Angel Asked, Where is Most Quiet for Living Abroad?

tom61

Ahhhrgg dont mention chickens!! Yeah, I can relate to the chicken comment, they can drive you crazy ..and I think I am jinxed with those god damn things.
I am sure they are following me around the world :-)
Dont matter where I go whether its in the most quiet place or in center of town, somewhere there will be a chicken crowing its bleedin head off early morning. Well some people think they crow in the morning.. well I can tell you the bastard things crow all day, not just morning! It drives you nuts after a while and you want to go out and chop the thing up with a machete.
Another jinx I seem to have is builders dont matter where I go its guaranteed, within the week somebody will start banging ,sawing, drilling etc.
Worst experience was within 2 days if arriving at a Pattaya hotel, they started installing a lift shaft- It was a nightmare like living on a building site, the walls vibrating with jackhammers and noise like you would not believe. Tried to move but could not,... paid in advance and they would not give refund.
And yeah when in Bangkok I managed to find a place right next to a Mosque, with someone screeching to Allah at 5am every morning, not only that they always use loudspeakers too ..only I could manage that in a country 95percent Buddhist and I end up next to Mosque- I'm jinxed I tell you!!
and churches yeah another annoyance these religious types always seem to need massive loudspeakers to reach their particular "Sky Daddy" . always recall a so called church in Santiago, Dominican R. Bloody noise was crazy with the preacher ranting and screaming like a man possessed -and the singer they had was the worst I ever heard, she sounded like a cat being tortured with a red hot poker!
Went to have a look one evening, the amount of noise they were creating expected a large crowd...could not believe it! All this so called church consisted of was a small concrete building with maybe 30 chairs and an...ermm.. congregation of about 6 people at that moment.
The noise came from the ranting loonie who stood at the front with bank of loudspeakers ,which would not have been out of place at a heavy metal concert.
and it was right in middle of residential area, how the immediate neighbours put up with that crap is beyond me! i was living 150 yards away and could hardly stand it.

Lawrence14

Uncle Andy's advise of only a one or two night advance booking only when needed is indeed wise.

tom61

Yeah OK in theory, but when booking apartments or long term hotel stay, not always practical as some want month in advavnce.

tom61

or even "advance" :-) wheres the bloody edit button?

AlwaysRt

Hotel says "You must book and pay a month in advance", I says "Interesting cuz I must NOT have to stay at your hotel", Hotel says "Oh you want to stay a couple days before committing long term?", I says "Yup, now you get the idea" The moral of the story is control your own destiny.

tom61

yeah but nothing is foolproof, things could be quiet for days and then you get a moron who parks his car outside and blast his stereo at 100 decibels ermm reason I say this i got one right now outside rattling my windows in the frame. Christ there is some inconsiderate morons in this world...but its the culture here, the louder the better.

cori1

I woke at 430 am to barking dogs going ape shit and 7 or 8 guys screaming and yelling as they played basketball.. Id take the 7am song lol

AlanOak

There's stories from the old days about pioneers moving out into the quiet prairie and going insane from the sound of the wind. For some people, there's such a thing as too quiet. Or on the other hand, I guess it depends on what sounds you're accustomed to. I live 50 ft from a railroad that shakes the house and it doesn't bother me one bit. But it annoys the heck out of me when the neighbors have a party and people are playing loud music and talking in the yard. Go figure!

tom61

@cori1 basketball at 04.30, sure is some strange people in this world MMMh yeah ,even prefer the 6am chicken to that!

Gadget

I was in Panajachel, and was talking to James. I was wondering why a friend was taking a free room in Caberra, Dominican Republic for a month. Sight unseen, he committed to live there for a month.

Jame said to me, "you have enough money you do not need to live for free."

In the end, living with radical problems in the Hotel is money. Do we have enough money to walk away and lose money? Yet, Alan is 100 percent correct, there are noises that annoy one person ,and others have tuned out completely. Yet, there are also people who need constant noise, music in their ears so they are never alone with their own thoughts. To be alone with their own thoughts is solitary confinement, they do so many dysfunctional, guilt inducing things that it is torture to be alone.

Adapting is an evolutionary thing, to survive as the fittest we need to adapt, if we must accept a situation, then we are part of the group that fails to adapt, To accept noise that is unacceptable is failure to adapt.

Please note that profanity is a problem on websites, it increase the flamers, and is not diplomatic. Plus Google just decreases traffic in waves.

DebV

Perhaps an essential item to pack when traveling is a plastic jar full of ear plugs. Using those suckers has changed my life from being a complaining, grumpy light sleeper to someone who can "cut logs" and snore through almost any noise such the TV on in the other room, nonstop barking dogs, roasters crowing, low flying loud jet airplanes and helicopters, sirens, highway traffic noise, raucous late night neighbor parties with live bands, etc, etc . . .

Gadget

95 percent of the time I live in quiet rooms, 1 day in 20 can be noisy, only when I am in Europe does it get stupid, because of only staying 1-2 nights per city. If I stay 10 days per city, the first night is noisy, and the other 9 are quiet. I choose a good hotel the first day, and the quiet room in the hotel. Bottom line, a dead end street, and room away from the hotel noises like parking lots, drunks, and windows. Many Hotels have window facing a courtyard, this is hell, you want your windows facing away from humans, not towards them. Humans make the noise, big buses tour groups, here in Africa, the expensive hotels are full of drunk rich people, both white, and black. There is only being savvy that will save you, or paying 150 dollars a night to stay in a Sharaton, or Crown Plaza. But never coming to Togo, West Africa, or Lake Attlan. AC is the solution to most sounds, with double pane, insulated glass. I always choose the best room in the hotel for quiet, and I am capable of walking up 3 flights of stairs for a good nights sleep, 8 hours of sleep, in exchange for walking 3 flights of stairs.

tom61

of@DebV Perhaps an essential item to pack when traveling is a plastic jar full ear plugs..........Perhaps there is no perhaps about it1 Absolutely Essential o

tom61

Never go anywhere without a supply of earplugs. If I had not, I would now be a gibbering wreck dribbling at the mouth as I would not have slept for 10 years... or gone loopy and run amok with an AK47 :-) As I said in previous post it's particularly bad in Dominican Republic. I think they are probably the most noisiest people I've ever come across in the world, absolutely no regard for anyone else's peace of mind. But nothing one can do about it is the culture. Its either full volume ot nothing. Well the government recently tried to do something, because apparently its so bad here, that it has now been officially classed as a health hazard and they brought in some new laws while ago, that the police can confiscate stereos or whatever. But of course this is DR no one takes any notice whatsoever and its carry on as always and every man for himself. And earplugs do not always save you, there is one particular kind of noise there is nothing you can do about,that very deep bass pumped out by some loudspeakers, earplugs cannot stop this and it actually feels like it vibrates through your skull sometimes if its loud enough, that really can drive you crazy, because you cannot get any sleep whatsoever with that. Unfortunately it is common here, there is one particular set of idiots who drive around town in SUVs completely fitted out in the back with massive loudspeakers, they drive around with the tailgate opene and blast out the equivalent of a jumbo jet at takeoff. You really have to hear it to believe it! One of them in a red SUV is particularly well known and is so loud its actually painful and as he drives past people they put hands over their ears. I am seriously thinking of purchasing a bazooka for this particular menace :-) Alternatively hope the vibrations will loosen his wheel nuts and the wheels might come off :-)