Loud village loudspeakers

Village loudspeakers a public nuisance
Friday, January 27, 2006
Phuket Gazette

I have been living in a tranquil housing estate in Thalang for more than seven years. It was a pleasant place to live until about a month ago when, about 100 meters from my house, someone erected a tower with four loudspeakers on top of it.

Every day since then, including Sundays, at 7 am, these speakers blast out Radio Thailand for one full hour. Sleep is impossible thanks to the volume of this broadcast, and the poor sound quality is offensive and an intrusion on the privacy of every person living nearby.

I have no wish to listen to this particular radio station; nor do my Thai neighbors to whom I have mentioned it.

One of my neighbors has just lost the sale of his house because of the noise. Another lost his rental tenant, who left to find a place where his peace and quiet are respected.

Meanwhile, my next-door neighbor is consulting his lawyer about issuing a civil action lawsuit to cover loss of income from lost rental contracts due to the dreadful din caused by the speakers.

These loudspeakers do not belong on a modern international resort island anywhere in the world, let alone in a peaceful country like Thailand.

Please, can we get rid of them so we can have some quiet and enjoy the news of our own selection?

Friday, January 27, 2006
тАЬThank you for bringing this to our attention. The Public Works Department does not have authority to dismantle the tower or speakers as the decision to erect them was made at a higher level of the Municipality, but I can order the the volume turned down or broadcasts stopped if necessary.

We will not allow the broadcasts to start again if they cause a nuisance to people. тАЭ

Friday, January 27, 2006 Jatupon Wechapun, Public Works Engineer, Thepkrasattri Municipality.

тАЬPlease note that after K. Jatupon gave this reply, he called again to confirm that he has ordered the local тАШradio stationтАЩ тАУ run by the gamagan chumchon, or village elders, as a тАШserviceтАЩ to the community тАУ to shut down.

He invited anyone with similar complaints in the future to call him at the Engineering Department, at Tel: 076-311381 or 076-311952. тАЭ

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This is common in Thai villages. I have heard of farangs who in desperation sneak out at night with a knife, cutting the cable to the loudspeakers.

By the way, the newspaper said the the loudspeakers were ordered turned off, not that it actually happened. In Thailand these are two different things. :compress:

[TrongpaiExpat]

in a peaceful country like Thailand.

I just always though it was a Thai thing. The loud speakers at the Maisai bridge was the loudest that I ever heard. At 0730, first some radio station, then banal announcements. It was so loud, the windows in the hotel vibrated.

In rural Nong Kai province, at the crack of dawn, loud speakers mounted on pick up's blasting political messages. No one complains. I asked the BF and he said, powerful man with much money, no one tell him what to do.

In Bangkok, at the Paragon aquarium lobby, there was this guy with a microphone connected to a carry on amplifier. The sound quality was so miserable that even the BF could not make out one word.

The loud speakers at Jomtime are pussy cats compared to the ones in Issarn and Mai Sai.

The common thread with all this noise pollution is the person on the other end of the wire is some political authority. I guess no one wants to tell this powerful guy to shut up. It' not the Thai way.

Is that guy who sells fruit from a pickup truck with loudspeakers in my soi a powerful man? I hope not because one day I will tell him to shut up. :cherry:

[catawampuscat]

I have been in Tukcom. more than once, when someone selling something is on a microphone and blasting away and it doesn't seems to bother the locals.. The same thing happens in many of the bars, althou if enough farangs complain, they do sometimes lower the volume..
The moving vechicles with the loud speakers are annoying but at least they last only a minute or so..
On the positive side, it seems less noisy here in Pattaya from Hollywood..It used to boom boom with low bass sounds and now it is much quieter late at nite..
The worse noise is probably the sounds of construction which seems to be going on everywhere, either new buildings or renovations..Usually , they don't start the noisy work until late morning but occassionally much earlier..Not to much one can do, except in bars, with your feet leaving the bar and that message usually gets thru........

[ChrisUK]

If you're unfortunate enough to be facing the Temple and two schools on South Pattaya Road, you'll be woken up at 7.30am at the latest by chanting or speeches through loudspeakers, continuing for up to an hour. On a previous trip, the Temple even started their noise at 3am and continued for 4 hours everyday for a week. The fact that this might be traditional for Thais is no excuse in a city devoted and developed to accommodate tourists from other countries, who have no desire to wake up at such an hour, especially when on holiday.

On my recent trip, on speaking with my neighbour, he explained that he was selling up and moving to a new condo in Jomtien as soon as itтАЩs built, essentially to get away from the noise these inconsiderate establishments make.

I have no wish to stop either the Temple or the two schools from pursuing their routine activities, but they should do so without the assistance of loudspeakers at such an early hour.

It is time the relevant authorities woke themselves up to the idea that Pattaya is a tourist area and needs to create a suitable environment. :angry7:

It goes along with the question "Why is karaoke so popular with Asians?" The answer is that it gives them a forum for social interaction that at the same time precludes them from offering up an opinion - or indeed anything that might give rise to social dissension

Thanks for putting the blokes phone number down Silom,I called today only to get a lady tell me that he is out but he will return my call.So far still havnt heard from this Public works dept.
I wanted to complain about my neighbour 2 doors up who mows his lawn at 4am in the morning every Monday.Im not sure why he does it but its starting to pisss people off around here.Hopefully these people will call me back soon.

Thanks for putting the blokes phone number down Silom, I called today

Good. Tell him Silom sent you. :toothy7:

Thanks for putting the blokes phone number down Silom,I called today only to get a lady tell me that he is out but he will return my call.So far still havnt heard from this Public works dept.
I wanted to complain about my neighbour 2 doors up who mows his lawn at 4am in the morning every Monday.Im not sure why he does it but its starting to pisss people off around here.Hopefully these people will call me back soon.

Yesterday I was organizing my pantry & found a case of Billy Beer (Named for a president's brother--Not because it tastes like one would imagine goat piss might taste.) hidden waaay in the back. I'm still a bit fuzzy; so let me make sure I understand this: you are calling Phuket to complain about a lawn mower running at 4AM--In Sydney?
I think I need another beer...or six. :drunken:

PS: Were you wearing your cop-drag & joke boots?