If you live in a village here you have to get used to noise,the wat,the obertors speeches at 5am,the funerals ,weddings,monk making ceremoneys,and the worst of all Songkran,i have earplugs and my wifongkran last year nearly finished me,6am the music would start from massive speakers her brother had brought to the house,this would go on until about 1 am,for 3 days or so,this along with the oven like tempratures,well i felt as if i was at Gauntanamo bay,this year i think i will head for one of the islands if not quieter at least cooler,the other option is of course to buy a large block of land away from the village and build a house there,but of course if things go pear shaped with the mrs a big ploblem for the falang,like a previuos post said better not to build,i have improved my wifes house[extensions etc],but it has not cost me a fortune and i could walk away not having lost too much,obviously one hope's it never comes to this. I sort of like living in the village though,people are freindly,and you get to know people and there is a good sense of community, which i appreciate after living the last year i resided in Aus in a very isolated spot,the 2 years i have been in the village here i have enjoyed,mostly,and let's face it,the ops post did not state it went on all day or night,i am sure the majority of us do not want thailand ending up like nanny states in the west,i mean once the firebrigade turned up to put out a bonfire i was having in Australia!!!

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