I don't really complain a great deal about the city that I live in. This is a perfectly fine place to live. It is neither wonderful nor shite, it is just somewhere easy, something that lies in the middle and is a perfectly adequate. Vietnam lacks the allure that Thailand has in my opinion both in terms of excitement and nature but there is one thing that really pisses me off about Vietnam and more specifically, the part of Vietnam and even Da Nang that I have chosen to live in: It is almost never quiet.
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The main reason why the noise level of this city is damn near maddening is because of the never-ending construction. As soon as one building is finally finished someone is getting ready on another plot of land nearby. Once they've done that someone, somewhere is doing renovations or even worse, tearing a building down so that they can built what appears to be exactly the same building that was there before.
In other countries there would be some sort of noise pollution regulation or barring that, certain times of day where making huge amounts of noise would be allowed. We don't appear to have any such rules in this country and it is just a free for all, sometimes 24-hours a day, noise fest. I have heard that in other countries there are decibel meters at construction sites and the site is not allowed to exceed these numbers. What a glorious place that must be to live and we don't have anything like that here.
Another thing that is constantly disturbing the peace is the traffic noise.
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The the newbies in the country the traffic here seems chaotic but despite the fact that there don't appear to be a great many official rules here, there aren't a ton of accidents. I've only actually seen the aftermath of one or two since arriving here nearly 3 years ago and a big part of the reason why that is the case is the fact that basically everyone is constantly honking their horns. This goes on at every possible intersection, by every vehicle, at all times of day.
I would prefer if people would just slow down but jeebus the horns here do get a workout and once again this is all day, every day.
Now let's get to the thing that is the worst kind of noise pollution that I have encountered anywhere in the world in my life.
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The Vietnamese love karaoke and for some reason someone decided that in order to have a real karaoke party, it has to be outdoors and with speakers that would impress AC/DC on tour. That picture above is indeed cherry-picked with 3 people sitting around a relatively gigantic and powerful speaker, but it really isn't rare at all. These systems can be rented and it is very common to see 3-5 extremely drunk mostly men sitting around and with no shame singing as loud as they possibly can with no concern to the fact that they are completely destroying the peace of the entire neighborhood. I feel like I am going to completely lose my shit and go postal on people when this goes on for hours on end. As it turns out the Vietnamese people also hate this but not enough to actually do anything about it.
So why I am writing about how we get a little peace and quiet now ?
It is the Tet or New Year weekend right now and as is tradition everyone is supposed to return to their family home and spend a bunch of time with family. This is done in a quieter and normally karaoke-free environment for some reason. Also, very few people's family are actually from the part of Da Nang that I live in, since this side of the river didn't really have a purpose before tourism became viable. Building was difficult because of the proximity to the sea and for the same reason, it was useless as farmland.
Almost all businesses are completely shut and all of the construction sites have been shut down so that the workers can have some time off.
It is absolutely glorious because I never thought I would take peace and quiet for granted but I really have done so. I am loving this so much and am just trying to take in as much of it as I can because I know that next week that it is going to return to noise, every day, all day. I am going to try to take in as much of this as possible and truly enjoy it. I can actually hear the ocean from my balcony right now and this is something that is ONLY possible during this one week a year.
Vietnam! Why you so noisy?
Lol, the native sounds of karaoke wafting through the community airs, with drunken locals shouting songs at decibels that would make your ears buried. It is that time of year when we grab our microphones and hold them tall then ramble on to let the world know. Lol
I think they passed a new law recently about sound orances and not going above a certain decibel too late at night. Perhaps you could report that if it gets too much. I know a few people decide to go to Korea for the week to get out of the Nam for that same reason.
Well Happy New Year and I hope you find moment of solitude at least
I've heard about that "karaoke law" being enforced in Saigon and perhaps it exists here as well but just like a lot of laws in SE Asia, it certainly isn't enforced where I am!
He was known far and wide as the Sheriff of the Karaoke Law in the wild old West and his name was 'GoodDream'. Whenever he rode into town, the people would drop their mics in shock and awe and fall silent. No one dared to challenge the Sheriff's laws, for he was feared...
Does Nadi seem to handle the construction noise okay? We had some idiot buy the land behind our house and put up a new house a couple of summers ago. All of the beeping and banging drove Jovi crazy. Then just about a month ago our neighbor decided to put an addition on their house and it has been the same thing all over again. Jo is beside herself. We try to leave a fan on for white noise while we are gone, but we often come home to her having made a mess on the floor. I don't blame her, it's the idiots next door! :P I saw AC/DC in concert once and honestly, they were pretty quite compared to when I saw KISS in concert. Loudest show I have ever attended! I know what you were getting at though :)
Nadi has gotten used to the noise by now because it is just a daily part of our lives for several years now. I am sure she was bothered by it at first. The only thing that she gets worked up about these days is people lurking in the hallway such as those evil cleaning ladies who dare to sweep so close to her area. She will growl at them until I open the door and then she jumps on their legs for cuddles.
Haha, that is pretty funny. Jo barks at everything and everyone that even drives down the street. It gets a bit tedious at times, but it's one of those cases where her bark really is worse than her bite. I keep telling my wife that we are going to get robbed once she is gone because right now no one would dare go near our house!
I think being able to have peace and silence is a wealth; I am lucky enough to live in a peripheral area of my city, almost in the countryside; just a few cars pass but then, especially in the evening, you can enjoy absolute silence and for me it is priceless.
When I couldn't enjoy this silence, I sought it out by going in my spare moments for walks through the woods or perhaps by the sea depending on the city where I lived.
speaking of quiet walks on the sea. That was once one of our only areas of respite in this noisy city but then the city put up tinny speakers that would play music on the beach. Thankfully the Vietnamese people complained about this as they didn't want it either and they took them down but I was just kind of surprised that anyone in power would think that anyone would actually want that. Do we have to have noise at all times?
The next place I move to is not going to be a big city like this. I would much rather need to ride a bit to get to a population area and live quietly than have a stores and restaurants right outside my front door and have to deal with urban noise all day, every day.
In the past they also tried to put music on the waterfront here too... obviously after a while it was removed, as an initiative that few liked.
When you go for a walk there are many who prefer a little peace to the casino😉
Absolute madness as to why this is allowed to even take place. There must be a better neighborhood that is already built up and no construction happening. I would move as this is not normal.
⋆ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘʟᴀᴄᴇ ғᴏʀ sᴏᴜᴛʜᴇᴀsᴛ ᴀsɪᴀɴ ᴄᴏɴᴛᴇɴᴛ ᴏɴ ʜɪᴠᴇ
⋆ sᴜʙsᴄʀɪʙᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴛʜᴇ ᴀsᴇᴀɴ ʜɪᴠᴇ ᴄᴏᴍᴍᴜɴɪᴛʏ
⋆ ғᴏʟʟᴏᴡ ᴛʜᴇ ᴀsᴇᴀɴ ʜɪᴠᴇ ᴄᴏᴍᴍᴜɴɪᴛʏ ᴠᴏᴛɪɴɢ ᴛʀᴀɪʟ
⋆ ᴅᴇʟᴇɢᴀᴛɪᴏɴ ʟɪɴᴋs 25 ʜᴘ⇾50 ʜᴘ⇾100 ʜᴘ⇾500 ʜᴘ⇾1,000 ʜᴘ
The outdoor Karaoke sounds like a friggin nightmare. Omg! Haha.. Most people are just horrific singers, and they are always the loudest ones.
Living in LA, I know exactly what you mean with the constant construction. It is neverending here. Luckily we have moved to a quieter neighborhood now, but before we were in an apartment where we had constant police helicopters overhead and sirens at 3am. As well as hammering and sawing as soon as the morning hit.
I am glad you got a break from it all though. That is when you really notice how loud it has actually been!
ooh, police helicopters and sirens is even worse, that means you are probably living somewhere dangerous as well. I will give Vietnam this one thing, it is exceptionally safe here and I don't know why. I have never even seen a police officer outside of a security box somewhere.
Yeah, there is a lot of crime and especially homelessness here. The cost of living has become so absurdly expensive here in Los Angeles, it just isn't sustainable. It's so so stupid how you can't survive around here under a $250k a year household income. And that is not even living particularly well.
yeah that doesn't sound like the life for me. I don't think I will ever live in the USA again but if i did, it definitely won't be in an area like that!
I can't blame you.
I try to think of areas in USA where I might be happy and don't really come up with many answers.
I think the first thing that would tick me off would be the fact that you cant' live anywhere outside of crazy populated areas without needing to own a car. I would prefer to live the rest of my life without ever owning a car again. It's very doable over here but any time I get in a taxi in USA I feel like i need to take out student loans to get to my destination .