Noise, power, and scams topped Thailand complaints list last year

[2/cb]

The higher up you are, the quieter it becomes. Fewer mosquitoes and other creatures as well.

[buksida]

Believe it or not, most of the above just fades into background noise, and I have to specifically listen for it. Wind direction can be an influencing factor.

I guess you get used to some noises, and some people are more sensitive to certain sounds. The constant traffic din in HH, trains, etc, have become background for me (aside from the ear-splitting ambulances and election trucks), but I still cant abide the incessant screeching of roosters or construction noise all day long. Funny that I find the city quieter than the rural setting!

Nobody likes listening to someone else's music though, especially late at night, so I couldn't live near these party houses.

[pharvey]

I thought I'd put this here rather than the "China Thread", but perhaps we'll ship it over if deemed not suitable here.

This BBC report certainly goes to Chinese being targeted, but I've seen several reports stating that there are numerous "local" victims, i.e. Myanmar, Thailand etc. - being either victims of the scams or those brought in and forced to perpetrate them under a life of virtual imprisonment. I don't think there is any doubt that the scams extend worldwide, but I wonder what the effect this place has on Thailand as a whole - Thais or foreigners.

Casinos, High-rises and Fraud: The BBC Visits a Bizarre City Built on Scams
6 February 2025

"The tall, shiny buildings which rise out of the cornfields on the Myanmar side of the Moei river are a sight so jarring you find yourself blinking to be sure you haven't imagined it.

Eight years ago there was nothing over there in Karen State. Just trees, a few roughly built cement buildings, and a long-running civil war which has left this area of Myanmar one of the poorest places on earth. But today, on this spot along the border with Thailand, a small city has emerged like a mirage. It is called Shwe Kokko, or Golden Raintree.

It is accused of being a city built on scams, home to a lucrative yet deadly nexus of fraud, money-laundering and human trafficking. The man behind it, She Zhijiang, is languishing in a Bangkok jail, awaiting extradition to China.

But Yatai, She Zhijiang's company which built the city, paints a very different vision of Shwe Kokko in its promotional videos – as a resort city, a safe holiday destination for Chinese tourists and haven for the super-rich.

The story of Shwe Kokko is also one of the unbridled ambition which has rippled out of China in the last two decades.

She Zhijiang dreamed of building this glittering city as his ticket out of the shadowy world of scams and gambling which he inhabited.

But by aiming so high he has drawn the attention of Beijing, which is now keen to stamp out the fraud operations along the Thai-Myanmar border which are increasingly targeting Chinese people."

Video Report at Link: - https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c04nx1vnw17o

[usual suspect]

All those years of running that little bar on Binta quickly made me realise that once a Thai lady is running a bar that her Farang bf/husband is funding, she almost instantly gets the guys from the audio suppliers to fit the biggest speakers they have in the store..Then hook them up to an amp/P.A. system good enuf for Ban Khun Por!!
Then recruits girls that are drunk every night, (partly due to the mamasan donating 1 or 2 bottles of Sangsom for them) ..Resulting in loud-as-f*** music being played, screaming/drunken girlies & NO customers..EVER...
...But the mamasan/bar owner thinks she has 'power' now!

All this goes on till Mr Farang comes back, sees the bar has not made a single baht in X-months that he has been away..Then the 'For Sale'
sign goes up...And it all starts again FFS ('cept this time the sound system is already installed)..

On the topic of music..Why,0 why does EVERY 'live' music venue (again) play their music as loud as possible & the lead singers cannot sing anything melodic, Oh no, it simply HAS to be a track with heaps of bass, & the singer almost screaming into the mic..!
OK..Rant over..

[buksida]

This is why I love going camping in the middle of nowhere, but even then if other groups of Thais rock up, they bring noise with them to shatter the serenity - its just ingrained in the psyche here.

Still on the subject of how noisy this place is ... we had to cut our last camping trip short. The spot was faultless, but the owner had a pack of dogs on site that would howl and fight all night, so sleeping in a tent was impossible ... great business sense! The next day, a group of noisy Thais rocked up with their own yappy dogs, bing bong music speakers, and proceeded to shout at each other from 3 feet apart as they do.

Excessive noise is an addiction in this country ... and everyone is hooked!

[Dannie Boy]

I must admit that generally speaking, Thailand is much noisier than say the UK. Of course the UK has its moments, but here it’s part of everyday life - dogs, chickens, birds (my wife calls them the Gawaw bird) that make a hell of a noise from about 4am, motor bikes, trucks with loudspeakers, Tessebahn announcements, Temple celebrations and of course any excuse to put up those massive speakers for a party, where the bass makes your spine vibrate!!

[Big Boy]

and proceeded to shout at each other from 3 feet apart as they do.

Excessive noise is an addiction in this country ... and everyone is hooked!

Something that has always amazed me is they also do it all at the same time. In my upbringing, one person speaks at a time, and it was considered rude to interrupt until that person had finished speaking. Here, you often see half a dozen people all speaking at the same time, and actually understanding each conversation - very clever, and I honestly don't know how they do it. I think the conversations get louder, as each one tries to be heard above the rest.

I think this is why many Thais think I'm quiet because I literally can't get a word in edgeways. I always wait my turn to speak, which often doesn't come.

[STEVE G]

I do agree about noise generally in Thailand but I was sat out in my garden this morning in Hin Lek Fai and it was remarkably serene, with just a touch of light tropical bird noises in the background which I thought very peaceful.

[buksida]

Yes, those Sunday morning pockets of serenity are nice, noticeably so because they're so rare!

[Dannie Boy]

Obviously location can significantly impact your local environment - where we lived before I’d say it was 90% tranquil with just the occasional loud noise, but since we moved to our new location it’s much worse and the worst offenders are noisy motorcycles.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Gregjam]

I have accepted noise along with many other things as part of living in Thailand. Living close to Nong Khon temple is generally quiet, recently cleared brush increased the road noise and there was something going on at the temple but that went quiet around ten in the evening. Clearing the land has also meant we hear the speakers at the school more clearly but there is more quiet time when you can hear birdsong and view wildlife. Even the nearby party house appears to be on a long term lease and the family there are quiet (it was not too bad even when the occasional Bangkok tourists came down for the weekend).
All this is much better than when we lived off the canal road and goes to show that if you want a quieter life you have to move farther out but unless you become a hermit way out in the boonies there will always be some kind of noise.