Jump to content

One-man noise pollution lessener.


boomerangutang

Recommended Posts

As we all know, noise pollution in Thailand is everywhere.  Recently, I was at a small rural market with about 60 vendors.  I'd been there for years, and everyone knows everyone.   Recently, however, a p.u. truck parked across the street selling fruit.  A loud drone voice was being pumped out its sound system - all about adverts for its fruits.  It was very annoying for everyone at the market.   I had a choice; either leave, or confront the polluter.  I chose the latter.   There were two Thai men there.   One was in the truck driver's seat with window half open.   I told him, in Thai, to turn off the loud sound.  He was on the phone.   He nodded in the affirmative, but didn't do what I demanded.  I said it again.  He did his thing.    This went back and forth about 9 times, each time I demanded he turn off the loud noise.   He thought that, by just nodding his head in the affirmative and staying on his mobile, that I would walk away.  But it didn't suffice.   Finally he turned off the offending noise, and hasn't been broadcasting in the days since.  

 

Side note:  I'm middle aged.  The two guys were probably in their 20's and could have floored me in a few seconds.  I took a chance.  I won.

 

Side note 2:   why don't Thai folks speak up when something annoying like loud noise permeates the region?  Those of us familiar with Thailand know the answer:  Thais would rather suffer noise assaults than confront another Thai.  Part of the reason is, some Thais are very quick to offense, and some carry large knives and other weapons.  I experienced that once, while driving, when a truck driver waved a sword at me.   Because Thais are too cowardly to deal with blatant incursions into their well-being, perhaps it's up to half-crazy farang to step up, and do the dirty work that Thais are afraid to do.

 

I've got other stories (of me protecting Thais from noise- or other types of pollution), but this post is already longer than I planned.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In terms of ceremonies, meetings, more private events, from what I see, Thais will tell people to turn down the speaker if what is playing is incredibly annoying or excessively loud (for Thai standards). So if someone's voice for example is annoying, people will ask for it to be turned down. But, if not overly annoying, they will obviously consider it rude to ask for it to be turned down. 

The level of noise has probably naturally increased due to the speakers fighting everyone's incredibly rude chatting whilst people are talking on the microphone. Thai manners always seem a bit backwards from what we are used to.


In a public situation, like a market. if Thai find it an issue, they will just complain to the local authorities and they will go and deal with it as a nuisance case (that's if the locals have the relevant knowledge - many do not). So it happens more behind closed doors rather than directly in front of people. Contrary to what people think, complaints are quite frequent. Would be daily complaints in bigger cities.

Complaints are also on the increase in rural areas as people are starting to have better understandings of the different avenues they can take. Rural areas are a lot closer community though (cousins a lot of the time), so they don't see the point in fighting people they have to see everyday just to walk past the speaker for a few minutes. City people obviously have less of a care factor. 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You could always approach the truck and explain to him in 4 paragraphs the nature of noise complaints in Thailand but he would probably be tearing his hair out  before you would finish and move the truck.

Edited by JLCrab
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, wildewillie89 said:

In terms of ceremonies, meetings, more private events, from what I see, Thais will tell people to turn down the speaker if what is playing is incredibly annoying or excessively loud (for Thai standards). So if someone's voice for example is annoying, people will ask for it to be turned down. But, if not overly annoying, they will obviously consider it rude to ask for it to be turned down. 

The level of noise has probably naturally increased due to the speakers fighting everyone's incredibly rude chatting whilst people are talking on the microphone. Thai manners always seem a bit backwards from what we are used to.


In a public situation, like a market. if Thai find it an issue, they will just complain to the local authorities and they will go and deal with it as a nuisance case (that's if the locals have the relevant knowledge - many do not). So it happens more behind closed doors rather than directly in front of people. Contrary to what people think, complaints are quite frequent. Would be daily complaints in bigger cities.

Complaints are also on the increase in rural areas as people are starting to have better understandings of the different avenues they can take. Rural areas are a lot closer community though (cousins a lot of the time), so they don't see the point in fighting people they have to see everyday just to walk past the speaker for a few minutes. City people obviously have less of a care factor. 

 

WildeWillie, You appear to be more in tune with complaints, than I.  I have never heard or seen a Thai complain about loud and/or annoying noise.  I've been visiting Thailand for 34 yrs, and resided here for 19.  For sure, I've seen Thais grin and/or roll their eyes, in response to loud noise, but never seen one take the initiative to complain.  I'll be glad if I'm proven wrong.

 

Similarly, I have never had a Thai manager/owner of a restaurant/shop ask me if I wanted the sound turned down.  ....let along what type of music I wanted to listen to, even if I'm the only person in the restaurant.

 

Additionally to the OP: I know of a farang in a rural setting who has cut wires to overhead horn blowers.  His neighbors like it, but they would never do it themselves.  They're Thai.   They like the lower levels of annoying noise, but they'll leave it up to the crazy neighborhood farang to stick his neck out and do something about it.

 

And then there's dog noise.  That's a whole giant topic in itself.  P.s. Dog barking is less problematic in Burma, than in Thailand.  I have a theory why, but won't expand upon it here and now.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I met a Thai man who, when completely annoyed by a guy across the street from him, practicing electric guitar on his front porch - blasting throughout the community, of course.  ......took a gun and shot at him.   The bullet went through the guitar player's shorts.  So, I guess that disproves my theory that Thais never take action to lessen annoying noise - yet it shows the primitive way that particular guy dealt with it - with a loaded gun.   There was an article, a few years ago, of a Thai person who went over to a raucous outdoor party and complained about noise.  I don't know who shot who, but a few people were shot dead from that scenario.

 

So, next time a Thai says 'mai pen rai' or 'be Buddhist, and tune it out.'  in response to you complaining about annoying noise, .......tell that person, 'IT DOES MATTER.'  People have been killed over this issue.  And then tell that person that there are better ways to deal with neighborhood problems, than shooting people with guns.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, boomerangutang said:

 

WildeWillie, You appear to be more in tune with complaints, than I.  I have never heard or seen a Thai complain about loud and/or annoying noise.  I've been visiting Thailand for 34 yrs, and resided here for 19.  For sure, I've seen Thais grin and/or roll their eyes, in response to loud noise, but never seen one take the initiative to complain.  I'll be glad if I'm proven wrong.

 

Similarly, I have never had a Thai manager/owner of a restaurant/shop ask me if I wanted the sound turned down.  ....let along what type of music I wanted to listen to, even if I'm the only person in the restaurant.

 

Additionally to the OP: I know of a farang in a rural setting who has cut wires to overhead horn blowers.  His neighbors like it, but they would never do it themselves.  They're Thai.   They like the lower levels of annoying noise, but they'll leave it up to the crazy neighborhood farang to stick his neck out and do something about it.

 

And then there's dog noise.  That's a whole giant topic in itself.  P.s. Dog barking is less problematic in Burma, than in Thailand.  I have a theory why, but won't expand upon it here and now.


Unfortunately, many Thai (still learning) and judging from this forum many farang are unaware of the avenues they can go down. Thai is exactly the same as back home. Make a complaint to your municipality, and they will investigate/deem whether it is a nuisance or not. They will take action if it is a nuisance. If you are unhappy with the municipalities work you can take them to a tribunal in each province that has been set up by the current government. Completely free and designed to hear such cases like these to free up court time. It is the one place the local authorities are scared of as it is run by the military and lawyers. So anything to do with noise, smoke, smell, heat, small time nuisance cases etc. 


But, yes, I only know the finer details of this stuff as my father-in-law is a Mayor and my wife is a Director of Public Health so many of these issues fall into her portfolio now as she took on a less serious role if you like so she could move back to her home village to start our family. However, even if I didn't know, I would assume a logical step against a persistent nuisance would be to go and speak to the municipality. Many say speak to the village head, but he just passes the case on to the municipality anyway.

From my experience, lack of complaints fall down to purely a lack of knowledge of the legal avenues, not as much to do with things like face or fear as we all seem to think. Other posts have described similar situations, the Mrs thinks all these farang on the forum think Thai are aggressive jungle people lol. But in saying that she used to  be responsible for the whole of the deep south (Muslim insurgency) and investigating prisons around the country, so has seen a lot of bombings, killings even people fed to crocodiles at the local zoo.

I live in a small rural village of 1,000 people (one of six villages within the municipality), it is not uncommon for people to complain if they are aware of the systems in place. 

Public health officials deal with these issues, I know a lot of them obviously. Violence or revenge isn't something that is even spoken about it is that rare. Mrs office has a bullet hole in it, but that was due to the old engineering head.

Edited by wildewillie89
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I spoke with a Thai lawyer, and he suggested I take grievances to relevant authorities. Yea, uh huh.

 

I once went to Tourist Police office to mention about noise so loud it actually rattled my windows from 9 pm to 2 am.  As soon as I stated my concern, a cop (Tourist Police are required to speak some English) chastized me in a loud voice, "If you no like. You go home to your country. Go away.  We don't want to hear from you."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, boomerangutang said:

I spoke with a Thai lawyer, and he suggested I take grievances to relevant authorities. Yea, uh huh.

 

I once went to Tourist Police office to mention about noise so loud it actually rattled my windows from 9 pm to 2 am.  As soon as I stated my concern, a cop (Tourist Police are required to speak some English) chastized me in a loud voice, "If you no like. You go home to your country. Go away.  We don't want to hear from you."

 

And he was exactly right as there are a few different legal avenues a resident can go down regarding nuisances.

 

'Relevant' authorities in nuisance cases are the municipality, not volunteer tourist police. Thai police even are generally only responsible for fining people after the municipality has investigated the nuisance. So I'm not sure what you thought the tourist police were going to do. The fact they were there would indicate a high tourist area, so it would more fall on you choosing a parry place to sleep near than any Thai needing protection from noise. 

Edited by wildewillie89
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Certainly not unique to Thailand.  I went to a car show in China recently, and they were selling high end cars at such a high volume that nobody over 20 years old was even watching the cuties dance.  Everyone that I'd have considered a prospective customer walked away as soon as they cranked up the music and the lady started shouting into the microphone.  It was downright painful.

 

Same, of course, with Thai trade shows.  In fact, I bring a set of foam earplugs any time I go to any consumer show, and just about all of the industrial trade shows.  And I usually get a lot of thumbs up when I put them in...

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, JLCrab said:

But 30+ years in Thailand or not, if your brother-in-law's brother-in-law ran the the municipality, you would know these things.

 

Father-in-law, couldn't say it as much as you think I do to make that mistake lol.

 

Clearly the OP is unaware of the relevant steps to take, regardless of how long he has been here. Would have thought you would know these things also seeing as you feel the need to irrelevantly express who you know in past threads. 

 

For me to express knowledge to help a situation, I need to actually explain the credible sources I got it from - completely relevant. I also post the relevant government policies re these issues for those who have trouble believing things.

 

Are you going to offer something actually useful, or just live a life of utter boredom and bitter jealousy? If it's not jealousy then please refrain from any future comments about my family that are not relevant to different threads :). Thanks

Link to comment
Share on other sites

People have been posting useful information on this ThaiVisa Forum for years without having to list the entire family's CV every time the want to comment on something even as ridiculous as a noise complaint.

 

...and you ain't the only one on this forum with 'connections'.

Edited by JLCrab
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, JLCrab said:

People have been posting useful information on this ThaiVisa Forum for years without having to list the entire family's CV every time the want to comment on something even as ridiculous as a noise complaint.

 

...and you ain't the only one on this forum with 'connections'.


So far nearly every post regarding nuisance cases, since I joined the forum/ones I have seen/remember, have not contained the correct avenues to go down. There was one that did, and that was because one of the posters described a situation one of his farang friends went through and was successful in (would that be listing his friends CV in the 'experience' section? lol). Go back and go through them if you feel the need (seems you have a lot of free time). Saying such things fall within the portfolio of my wife and father-in-law would hardly be categorised as listing a CV. Your CV mustn't be all that impressive if you think it is. 

If it was as ridiculous as you seem to think, then one, you would have realised the previous posts re nuisance cases provided the wrong information, and two, I wonder how ridiculous you think your own existence must be for you to spend so much time on the thread in the first place. (Where the boredom/bitter jealousy comes in I think).

As this has been the case, people have found the information I have provided useful and thanked me for stating the most efficient way to fix the nuisance in the past. It is concerning if you feel my family is a 'connection' to me, I just see them as, well, family. But I also understand that many people do not understand the right paths to go down, so if I can help, then why not? I can see where the bitterness comes from now though if it is all about 'connections' with you. I really do hope your day picks up a little bit. I get paid to sit all day looking at the internet so I am not all that fussed about it, but in the interest of relevance to the thread nice chatting to ya :). 

Edited by wildewillie89
Link to comment
Share on other sites

For every short sentence I write you seem to respond with 3 or 4 long paragraphs and you talk about me being bored? I just wonder how I've managed to survive quite well almost 14 years in Thailand without your assistance

 

.I have many activities that keep me on the Internet a good part of the day but I do enjoy some comic relief. BTW how's your Thai language coming along?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, JLCrab said:

For every short sentence I write you seem to respond with 3 or 4 long paragraphs and you talk about me being bored? I just wonder how I've managed to survive quite well almost 14 years in Thailand without your assistance

 

.I have many activities that keep me on the Internet a good part of the day but I do enjoy some comic relief. BTW how's your Thai language coming along?


Not of any relevance to anything so I will save the moderators. Feel free to PM me :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 hours ago, Thongkorn said:

Thai culture, Not my business, Up to them

 

If you find trash, including soiled baby pampers, on your lawn (it's happened to me), is it your business?  Or is it not your business because this is Thailand, and you're not a Thai citizen?

 

Soiled baby pampers offend the sense of smell, similarly to how loud ingratiating sounds offend hearing. 

 

I tried educating a local head monk on this topic, trying to explain to him how each person has various senses (hearing, smell, sight, etc) which detect various inputs (which can be abused or overloaded), .....but all he could say in response; "Thai people like music."   ......as if farang don't appreciated music.   

 

8 hours ago, wildewillie89 said:

And he was exactly right as there are a few different legal avenues a resident can go down regarding nuisances.  'Relevant' authorities in nuisance cases are the municipality, not volunteer tourist police. Thai police even are generally only responsible for fining people after the municipality has investigated the nuisance. So I'm not sure what you thought the tourist police were going to do. The fact they were there would indicate a high tourist area, so it would more fall on you choosing a parry place to sleep near than any Thai needing protection from noise. 

 

We have different perspectives.  You seem to be advocating always taking the ponderous, time-consuming legal avenue, whenever you have a grievance in Thailand.   I'm ok with that in some instances, for example, if there's a property line dispute.   However (for example), if some punk kids are parked in front of my house at 1 am, making loud noise, breaking bottles on ground, ......I'm going to deal with the situation in the immediate moment.

 

In the OP, I mentioned the 2 fruit vendors who were disturbing the entire market (blaring v. loud sales pitches), all its vendors and all its customers, well over 100 people.  If I had gone to a municipality to lodge a formal complaint, I would have been laughed out of their offices, or, at best, it would have been a long drawn-out process needing an interpreter, possibly some money paid to officials.   And then what?   Maybe, in a few days or weeks, something would have been done to lessen the market people's annoyance.  .....or maybe nothing. 

 

You see the pattern here?   What I'm advocating is:  farang and Thai stand up for what they think is right.   Similar to if you see a young girl getting accosted late at night in an alley.  A Thai would not do anything unless related directly to the victim.  A farang might do something, but would take a chance on getting yelled at, or stabbed, or worse.  Would you take the chance?   I would.    

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Another example:   yesterday, in front of 7-11, lots of people around, I saw a 20-something woman striking a child.   I was about 7 meters away.   I stared intently at the scene.  The woman (probably the kid's mom) held the boys right arm, while striking him hard, once on the back left shoulder (that's all I saw, when I started staring).  She then struck him moderately softly across his left cheek.  I said to myself, 'if she strikes him once more, I'm going to run over there and protect the boy.'   Luckily for them both, the woman then took the kid by the arm and brusquely led him away.

 

I assume the kid was caught doing something wrong, ....perhaps he stole a candy bar, or said something rude.  Whatever, there's no excuse for an adult striking a child.  No excuse.  Nada.   I don't care whether I'm in Mali or Iceland or N.Korea, ......if I see such abuse, I'm going to act like lightning.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, boomerangutang said:

 

If you find trash, including soiled baby pampers, on your lawn (it's happened to me), is it your business?  Or is it not your business because this is Thailand, and you're not a Thai citizen?

 

Soiled baby pampers offend the sense of smell, similarly to how loud ingratiating sounds offend hearing. 

 

I tried educating a local head monk on this topic, trying to explain to him how each person has various senses (hearing, smell, sight, etc) which detect various inputs (which can be abused or overloaded), .....but all he could say in response; "Thai people like music."   ......as if farang don't appreciated music.   

 

 

We have different perspectives.  You seem to be advocating always taking the ponderous, time-consuming legal avenue, whenever you have a grievance in Thailand.   I'm ok with that in some instances, for example, if there's a property line dispute.   However (for example), if some punk kids are parked in front of my house at 1 am, making loud noise, breaking bottles on ground, ......I'm going to deal with the situation in the immediate moment.

 

In the OP, I mentioned the 2 fruit vendors who were disturbing the entire market (blaring v. loud sales pitches), all its vendors and all its customers, well over 100 people.  If I had gone to a municipality to lodge a formal complaint, I would have been laughed out of their offices, or, at best, it would have been a long drawn-out process needing an interpreter, possibly some money paid to officials.   And then what?   Maybe, in a few days or weeks, something would have been done to lessen the market people's annoyance.  .....or maybe nothing. 

 

You see the pattern here?   What I'm advocating is:  farang and Thai stand up for what they think is right.   Similar to if you see a young girl getting accosted late at night in an alley.  A Thai would not do anything unless related directly to the victim.  A farang might do something, but would take a chance on getting yelled at, or stabbed, or worse.  Would you take the chance?   I would.    

 

 

 

By all means attempt communicating to the people first. I nipped people burning off near my house in the butt pretty quickly just from going up to them. Wasn't hard to imply my baby didn't need smoke coming onto our land. Sure, farang perceive them as 'dangerous' rural people, with farm machetes in their hands and I probably lost their votes next election for the family - but doesn't take the balls you seem to be implying it does...so I assumed that was a given for farang lol.

 

I was merely pointing out the correct avenues that many Thai take, rather than what we assume - that they do absolutely nothing. Usually they have to see these people everyday, so rather than cause conflict, they go through other means (usually anonymously). Also many times you would probably find people will not listen to other Thai due to various societal factors. Also it is helpful for the many farang on this forum that seem to have this irrational, over exaggerated fear they will be shot or stabbed if going up to someone. 

 

The municipalities you describe I would be taking to the tribunal. Government set these tribunals up purely for these cases. Usually cases are heard within 10 days from my knowledge (bigger cities may be longer). The Mrs followed the law to the letter and was still taken there for one nuisance case by Thai folk. She was congratulated for following the law and they extended the framework so all parties could come to an agreement. 

 

The Mrs and I have helped two women in the city just this year who were being chased by abusive boyfriends, and she also has called the police on our old landlord who beat up one of the tenants. Anything in our immediate area the dogs deal with before I get a chance to get up lol.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Gee I have such a boring life here in Thailand. Nothing to complain about. Maybe one of these days I will have something to complain about so I will get to know all the ins & outs about what and to whom I should complain and what resolution I should expect for all my complaining.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Of course it interests me -- I aspire to have something about which to complain and hope to know just how to complain if and when I have something about which to complain but 14 years on and there still isn't anything about which to complain.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thailand and Asia in general are loud environments.  If I wanted a sterile environment, I would move back home.  Do get where you're coming from though and feel the frustration. Lucky  to live in a quiet neighborhood  On occasion, a raging party does happen but closing the window and ear plugs allow me move past the inconvenience with little issue.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.




×
×
  • Create New...