I just can't stand the noise in this country

[DonaldBattles]

This is true Thainess and all of the BS that goes with it. Again, for the idiot that keeps telling us to go back where we came from don't tell us again. I listen to the Pui Yai Baan and his nonsense announcements sometimes 2 times per day including music before and after the announcements plus the noise pollution from the Wat is really a drag. I bought this place 14 years ago for my retirement and can not move again. When I first bought the property there was no noise pollution. Real Thainess is a real drag.

[mcfish]

A booked into a friend's guest house in jomtien and noticed the neighbour had huge tower speakers on the porch. I was wondering why but my curiosity was quenched by 1pm when on maximum volume he played thai music every single day until 1 am. He is also an alcoholic so just tells every one to piss off. Police do nothing and it may be because his mother ownes 120 million baht of hotels and land in the soi..

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[casualbiker]

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.

just go and cut the speaker cables in the dead of night.. Do it so they short together and hopefully blow the amp!

[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.

I just wanted to give people an update on this story.

It's now been 5 days since I decided to retaliate by blasting my neighbor with loud rock music at 1 am.

It has been incredibly quiet since then, like there's been a breakout of Ebola in the village or something.

I've come to realize just how draining being forced to listen to loud noise can be, especially when it disrupts sleep. I have been sleeping 10 times better and my energy level has shot up.

I think that my neighbor was embarrassed by the incident, and that people knew why I had turned up my music, which was totally out of character for me. I strongly suspect that I might actually be something of a hero for having put my foot down. For example, there's a 70+ year old widower a few houses down. He can't be anymore thrilled than me about being kept up with loud music half the time. Not to mention school age kids who have homework to do or regular bedtimes.

I've checked with probably half a dozen people away from the vicinity of my house about how they handle loud music complaints. One comment I heard more than a few times was that people who listen to loud music a lot tend to be boozehounds and are not particularly well respected.

Taking the retaliation route (after negotiation had failed) seems in retrospect to have been a stroke of genius. It completely took away my neighbor's ability to bad mouth me or complain. I was only doing the exact same thing at the exact same time that she was doing. By letting the music play for an extended period of time it sent a clear message that my level of resentment was significant, and I was prepared to do whatever it took to correct the problem. As I said, I believe my neighbor was embarassed by the incident, and not that many people sided with her the next day.

I'm not advocating doing this, and every situation is different. I think it is important to keep in mind that this is a different culture and you can't impose your cultural norms on others. But with that said, I am not an advocate of just accepting whatever happens. It is necessary sometimes to stand up for yourself, and on some level to say that Thai people are so unreasonable that it is futile to voice a complaint to anyone here does a big disservice to yourself and insults Thais who at heart are very reasonable people.

Edited January 7, 2016 by Gecko123

[mcfish]

Wow well done and well written however it reminds me of when I would snap at the ex wife. The silence after was deafening but the outcome was never good. I hope the junkie son isn't quietly making plans..

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[spidermike007]

It sounds like it is time to move again. And this time, I would suggest coming by at 5am, and hanging out for an hour, in front of the house or apartment you are considering. Do it again at 5pm or 6pm, for an hour. Do it several times. What do you hear? Roosters? They are my personal nemesis. I despise that sound. it is horrific to my ears. Brain splitting noise. What else? Soi dogs? Crying kids? Music? Trucks blaring crap?

Of course, you could try blaring your own music, with the speakers facing his house, at times he is not listening to his own music. He might get it, or he might just get angry. But, I doubt it would be effective. Some Thais are more stubborn than an old Oak tree. Some will not budge. And whatever you do, do not try to use common sense, nor reason.

It is possible to find quite spots here, but not easy. Most Thais barely hear noise, and if they do, it does not seem to register as something annoying to them. With many of them having come from a village background, there is noise everywhere. They get used to it, and it is not a bother, like with us. I wish I was less sensitive to noise. But, we have found a reasonably quiet spot, and they are out there. But, you have to do a masterful job of scouting the location first, before committing to living there.

[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.

just go and cut the speaker cables in the dead of night.. Do it so they short together and hopefully blow the amp!

I wish I could... I went to look but the speakers are really high up scaffolding tripods and the cables to them are at the very top and go out from there to the roof of the temple.. no way to get near them. I think the monk must have thought about that one!

[mogandave]

Pellet gun...

[jak2002003]

This is true Thainess and all of the BS that goes with it. Again, for the idiot that keeps telling us to go back where we came from don't tell us again. I listen to the Pui Yai Baan and his nonsense announcements sometimes 2 times per day including music before and after the announcements plus the noise pollution from the Wat is really a drag. I bought this place 14 years ago for my retirement and can not move again. When I first bought the property there was no noise pollution. Real Thainess is a real drag.

I agree with you 100 percent

When we scouted out this area for our house we did it over 2 year.. I used to go there morning and evening... there was the normal Thai noise.. nothing dramatic... but the temple was always quiet.. even all last year, the only time it was noisy was at festivals.. and that noise was nothing compared to the volume now.

My old house was much quieter... there are quiet places in Thailand. We lived there 7 years and no noise problems. There was a temple near our last house also.. a very lively one.. we used to go sometimes... and the parties were fun.. but they were not several times in week all year!!

AND the idiot telling us to go back to where we came from... seems that's his answer to any problem.

We are not Thai nationals... we are immigrants.. we are all different.. but we are all human beings.. Thai or Farang. When another human being is doing something wrong to you... the answer is not to let them keep doing it, or go away and stop complaining about it... otherwise things will never change.

We must respect Thai culture.. just as we should respect all cultures.. and Thai people respect our culture too... but most of these problem are nothing to do with culture.. they are about selfish, bullying, or just ignorant people not giving a toss about anyone else... its nothing to do with being Farang or Asian... its about respect for others.

[Pacificperson]

Your monk is bullying the whole village. Is there anyway to remove him? Is there a supervisory group for your temple or an oversight group for temples in general?

Edited January 8, 2016 by Pacificperson

[mogandave]

Why not put up a sound wall?

[Borneo Baron]

Some poms are never happy

[jak2002003]

Your monk is bullying the whole village. Is there anyway to remove him? Is there a supervisory group for your temple or an oversight group for temples in general?

Not that I can find.. I have looked on line and asked Thai friends.. but seems that Monks can do pretty much as they please.

Its interesting that the villagers have actually all but stopped going there now.. even on the Buddha days..... which seems to make him more angry and ranting on the speakers.

Maybe the Thai way of not giving him any food or money will work in the long term.. I hope so!

People used to stand outside their houses to give him the offerings early in the morning.. but I have not seen anyone doing that the last few weeks. Maybe they are getting annoyed too.

No one here would talk about the problem.... any light hearted or hint at the noise coming from the temple was met with a quick change in conversation, or, an awkward look and an excuse to leave.

I think they are scared of him.

I don't know what caused this change in him... he is very old.. perhaps getting a bit of dementia? I thought maybe it was a new monk.. but they all say its the same one.

Got woken up at 5 am this morning.. so took the opportunity to go for a long pushbike ride.. nice and cool then.. and good exercise.... so some good is coming of it.

[55Jay]

Why not put up a sound wall?

A wall like this + Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture.

Watch the young lady's hair starting at 0:20

Edited January 10, 2016 by 55Jay

[papayasalad]

at 40, they will be all deaf. worse is hearing buzzing noise in your ear that brain produces called thai tinnitus

http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/hearing/pages/noise.aspx

don't stay in front of these speakers more than a minute. it s unsafe.

Edited January 11, 2016 by papayasalad

[jacky54]

They are quite happy to stand in front of thousands of watts from huge speakers holding babies. I have been to concerts here where the bass makes leaves jump off the ground, many here have zero common sense.

[talberry2]

Yeah me either. Probably wouldn't be so bad if I learned a little Thai. Then it would all make sense...

[casualbiker]

Yeah me either. Probably wouldn't be so bad if I learned a little Thai. Then it would all make sense...

It REALLY REALLY wouldn't!

[OnMyWay2]

It's the price. If you're gonna play cheap charlie then you gotta get used to the lifestyle.

[bkk6060]

It's the price. If you're gonna play cheap charlie then you gotta get used to the lifestyle.

Has nothing to do with it as many of the Hiso areas can have the most noise.

[MorristheRunt]

Some poms are never happy

Why's that mate?

[jacky54]

It's the price. If you're gonna play cheap charlie then you gotta get used to the lifestyle.

Has nothing to do with it as many of the Hiso areas can have the most noise.

Posh housing estate near us has large TV's in some gardens flanked by banks of speakers for karaoke nights

[mogandave]

Some poms are never happy

Why's that mate?

Nothing to be happy about?

It's an inside job...

[talberry2]

If it's any help to you, I lived over in the Ramkhamhaeng area, and there were plenty of locations there in quiet neighborhoods...but you're going to have to get used to being the sore thumb sticking out. I was the only foreigner in the whole unit I lived in. But it was, if nothing else, fairly quiet. Also, if noise is a problem and you are having trouble sleeping, I've found getting a fan and turning it to level 3 helps quite a bit.

[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.

I just wanted to give people an update on this story.

It's now been 5 days since I decided to retaliate by blasting my neighbor with loud rock music at 1 am.

It has been incredibly quiet since then, like there's been a breakout of Ebola in the village or something.

I've come to realize just how draining being forced to listen to loud noise can be, especially when it disrupts sleep. I have been sleeping 10 times better and my energy level has shot up.

I think that my neighbor was embarrassed by the incident, and that people knew why I had turned up my music, which was totally out of character for me. I strongly suspect that I might actually be something of a hero for having put my foot down. For example, there's a 70+ year old widower a few houses down. He can't be anymore thrilled than me about being kept up with loud music half the time. Not to mention school age kids who have homework to do or regular bedtimes.

I've checked with probably half a dozen people away from the vicinity of my house about how they handle loud music complaints. One comment I heard more than a few times was that people who listen to loud music a lot tend to be boozehounds and are not particularly well respected.

Taking the retaliation route (after negotiation had failed) seems in retrospect to have been a stroke of genius. It completely took away my neighbor's ability to bad mouth me or complain. I was only doing the exact same thing at the exact same time that she was doing. By letting the music play for an extended period of time it sent a clear message that my level of resentment was significant, and I was prepared to do whatever it took to correct the problem. As I said, I believe my neighbor was embarassed by the incident, and not that many people sided with her the next day.

I'm not advocating doing this, and every situation is different. I think it is important to keep in mind that this is a different culture and you can't impose your cultural norms on others. But with that said, I am not an advocate of just accepting whatever happens. It is necessary sometimes to stand up for yourself, and on some level to say that Thai people are so unreasonable that it is futile to voice a complaint to anyone here does a big disservice to yourself and insults Thais who at heart are very reasonable people.

Three week update to this story.

Basically, its been heavenly quiet for three weeks. The neighbor's son threw a birthday party for his wife last Friday night. The mother wasn't home, and he had invited a bunch of his low life drinking buddies over. All of them were still of the school of thought that before 10 PM they had the right to be as loud as they pleased. I told them that I understood that they had a right to listen to music but that I had a right NOT to listen to music. That seemed like a revolutionary concept to them. I told them that my understanding of the law was that everyone had to consider their surroundings. Different standards applied depending on who was around you (apt, condo, out in the middle of nowhere). The son called his mother and they turned down the music.

A few days latter I went and talked to the puu yai of the moo ban who was very sympathetic. He told me that he had actually been at the house of my neighbor a couple of weeks earlier when the argument broke out. He told me that he had advised my neighbors to be more considerate as I was "a guest" in their country. I assured the puu yai I wasn't looking for any preferential treatment from anyone, just common courtesy. Today, I gave my next door neighbor and the puu yai a big bag of baby cabbages from my garden in an effort to mend bridges.

[papayasalad]

Thai should not have access to electricity, and engines. it s just too much for them to master all these new technologies.

soon they will have access to fast train, I see accidents coming already. these people are so ignorant and still in the past. it s true, I m not bashing Thai.

my girlfriend told me they didn't have electricity 20 years ago in her village . no fridge too... they live with oil to make light and they all rode bicycles.

Edited January 21, 2016 by papayasalad

[jacky54]

Let them keep electricity, just take the speakers away

[Gecko123]

Thai should not have access to electricity, and engines. it s just too much for them to master all these new technologies.

soon they will have access to fast train, I see accidents coming already. these people are so ignorant and still in the past. it s true, I m not bashing Thai.

my girlfriend told me they didn't have electricity 20 years ago in her village . no fridge too... they live with oil to make light and they all rode bicycles.

Hilarious. I think even Thais would get a laugh out of this post (except for lined through comment).

Edited January 21, 2016 by Gecko123

[JoeW]

As the crow flies, about half a kilometer from my house there is a tower with 4 huge speakers on the top pointing in all directs. At around six in the morning some twonk plays 'orrible music that wakes me up before he starts talking rubbish, when he's finished he plays more 'orrible music to let you know he's finished talking rubbish...

A totally waste of time and pisses most folk off..

PS. No not a religious thing.

Had it here too. They installed 2 giant speakers in front of my shop and home. Started to blast shitty music from 6.00 AM until 9.00 AM. So loud that I couldn't even hear my customers speak.

Took it up to the village head. Explained the situation to him and now the 2 speakers are still here, but they disconnected them.

Village head said, just show that you have the speakers, but they won't turn on.

I'm happy and the village head is happy.

[kannot]

It's the price. If you're gonna play cheap charlie then you gotta get used to the lifestyle.

Has nothing to do with it as many of the Hiso areas can have the most noise.

Posh housing estate near us has large TV's in some gardens flanked by banks of speakers for karaoke nights

nice .................classy eh