Dear readers,
My neighbor (in a village in Isaan) has a van, with which he drives companies around. He had a gigantic karaoke sound system built into it. Especially the basses are excellent. When he is doing a test run, the tiles almost fly off the roof with me. I hear the steel rafters resonate.
Today, December 30, he came home from a tour and let his children enjoy a horribly loud bass boom, while I was just about to start the evening meal outside.
My Thai girlfriend absolutely did not want me to go to my neighbor and ask nicely to tone down the bass. I was just about to carry out an alternative, namely to set up a heavy sound system towards his house, when he stopped the "music". Fortunately, because that is guaranteed to give much more trouble, of course.
But my patience is running out a bit. At every party, wedding, cremation, monk initiation, there are always those gigantic sound boxes from which you can only hear thumping bass when you are a bit further away. You don't hear any music, no, just thump, thump, thump, thump.
Does anyone know if Thais have ever been shown to be hearing impaired? And is it indeed “not done” to approach it and ask if the basses can be reduced?
I get really mad at times.
Maybe I should move, to the Netherlands or something, where you can call the police in case of a neighbor rumor…..
Yours faithfully,
Tom
Hi Tom,
I also live in Isaan. This is a completely normal phenomenon. Never argue, or you'll bring disaster upon yourself. So accept or move.
Because it makes your life very miserable, I would still think about moving. If not, I'm afraid you need to see a cardiologist very soon.
Lots of luck with it.
Chander
Yes you are not the only one and you will certainly not be the last but it is part of it they have a word for "bitch jai" and is rooted in Thai culture, which means not to disturb the happiness of others . You think you have a problem, but your wife doesn't think she sees this completely differently, just when you're eating in a restaurant and it's impossible to eat, you say send it back, but your wife just thinks by eating and paying "don't make waves".
Especially now with the festive season, the music is everywhere, we just have to accept that. Yes, your neighbor is just very happy with his karaoke installation in his van and of course wants to show it to the neighbors, hopefully it will weaken over time when the novelty is gone. maybe it makes you happy to put your music on 10 for half an hour before you go to bed????
Ps krengjai has many translations and can also appear at your work etc etc
Dear Tom…this is really Thai,
and especially the thai in isaan
don't know any better.
I myself have been living for more than 17 years
here in isaan, and you will have to
adjust or move to a
different place elsewhere in Thailand…
eg Bangkok or Pattaya.
Just like the previous reacted, take it with it, and otherwise move, this is part of the culture of
the population group, you have chosen to live in the Isaan so you will also have to adapt
We have neighbors here who start with the music in the morning, but my wife loves it too
So who am I, so good advice adapt to the region you have chosen, good luck.
The Thai themselves are also very disappointed and I have seen many heated discussions between Thais. Sending the noise back with Own installation is just a good idea. This does lead to discussion, but if he realizes that noise follows noise, then it tempers.
It is one of the customs in Isaan. Don't upset people. Take the above advice to heart! The best option – and there are still plenty – is to move to a place where it is still – reasonably – quiet. If you do that at the rice fields, just accept the smoke when they set the fields on fire.
Compared to the Thais, many farang have a completely different opinion on how to deal with your neighborhood residents. You can be annoyed by the Thai custom, but it is better to accept it because most Thais do this too, and you certainly don't want to stand out as a farang, by playing police. Also in Chiangrai village it is very normal for a Thai to play loud music at a party, even if the neighbor tries to sleep at night. A further annoyance for a farang is burning the waste at any hour of the day, often with the full load unsolicited. In this way you could go even further with what is an annoyance for many farangs, and is almost normal here, in contrast to Europe, without any control over any laws. Many farangs have spent their lives whining about the strict laws and regulations in Europe that made them feel restricted in their freedom, and this is the other side of the coin. Anyone who cannot accept this downside is actually not in the right country, which he first thought was his paradise.
it is again the European or the whites who always want things to be the way they want.
i have been coming to thailand for 20 years and we have a house in isaan.
the first lesson an immigrant should learn and adhere to is.
don't change the Thai culture and way of thinking (you won't succeed anyway)
leave the neighbor in his worth, his karaoke installation is his pride and income the same if you have a thriving company in the Netherlands that you are proud of
we have to adapt and otherwise fuck off.
we are guests in Thailand, even if you bring millions of euros, you remain a guest.
a farang remains a farang even if you take care of the family and feed the whole street.
my advice grab your ipad/iphone with headphones and listen to your own music, the less it will bother you.
I wish you a great 2015 and enjoy it all the more if the speakers are not on
Hi Tom,
Or find out who the landlord is.
Can remember some time ago on TB when they had this same problem and resolved it amongst themselves with the help of the troublemaker's landlord.
Maybe an idea???
LOUISE
Dear Louise,
the solution via the landlord comes from an article that I, Lung Addie, wrote a while : The peace disturbed but restored.
greetings and glad you remember.
Lung addie
Dear Tom,
We can start an exchange project……..
I would kill to be in your shoes and listen to Isan music in the Isaan countryside.
Maybe I misunderstand you, but what's your concern, man. Mae penn rai, khrap.
I come from a family with thousands of generations from the Netherlands. As others describe me, I am a true Amsterdammer. Believe me there is nothing worse than having to adapt to more than 200 nationalities, that your own customs, traditions, values and norms are mercilessly swept off the table by the 200 nationalities together with your own (R) government and that is real not nice as original resident.
Take it from me, you better live in Thailand with 365 days of Isaan music around you. Then you only have to adapt to others here and also have to maintain them.
I would grab a nice bottle of whiskey and drink it in his yard with the musical neighbor. Then you also hear the high tones of his karaoke set. Delicious but especially cozy that music from the Isaan.
I don't want to give you a blow out of the pan here, absolutely not.
What I would like is that every time you hear the music of the neighbor, you think of me and realize that you have a lottery ticket. Accept that little minus and appreciate all the pluses that Thailand has. Here in the Netherlands it is the other way around. No pluses, only minuses.
Enjoy Thailand and its customs.
And especially say hello to your neighbor!!
Nice day.
Chang Noi
That many people in Thailand like to hear very loud music is a fact, but it is nevertheless disturbing. A farang who only wants to change something here is certainly asking for trouble in the Thai community, and that is why it is wiser to accept or move. The latter also applies to an Amsterdammer who is weighed down by the frustration that has to do with Amsterdam society, where he alone cannot change anything. Here too, the "Mai pen rai" attitude is the best solution.
Moderator: First part removed. Do not respond to each other, but to the reader's question.
I think the comment given above is very short-sighted, I myself live on a rather busy street and next to me there are 3 police high lords, 1 of which is a garage company selling 2nd hand cars. , his son often tinkers with friends' cars and there are not a few problems with that, but that is not the problem, if there is not 1 with a disco in his car with all doors open and full power , I mean full polle and that is very annoying as a neighbor, don't say antisocial, if you can't even understand your own TV, I'm a purebred Amsterdammer and I've heard it a few times until it got crazy once and with a like, a large flashlight with which you can shine to mars and open my mouth if she might want to get the flying ter....., immediately silent and apologies and now they will tell me when there is another party that there will be a little music is only played in a reasonable way, I just want to say a small correction is sometimes in place also against the THAI.
I myself also have negative experiences with regard to noise pollution in the Isaan.
Reason for me not to want to (continue to) live there.
It's about “taste” and there is no normal way to discuss that… people just don't understand that others can be bothered by that sound.
Music is one thing, but, as Tom wrote, it is mainly the hard thumps of the basses that drive him crazy. Don't know how old Tom is, but the older you get the more sensitive your ears are to low tones. Conversely, the ears of young people are sensitive to high-pitched sounds, which the elderly can no longer hear. In the Netherlands, so-called musquitos were/are sometimes hung in certain places where loiterers gather, which emit high-pitched sounds. Depending on your relationship with your neighbor, you could ask him nicely if he could lower the bass a bit. A few years ago I regularly stayed in Meeting Point, the later Holland House, (which no longer exists) directly on the Beach Road in Jomtien. At one point there was little sleep there because cars put their music systems on full blast and you were at the mercy of the bass for hours. Now disco busses arrive from Bangkok, which can be heard from miles away. The Thais, and especially the young people, seem to think it's fantastic. I've also been to typical Thai karaoke clubs, you had to shout to make yourself understood. A horror for me, but the others present seemed to appreciate it. Wish Tom good luck and try to get as little annoyed as possible!
Moderator: Please only respond to the reader's question.
Dear Tom,
A question, do you mean that you are bothered by noise? if so, farangs have come a long way to meddling in other people's affairs, noise pollution or not. I can only tell you one thing, whoever has problems with a Thai is lost time and time again and then it could be that you will be able to pack your bags quickly. Don't leave them alone! A notified person is worth two!!
Yes, we live in Thailand and have to adapt to the customs of the local population; It was the same here in my neighborhood: noise pollution and we solved the problem locally through the landlord (see article by Lung Addie: the peace is disturbed..... The Thai people themselves were also bothered by it because it was always late in the evening. evening that the nuisance occurred. They had problems putting their children to sleep. As a farang, do not try to solve it yourself because that will not be appreciated. If things really get out of hand and you can move, then move, if not, yes, then you just have to learn to live with it. After all, it is THEIR country we live in.
Regards,
Lung addie
Simple….. When they sleep you put your music on full blast…. They may understand it faster than you think and have this without discussion…..
There is a good chance that they think there is a party and they come to celebrate…
I did too neighbor loud music from his car every morning at five o'clock. Then spent three days with my sisters-in-law and their comrades when he went to sleep, held karaoke until midnight. Haven't heard him in the morning for a month now. His bath will have fallen
Dear Tom,
You ask a reader question. What I ask then. Do you own or rent a house there?
If you own a house, moving advice is a bit more difficult. Most advisors. Find moving the best solution. You have to learn to live with it. If you can't adapt to Thai culture, you should go back to your homeland. That is of course not the Thai culture. I will not deny that part of the Thai only thinks about itself. But in our country there are also many who only think about themselves. If your wife doesn't want to join in, that's also a problem. My advice (I've experienced the same thing) go to your neighbor the moment your windows are vibrating from the bass.
Make a very deep blow. Take his hand and ask him to come to your house.
Let him listen . Make another blow and make the move or turn a sound knob closer.
He doesn't lose face (no one else was there, by the way) and he feels like he's doing you a great service. Sure it works. The word maybe misspelled. but you know what i mean.
Cor.
Thanks for all the responses.
The suggestion that I don't like Thai music is wrong. Also the sounds of the
I can usually tolerate a temple that is 100 meters away quite well. The Thai national anthem that comes to me every school day from 300 meters away doesn't bother me. If there is a party somewhere with cheerful Thai or otherwise tunes: fun.
But that thumping fucking bass that you feel in your body and makes your house shake, that drives me crazy.
When I bought a piece of land in my girlfriend's village seven years ago and built a house on it two years later, there was not an angry neighbor to be seen. He started building his house a year later. When he had purchased his tour van and had that large music system installed, we had to make mistakes every now and then.
So moving is not an option. So I will have to learn to live with it. Or try that alternative again: a taste of your own medicine: Bruce Springsteen at 10 towards the neighbour, if he has to “test” again. But at all those other parties it continues to suffer with those insane bass booms.
And furthermore: what a nice sun today!
Greetings from Tom
Dear Tom,
The advice given is wide open and contradictory. The most important thing seems to me is the advice not to solve this yourself, not even with coarse noise violence. It's true, that's how it is here in Thailand, trying to change that is hanging against the wind, sometimes with very bad consequences.
Maybe go to the neighbor when he is doing a test, take a bottle with you, drink a sip together and have a chat, to understand each other he might lower the test noise, then compliment him on that.
If that doesn't work, buy a hearing protector, which comes in large and very small sizes, earplugs, which can reduce the sound considerably, you have them that only reduce coarse noise, but at the same time still offer the opportunity to communicate with each other. communicate, are used at a shooting club.
Good luck, Nico B
Isn't anti sound a good solution, as used in the sound canceling headphones. It is also used in industry. It will cost you some and a lot of power, but that can have a surprising effect.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNCWolxm3w0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mv6sBuwzLhk
Dear Tom,
There's no point in giving you advice here. The facts are as they are. I also regularly come across touring cars with a sound system that AHOY would be jealous of. The whistle of a traffic control agent is really not heard by the driver and if such a bus drives behind you, you first think of an earthquake. But that's just how it is. Some know how to turn their sound system into a beautiful car… or is it the other way around. I took these photos in Pak Chong.