I just can't stand the noise in this country

[nickmanchester2]

this is one of the reasons i dont want to buy a place in thailand.

my next door neighbour in my condo makes cottage cheese all day (70b a Kilo) he is a falang, he keeps his condo door open all day and I hear his fork clinking on his bowl as he makes the cheese.

[weegee]

Welcome to Purgatory.....

[DonaldBattles]

Noise pollution is another form of Thainess and goes on night and day up country. If you complain you could get killed quickly. We are not welcome in this country and this is reason reason why we have no legal rights. Remember the law is what they decide it is today. Buying a house up country is not wise as if the neighbors don't like you integrating their neighborhood then you will have to move.

The ASEAN-AEC is now in effect. Mark my word the Thais will never allow other countries to come and do what they are entitled to do under the agreement. They always have a special rule B that overrides rule A.

[mogandave]

Noise pollution is another form of Thainess and goes on night and day up country. If you complain you could get killed quickly. We are not welcome in this country and this is reason reason why we have no legal rights. Remember the law is what they decide it is today. Buying a house up country is not wise as if the neighbors don't like you integrating their neighborhood then you will have to move.

The ASEAN-AEC is now in effect. Mark my word the Thais will never allow other countries to come and do what they are entitled to do under the agreement. They always have a special rule B that overrides rule A.

Yes, three people on my soi that complained about the loud music were killed last year, and when I asked the police about them they only laughed and slapped me hard on the back of the head and ran away!

[Thian]

not the quiet beach scene you imagined is it?

theres a good reason wealthier people isolate in private estates with acres around and no neighbors.

i understand these reasons much better after living in asia several years. latin american countries are even worse as regards to noise.

Then the construction workers move into the empty spots and live there, they make BIG noise with their stereo's and tools.

Also stay away from all water because the jetski's or partyboats will come there and make MUCH noise.

[fey]

this is one of the reasons i dont want to buy a place in thailand.

my next door neighbour in my condo makes cottage cheese all day (70b a Kilo) he is a falang, he keeps his condo door open all day and I hear his fork clinking on his bowl as he makes the cheese.

Have you tried asking him politely to close the door or put a cloth on the fork?

He's not thai and may be from a country where neighbors have less of a jungle mentality.

This would be a real option that would work more times then not back in the states, believe it or not.

[geronimo]

there is something called tolerance, if you do not possess it, live somewhere else!

[bkk6060]

Move out to "the country". With no internet, no restaurants or stores and not many people.

Live happily ever after like many on here claim they are.

[bkk6060]

this is one of the reasons i dont want to buy a place in thailand.

my next door neighbour in my condo makes cottage cheese all day (70b a Kilo) he is a falang, he keeps his condo door open all day and I hear his fork clinking on his bowl as he makes the cheese.

Sorry, but that sounds hilarious. Cottage Cheeses for what??

Too bad you have to put up with it.

I agree with you never buy a place. Especially next to an empty lot where they will build soon and ruin your life for 2 years +.

Edited January 3, 2016 by bkk6060

[bkk6060]

Just to add. Is there a Soi in BKK or Pattaya where there is not construction or major noise?

The sawing, grinding, digging, or traffic.

I cannot find one. Always something going on. It never stops.

Progress I guess for Thailand.

Edited January 3, 2016 by bkk6060

[bkk6060]

Welcome to Purgatory.....

NONONO. I live in the USA. That is purgatory.

Thailand. Now way!

[BaronOfThunder]

Reading these comments to this post, which I think is excellent, it is apparent to me that it IS possible to find some super quiet places here, maybe too quiet.

I just moved to Chiang Mai, and the worst noise I have ever experienced in my life came from a construction site which housed a group of workers from Burma who only ate chicken, and raised roosters in the unfinished building which they inhabited. Their jack hammers would go off anytime, and they loved these ceramic tile grinders, and rebar saws to cut bars for metal balconies.

In fact, I endured it too long before moving, which caused physical illness.

I do like and truly enjoy quiet and solitude, because I appreciate the sounds of the natural environment. It is possible to hear these sounds in the very early morning, and they remind me what I am missing during the rest of the day.

I moved here 3 months ago, where I very much like it, however now I realize I must move due to a sudden and shocking increase of heavy jets now being flown just above my house at the end of the runway,to the north.

I see from reading the above comments that it is going to be worth the effort to try to find a place with less noise, IF that is possible, near transportation, because I choose not to operate a vehicle. And, I need to be close to the suthep mountain.

Planes do not prefer to fly near mountains, so maybe I will move to the zoo.

[jacky54]

Another trend which I find very disturbing is that complaining about noise, no matter how contritely you approach the problem, seems to invariably make the problem worse. Some Thais seem to feel so disempowered, that upon discovering they have the power to annoy you, revel and delight in taking every opportunity to exercise that newfound power. Having a powerful sound system seems like a macho thing for some guys, and asking someone to turn down their stereo is treated as a challenge to their manhood or something.

My mrs will complain, a foreigner doing so is a challenge to them in itself, it's their country how dare you seems to be the reaction. We found a typical reaction to a compliant is, well what about the noise from xyz house, or it's our house we will do what we like. As the president of the housing committee the mrs had 2 anonymous letters handed in by owners sent to houses with complaints of dogs barking, to Thais from Thais. The response of the recipients was interesting- absolute outrage that anyone should complain and they wanted the senders tracked down with the likely senders house numbers listed. One said they only had small dogs and they were in all day. On going to have a look they were 2 Dobermans in a cage outside that was hardly big enough for them to stand up in .

[willyumiii]

It sounds like the OP has figured out the situation.

I strongly dislike all the noise myself.

But I realized years ago that I only have two options.

1) Live with it.

2) Live in different country.

You/we will never convince Thai people to be quiet.

They even talk loud.

[willyumiii]

Move out to "the country". With no internet, no restaurants or stores and not many people.

Live happily ever after like many on here claim they are.

Why would you think " the country" is quiet?

It is not.

[willyumiii]

There is no quiet place in Thailand.

I live up north in the country, outside of the nearest town.

Often I can hear music so loud, I can not hear my television inside the house with the doors and windows closed.

The music is being played at a community center that is 3 kilometers away from my home.

Often there are loud parties much closer than that.

In this country, people put speakers on the outside of their car or truck so everyone can hear their loud music.,

People remove mufflers from new vehicles to make them as loud as possible.

People even talk to each other in a very loud voice.

Thai people like everything LOUD.

[BaronOfThunder]

It sounds like the OP has figured out the situation.

I strongly dislike all the noise myself.

But I realized years ago that I only have two options.

1) Live with it.

2) Live in different country.

You/we will never convince Thai people to be quiet.

They even talk loud.

Strongly disagree: It is the Americans that talk loudest of all I know. I am an American, but I do not usually hang around with Americans. And so when I hear the American sound, the booming bothers me.

Sure, some Americans talk without booming, but very few tourists I have seen. Maybe these Americans are just out of the US Army, or something, but they should learn to modulate their voices so that people can actually pay attention to the content of the speech they are uttering.

Regarding the noise here, I definitely agree. For me, it is the handheld grinding machines operated by the guys from Burma, and then the Roosters they eat at the construction sites, which bothers me most. If we could pass a law to make it illegal for construction workers to use grinders or raise cocks, then this would help.

Let us not forget the wood routers! That high pitched sound of planing timber to make it flat is second to none. I would rather be tied to a jet aircraft engine at full throttle!

[DonaldBattles]

I have some large speakers left over from my restaurant in Doi Hang. I am planning on setting them up and giving these people some all day and night country music to offset their loud speakers. Give them a dose of their own Thainess.

Some idiot suggested that if you don't like the noise go back where you came from. These simple minded people would better be served if they refrain from this comment that seems to pop up every time that we have a problem to discuss. What a bunch of jerks!

When there is no enforcement of the law there can never be any respect for the noise pollution laws.

[willyumiii]

It sounds like the OP has figured out the situation.

I strongly dislike all the noise myself.

But I realized years ago that I only have two options.

1) Live with it.

2) Live in different country.

You/we will never convince Thai people to be quiet.

They even talk loud.

Strongly disagree: It is the Americans that talk loudest of all I know. I am an American, but I do not usually hang around with Americans. And so when I hear the American sound, the booming bothers me.

Sure, some Americans talk without booming, but very few tourists I have seen. Maybe these Americans are just out of the US Army, or something, but they should learn to modulate their voices so that people can actually pay attention to the content of the speech they are uttering.

Regarding the noise here, I definitely agree. For me, it is the handheld grinding machines operated by the guys from Burma, and then the Roosters they eat at the construction sites, which bothers me most. If we could pass a law to make it illegal for construction workers to use grinders or raise cocks, then this would help.

Let us not forget the wood routers! That high pitched sound of planing timber to make it flat is second to none. I would rather be tied to a jet aircraft engine at full throttle!

Sounds very practical to me!

Prohibit construction workers from using tools and prohibit them from raising food to eat!

Problem solved!

P.S. I am American and I tried to type very quietly for you!

Edited January 3, 2016 by willyumiii

[Gecko123]

WWIII has broken out with my next door neighbor over my noise complaints.

My nerves are shot and frayed, my jaw has developed a tremor, my eyes are bloodshot from sleep deprivation, and I feel like I need a good cry. The New Year's celebration noise has been going on so incessantly for the past several weeks, that I sometimes imagine I'm hearing a throbbing bass beat even when it's dead silent. I have at times felt like I was quite literally losing my mind. Half the time I've either been fantasizing about building a Attica-style perimeter wall around my property, and the rest of the time I am thinking about fire bombing my neighbor's house, with everyone inside, I might add.

Here's how things got to this point.

For months there has been this throbbing bass line seemingly endlessly in the air, but it was very hard to tell where it was coming from. Sometimes it sounded like a wedding was taking place kms away. Other times it sounded closer, but the one or two times I went out driving with the windows rolled down trying to locate where the sound was coming from, I couldn't figure it out.

You might well be asking yourself, 'How loud could the sound have really been if you had so much trouble figuring out where it was coming from?' Good question, because this really baffled me too. Let me try and explain. It turned out that the sound was coming from a neighbor's house located about 100 yards away from me on the same side of the road, but when you pass in front of the house, the sound wasn't that noticeable because they had the front door shut and the wooden shutters on the front windows were shut as well. But because the speakers in the house were against one wall and aimed in the direction of my house the entire house was like one enormous subwoofer which was why it was bothering me more than others.

So I went over and talked to them. And let me tell you, I could not have been more polite, more soft spoken, more apologetic, more humble, more reassuring that I liked Thai music, and liked the music they were playing (that last bit about telling them they had good taste in music was a total lie but that's beside the point.) I made sure to sit down so I wasn't towering over anyone. I waied everyone. Another older women who was partying inside came outside and gave me a hug around the waist, and I warmly and affectionately hugged her back. When I was talking to the husband and wife, there was lots of back and forth reassuring touching of one another's lower forearms. More smiling, reassuring, vigorous nodding all around to acknowledge that everyone understood, and no one resented me coming over. It seemed like every kid in the neighborhood had gathered to find out why I was there, and when I again assured everybody that I liked Thai music and started doing my little Thai dancing schtick it got a nice round of laughter from the kids and the handful of other adults who had gathered in the shadows. I went home saying to myself, 'Now, THAT, my Thai Visa brethren, is how you handle a noise grievance in Thailand.' I went home, cracked open a beer, and practically broke my arm mentally patting myself on the back until bedtime.

But the very next day, late afternoon, the music is as loud as ever. I go back over, and run into the husband in front of his house. I'm like: 'Dude, what part of please turn your music down, didn't you understand???' He says, 'Well, we're just turning the music up for a little while.' And I'm like: 'Dude, am I going to have to come over here every day and make a special request for you to be considerate?' And that was that. The second time I was definitely gruffer and less pleasant, but I wasn't screaming at the guy or anything. I felt like I hadn't compromised his dignity.

So here's how things turned ugly. It turns out that the wife was the older sister of my next door neighbor across the road. I've known this woman for 12 years, but we're not very close because several of her kids have been in the slammer for drug dealing, and there was a widespread perception that she might have at least known about it and possibly helped facilitate some drug dealing activity, so I've kept my distance. But after the second encounter with the husband, I go over in the hopes of enlisting her help as an intermediary with her sister. I was hoping to explain again that there were several ways the problem could be solved where everyone would be happy, including lowering the volume a tad, lowering the bass volume a tad, or repositioning the speakers so my house wasn't being directly bombarded. But the younger sister has already gotten wind of my interaction with her older sister's husband that afternoon, and had already made up her mind that I was in the wrong and had no right to complain about the noise. She actually refused to come to the front of the house to discuss the matter, and when I walked back to try and explain my side of the story, she started an argument by accusing me of playing loud music all the time which nobody complained about, but the second someone else wants to listen to a tune or two, I'm in their face telling them to turn the music off.

I do play music at house, but the speakers are on the back side of the house, and on numerous occasions I have done sound checks to see whether any of the neighbors might be able to even hear my music, and I honestly believed that no one could even faintly hear my music. Plus my speakers are really old and have this feature where if the volume is excessive they shut off automatically, so volume 10 is the maximum volume. So I went back home, turned my stereo up to volume 10, and then went back to my neighbor's house to prove to her that you couldn't even hear anything at her house when the volume was at its max.

To make matters worse, her son, AKA the jailbird and habitual yaba drug dealer and user, was home for the New Year's holidays. He has a white hatchback sedan, the back compartment of which is taken up entirely with these two huge speakers. Of course, he routinely parks his car so that the speakers are pointed directly at my house. A few weeks back, the sound was so loud, I walked over to ask if they were having a party or something, and made some hand gestures to indicate I was baffled why the music was turned up so loud. My neighbor asks, 'Is it loud?' I just looked at her as if to say, "Are you deaf? Of course it's loud!' But that was it. No squabbling or unpleasantness.

So New Year's is approaching, and the celebrations started reving up around Dec 27th. Day after day, whenever the mood struck, these sound systems were cranked up. Sometimes at the crack of dawn, (although mid mornings were relatively quiet), sometimes around 5 to 7 PM all the way to two in the morning, endless throbbing bass. In the afternoon, endless throbbing bass. In the wee hours of the morn? Endless. Throbbing. Bass. And call me paranoid, but I began to sense that there was a pattern of malicious unpredictability and turning the music on especially loud whenever they thought I might be sleeping.

I talked to some neighbors on the other side of my house. While I was at their house, the music came on, and I had a chance for them to appreciate why I was upset. They were mercifully sympathetic, but explained that this was customary over New Years. I also tried to work some other back channels to get them to turn down the volume, but nothing really changed. Yesterday, I even went to the amphere police station to explain the situation, just for future reference to get an idea of what they would do if this problem persisted. They assured me that neighbors don't have a right to play loud music whenever they wanted, and that if I called for help they had a radio dispatched vehicle which would come and address the problem. That remains to be seen, but at least that was somewhat comforting.

So yesterday evening I drove an hour and a half and did a HomePro/Makro/Big C run, mainly just to take a breather from all the stress and tension. When I got home, all was quiet. I watched TV for a while and fell asleep around 11. About midnight, there's suddenly super loud music coming from my neighbor's house.

I'm sorry, folks, but I just snapped. I haul my stereo system from my study in the back of the house, and set it up on the front porch, max the bass out and aim the speakers right at my neighbor's house. My music selection? Neil Young's 'Keep on Rocking in The Free World.' Must have played that song 20 times in a row until 1:20 am. When it was over, the silence was absolutely deafening, and it has been very quiet this morning as well. We'll just have to see what happens next, but I'm cautiously optimistic that they finally got the message.

I know for some this will fall into the category of "Farangs Behaving (Very) Badly," but I can't tell you how good it feels to vent and at least share this story. Thanks for listening.

[thehelmsman]

It's not the noise,upcountry for me it's the constant burning of rubbish,plastic and all other garden waste.

As I'm having my first cup of coffee, I'm on the lookout for what I can burn. There's always something.

[WhamBam]

Trans..... you missed this opportunity to post a music link? Shame on you

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bQm0tXPwCo

Meatloaf - "Everything louder than everything else"

[papayasalad]

I knew a Thai guy(just a drunk a... hole who beat his wife....) blasting his music from his car against my condo so loud that people had to leave. I asked him to lower the music, instead he increased the music.

one day the owner of these condos called the cops because he lost money due to all his tenants leaving one after one , cops came and put Yaba in his room(something like that) . maybe 5 non uniformed cops who followed him when he came back home(I have seen the scene from my window, what a joy!) . I heard the guy got 6 months jail for having Yaba.

the guy came back from jail but doesn't blast music so loud now and only 1 hour maximum and before 11pm.

this guy has been warned...don't mess with Papayasalad.!

Edited January 3, 2016 by papayasalad

[BookMan]

WWIII has broken out with my next door neighbor over my noise complaints.

My nerves are shot and frayed, my jaw has developed a tremor, my eyes are bloodshot from sleep deprivation, and I feel like I need a good cry. The New Year's celebration noise has been going on so incessantly for the past several weeks, that I sometimes imagine I'm hearing a throbbing bass beat even when it's dead silent. I have at times felt like I was quite literally losing my mind. Half the time I've either been fantasizing about building a Attica-style perimeter wall around my property, and the rest of the time I am thinking about fire bombing my neighbor's house, with everyone inside, I might add.

Here's how things got to this point.

For months there has been this throbbing bass line seemingly endlessly in the air, but it was very hard to tell where it was coming from. Sometimes it sounded like a wedding was taking place kms away. Other times it sounded closer, but the one or two times I went out driving with the windows rolled down trying to locate where the sound was coming from, I couldn't figure it out.

You might well be asking yourself, 'How loud could the sound have really been if you had so much trouble figuring out where it was coming from?' Good question, because this really baffled me too. Let me try and explain. It turned out that the sound was coming from a neighbor's house located about 100 yards away from me on the same side of the road, but when you pass in front of the house, the sound wasn't that noticeable because they had the front door shut and the wooden shutters on the front windows were shut as well. But because the speakers in the house were against one wall and aimed in the direction of my house the entire house was like one enormous subwoofer which was why it was bothering me more than others.

So I went over and talked to them. And let me tell you, I could not have been more polite, more soft spoken, more apologetic, more humble, more reassuring that I liked Thai music, and liked the music they were playing (that last bit about telling them they had good taste in music was a total lie but that's beside the point.) I made sure to sit down so I wasn't towering over anyone. I waied everyone. Another older women who was partying inside came outside and gave me a hug around the waist, and I warmly and affectionately hugged her back. When I was talking to the husband and wife, there was lots of back and forth reassuring touching of one another's lower forearms. More smiling, reassuring, vigorous nodding all around to acknowledge that everyone understood, and no one resented me coming over. It seemed like every kid in the neighborhood had gathered to find out why I was there, and when I again assured everybody that I liked Thai music and started doing my little Thai dancing schtick it got a nice round of laughter from the kids and the handful of other adults who had gathered in the shadows. I went home saying to myself, 'Now, THAT, my Thai Visa brethren, is how you handle a noise grievance in Thailand.' I went home, cracked open a beer, and practically broke my arm mentally patting myself on the back until bedtime.

But the very next day, late afternoon, the music is as loud as ever. I go back over, and run into the husband in front of his house. I'm like: 'Dude, what part of please turn your music down, didn't you understand???' He says, 'Well, we're just turning the music up for a little while.' And I'm like: 'Dude, am I going to have to come over here every day and make a special request for you to be considerate?' And that was that. The second time I was definitely gruffer and less pleasant, but I wasn't screaming at the guy or anything. I felt like I hadn't compromised his dignity.

So here's how things turned ugly. It turns out that the wife was the older sister of my next door neighbor across the road. I've known this woman for 12 years, but we're not very close because several of her kids have been in the slammer for drug dealing, and there was a widespread perception that she might have at least known about it and possibly helped facilitate some drug dealing activity, so I've kept my distance. But after the second encounter with the husband, I go over in the hopes of enlisting her help as an intermediary with her sister. I was hoping to explain again that there were several ways the problem could be solved where everyone would be happy, including lowering the volume a tad, lowering the bass volume a tad, or repositioning the speakers so my house wasn't being directly bombarded. But the younger sister has already gotten wind of my interaction with her older sister's husband that afternoon, and had already made up her mind that I was in the wrong and had no right to complain about the noise. She actually refused to come to the front of the house to discuss the matter, and when I walked back to try and explain my side of the story, she started an argument by accusing me of playing loud music all the time which nobody complained about, but the second someone else wants to listen to a tune or two, I'm in their face telling them to turn the music off.

I do play music at house, but the speakers are on the back side of the house, and on numerous occasions I have done sound checks to see whether any of the neighbors might be able to even hear my music, and I honestly believed that no one could even faintly hear my music. Plus my speakers are really old and have this feature where if the volume is excessive they shut off automatically, so volume 10 is the maximum volume. So I went back home, turned my stereo up to volume 10, and then went back to my neighbor's house to prove to her that you couldn't even hear anything at her house when the volume was at its max.

To make matters worse, her son, AKA the jailbird and habitual yaba drug dealer and user, was home for the New Year's holidays. He has a white hatchback sedan, the back compartment of which is taken up entirely with these two huge speakers. Of course, he routinely parks his car so that the speakers are pointed directly at my house. A few weeks back, the sound was so loud, I walked over to ask if they were having a party or something, and made some hand gestures to indicate I was baffled why the music was turned up so loud. My neighbor asks, 'Is it loud?' I just looked at her as if to say, "Are you deaf? Of course it's loud!' But that was it. No squabbling or unpleasantness.

So New Year's is approaching, and the celebrations started reving up around Dec 27th. Day after day, whenever the mood struck, these sound systems were cranked up. Sometimes at the crack of dawn, (although mid mornings were relatively quiet), sometimes around 5 to 7 PM all the way to two in the morning, endless throbbing bass. In the afternoon, endless throbbing bass. In the wee hours of the morn? Endless. Throbbing. Bass. And call me paranoid, but I began to sense that there was a pattern of malicious unpredictability and turning the music on especially loud whenever they thought I might be sleeping.

I talked to some neighbors on the other side of my house. While I was at their house, the music came on, and I had a chance for them to appreciate why I was upset. They were mercifully sympathetic, but explained that this was customary over New Years. I also tried to work some other back channels to get them to turn down the volume, but nothing really changed. Yesterday, I even went to the amphere police station to explain the situation, just for future reference to get an idea of what they would do if this problem persisted. They assured me that neighbors don't have a right to play loud music whenever they wanted, and that if I called for help they had a radio dispatched vehicle which would come and address the problem. That remains to be seen, but at least that was somewhat comforting.

So yesterday evening I drove an hour and a half and did a HomePro/Makro/Big C run, mainly just to take a breather from all the stress and tension. When I got home, all was quiet. I watched TV for a while and fell asleep around 11. About midnight, there's suddenly super loud music coming from my neighbor's house.

I'm sorry, folks, but I just snapped. I haul my stereo system from my study in the back of the house, and set it up on the front porch, max the bass out and aim the speakers right at my neighbor's house. My music selection? Neil Young's 'Keep on Rocking in The Free World.' Must have played that song 20 times in a row until 1:20 am. When it was over, the silence was absolutely deafening, and it has been very quiet this morning as well. We'll just have to see what happens next, but I'm cautiously optimistic that they finally got the message.

I know for some this will fall into the category of "Farangs Behaving (Very) Badly," but I can't tell you how good it feels to vent and at least share this story. Thanks for listening.

A rant worthy of its own thread

[fey]

Just to add. Is there a Soi in BKK or Pattaya where there is not construction or major noise?

The sawing, grinding, digging, or traffic.

I cannot find one. Always something going on. It never stops.

Progress I guess for Thailand.

Yes there are, but they all have long term tenants, and other tenants already in the building are on the waiting list for the quieter units. So the chances of getting the good units are about nill unless your a fixture and by that time you pretty much just want to get out of bkk.

[Chuckles78]

I must admit its loud here in thailand, perhaps i should turn off the waterfall in my coy pond but then again they (the coy) do like it. I will try to get used to it.

[STMx]

Perhaps it would be better to move to live in some quiet island?

[Stradavarius37]

Move, outta the neighborhood, the city, or the country - and stop complaining...

[joeyg]

WHAT!!!!!!

[jak2002003]

We have lived in our new house in rural Chiang Mai for about 1 half years. Up till now everything was lovely... sure it was a bit noisy.. but that's Thailand...

Loud noise from the village speakers making announcements.

Neighbour collecting dogs which bark in a loud frenzy for 3 hours each evening... closing the house doors and turning up the TV you can still hear them.

Neighbour across the street playing loud bass music from 9 am till 5 pm 7 days of the week.. which we can hear throughout our house.

Roosters crowing in the middle of the night (I even have my own roosters).

Loud music from parties, funerals, trucks selling stuff... and the list goes on. Its all part of living here... I accepts it and it does not bother me at all.

But now a noise I can't put up with... it is literally torture!

The temple (just a few hundred metres from my house) has started playing ear splitting music at 5.30 am several times a week.. the noise goes on until at least 10 am.

I have never heard such a loud noise in all my life. We are jolted awake in the morning.. shocked.. the music hurting my ears and the walls vibrating.. the water in the cup next to the bed wobbling about.. our pet dogs running to hide under the bed.

If you dare open a window the noise amplifies.. you can feel your bones vibrating and it really does cause pain in my ears!!!

Now, even I might accept this, even if I don't like it, provided its only a one off.. or for special religious festivals.. but this is NOT.

The Monk turns the loud speaker to maximum volume and plays Thai pop music, or old country music, rarely monk chanting. He then often repeats it in the afternoon or evening... usually giving an hour long rant about how bad and evil the people in the village are, listing all the things they do wrong.. like letting the buffalo eat the new planted trees, staying up late, drinking alcohol, etc.. and how they must bring better food and more money to the temple.

I thought it would stop after a few week.. but several months on its still going on and I can no longer stand it.

Even the villagers are getting annoyed.. But they won't act because they believe you can not question what a monk does.

Attendance at the temple has dropped off.. and most Buddha days now NO ONE goes to made merit.

There is no way I can stay in the house when this noise starts up. I have to go out. I am loosing sleep and feel stressed and on edge... there is no way of knowing when he will decide to turn on the speakers and give out the next few hours of torture.

This can't be right? Its not religious. Its not peaceful or mindful.

Putting ear plugs in will do not good.... cutting me ears off will do no good.. I can not tell you how powerful the noise is... so no one say put you head under the pillow or put some music on.

Now I have decided to sell the house and move to a different area.

Its so sad as we have put so much effort and love into this house.