[Dominick Yo]

I thought i'd start a thread on all those great sounds which radiate throughout the Land of Siam. Great in the sense that the brains behind them, believe that you either love or simply don't mind them.

I am only having a bitta fun, so don't go thinking i'm an old complaining expat!What do you think?

>That loud 'beep beep' sound you hear every time you enter 7-11.
>"Rap arai eek mai kha". Constantly being asked if you want to buy anything else by the cashier at 7-11.
>Sound of blaring pick-up trucks driving down the streets promoting products/politicians.
>Barking dogs at night.
>Neighbours loud stereo at 7 in the morning.
>Construction workers banging away next door at 7 in the morning.
>Angry screaming women on Thai soap operas.
>Blaring speakers coming from the local temple.
>Modified super-loud motorbikes.
>Drunk Thai guys shouting "Hello, where you come from?"
>Drunken locals singing Karaoke.
>Thai pop love songs.
>Loud Farang guys at bar-beers boasting how much they are adored by Thai women.

Love 'em or loathe 'em?
Can you think of anymore?

[Wr8dIAUk]

- the ticket-seller on Bangkok buses, shaking the coins in that cylindrical box
- endless Thai folk-pop music on night buses
- the little tune played by motorcycle ice cream vendors

[timmybrown]

> those guys (police and guards) blowing the whistles urging the cars to move along.

[rusculture]

The constant use of car horns -almost a language in itself-and quite intrusive if you come from a country where car horns are seldom used.

[ashleyjoseph]

- that "ding" when you pull the rope / press the button to stop the songtaew
- the stuttering motors of the tuktuks
- the pickup trucks with the loudspeakers in the back, with somebody inside yelling at everybody who they should vote for

(now I'm wondering why most of the sounds we've got so far are focused on street and traffic...??)

[Wr8dIAUk]

- and the deep "dong" of temple bells you can ring bending down

[valensds]

Ahhh Betti I like that sound too. I deleted my post coz I could only think of sounds that I like and thought the thread was sounds we don't like.

So I will repost two of my favourites.

> Tinkle of temple bells in the wind
> Pok-pok sound of som tam making

[PWRichard]

Moobahn Life


An ice cream barrow playing "Somewhere over the Rainbow" walking up the village soi every hour on a sunday afternoon.

The men in the pickup truck witrh the loudspeaker, driving up the soi every Sunday afternoon asking to buy rubbish.

The woman with the washing barrow shouting into every house asking if they have washing to do, 2/3 times, every Sunday afternoon.

The guy with the whole 99 baht shop on a bicycle driving up the soi Sunday afternoon.

Splashing from children in the village swimming pool

Village gangster dogs barking, wailing and yelping at night.

Village gangster dogs chasing after, growling and barking at walkers and cyclists in the village every day.

The village mass outdoor aerobics class blasting out music at 6pm every day.

The wife inviting a cousin, parent, uncle to visit. Them arriving 5am Sunday morning, turning the tele on full blast and thinking it strange, I'm not up yet!


The bells of the Samlor as they ride up and down the village asking the sleeping dogs to move from their path.

Ching Choks making that Chink Chok sound, followed by a Thai asking me to shut up after I just asked, who's gonna die?

Any Thai in a room your in with with a TV and control over the volume switch.

The neighbour 3 houses away watching a movie on the DVD player.

Village Ghosts wailing at night

The screeching of un-oiled security gates opening to let a car in or our of the driveway, every ten minutes, day or night

[ashleyjoseph]

- the annoying buzz of mosquitoes around my head... followed by a grumble and a "splat"

- fans / ventilators / aircon!

[ashleyjoseph]

- oh and the early morning chanting and reciting from the nearby school
- national anthem (everywhere... and life seems to stand still for a few minutes)

[rusculture]

The sound of food cooking in a wok in the food markets and the stirring of same.

[valensds]

> The sound of Singha beer being poured over ice

[Wr8dIAUk]

I remember my friends' complete and utter shock seeing the barbaric practice of pouring beer over ice.

[MaigicyuNinia]

The clicking and chatter, of a team of 5 manually handled sledge hammer operators and hand shovelers, that goes all day to break up a concrete foot path and dig a trench, all done by hand, to lay in water pipes, because they cannot afford the cost of a very noisy Jack hammer and excavator machine, which would be used in the west.

[Arkadiyas]

The chicken song being sung by students in the school across the street.

The national anthem played over the village loudspeaker.

The evening call to prayer from the muezzin.

»ÅÒäËÁ¤Ð àÍÒ»ÅÒÒÒÒÒÒÒÒÒÒäËÁ¤Ð

At the airport...the dong dong dong and â»Ã´·ÃÒº.....

At seven eleven ......âÍ¡ÒÊ˹éÒàªÔ*ãËÁè¹Ð¤ÒÒÒÒÒÒÒÒÒÒÒÒ

At muay Thai fights.... µÕ µÕ µÕ (as the intensity builds)

The tiiiiiiiiiing....top of the Ching being played in Thai Music

[Thifiadardivy]

i hate the sound of the jet engines starting up on my return flight back to London.

[SOgLak]

The noise of the Tuk-kae lizard in the early evening

[Arkadiyas]

The Channel 3 theme song... I just love that jingle!

"....´Ù·ÕÇÕ·ÕéªèͧÊÒÁ"

...and the ·Ô¾¿Õ advertisement (not sure how to spell it) heard on the radio.

"...·Ô¾¿ÕἧÊÕà¢ÕÂÇ"

[timmybrown]

The constant use of car horns -almost a language in itself-and quite intrusive if you come from a country where car horns are seldom used.

To be fair, I find Thai seldom use the car horn.. at least not as much as I do.

[Fvmfrctt]

So many great posts describing the sounds of thailand. These sounds are ringing thru my mind. And I'm 8000 miles away. Sound I like best is the utter silence of the night sleeping in my house deep in the jungle's of thailand. Maybe a frog noise, or a minor dog bark . But nothing else. No street lights here. No cars. No horns. No jack hammers. The days are almost as quiet. Except for the rather continual chanting of the monks.