Welcome to Party Central

Looking for good time? Come to where we live, 'cuz I swear all the partiers of Thailand live in our corner of the neighborhood. Since we moved in seven months ago, neighbors across the street and in back of us have held at least five different parties. And since January of this year, people who live in a more Thai neighborhood on the other side of a wall by our house have played music/karaoke almost every night! I enjoy a good party myself, but these are nothing like the parties I'm used to. These are parties that last at least eight hours, with ear-shattering, wall-vibrating music. And there's always badly sung karaoke, of course. With these houses built entirely of concrete and no insulation, we might as well be at the parties when the music is playing. Any chance I had of learning to appreciate and enjoy Thai music has been ruined; whenever I hear Thai music now, I just want to scream and turn it off. You could say that I'm Thai-r-ed of these antics. 

It all began about a week after we moved in, in early August, on the day of the Queen's birthday/Mother's Day. Our back neighbors had an eight-hour karaoke party. These neighbors pretty much own the street they live on, which is the street over from ours. Their compound of houses (it seems pretty common in our neighborhood to join together two or three huge houses so that generations of a family are able to live together) are the only ones on that street, so whenever they have a party, they take over the street and set up tables and a stage all over it. But at least this particular party was held during the day.

But last night, they had another gigantic party, this time well into the night. It was pretty crazy. The party began around mid-afternoon and went till 1 a.m. or so. There were vans and vans, and a big bus (yes, a bus), parked all over our area of the neighborhood. I'm guessing that was how their guests arrived. The music was so loud that we felt our walls vibrating. Even when we were in the front part of our house, it still felt like we had all the windows and doors open. There was no escape from it. Surprisingly, our neighbors were awake at the break of dawn this morning. I guess when you don't have to do anything all day, every day, you have the energy to party hard and feel no effects from it.

The bus parked next to our house.

Our neighbors across the street are pretty bad too. They like to throw loud, late-night karaoke parties in the middle of the week. And as some of you know, they threw the party of the year in December, complete with closing down our street; a huge, fan-shaped neon light that lit up the night sky and our bedroom; and a live band with giant loudspeakers aimed at our house. Our friends who live in another neighborhood at least five blocks away heard the party going on! For that party, we actually had to escape to a hotel that night.

Then, as if things weren't crazy enough, the people who live on the other side of a wall next to our house have decided to join in the fun. Since we got back from Vietnam in January, someone in that neighborhood has made it his or her mission to provide a party atmosphere almost every night by playing music loudly, well into the night. I'm telling you, people here have way too much time on their hands.

The gigantic neon light from our neighbors across the street.

So yes, we're planning on getting away from it by moving out at the end of our lease this July. We love our current landlady, but she's not worth going through this for another year. The elementary science coach and his wife are going home after this school year ends, so we're going to move into their house. They live in another village that is farther away from the school, but it has more character and lots more stuff within walking and biking distance. Their house also is much nicer, and the rent is lower too. The house is much more nicely furnished, has a bath tub (!), an oven (!!), a full-sized refrigerator (!!!), and an actual, walk-in storage area.

[When you buy a newly built house in Thailand, you're actually buying only a shell of a house, literally; there is nothing inside -- no closets, no cabinets, stoves, toilets, showers...nothing. Once you buy the house, you have to put everything in yourself. So there are no closets like the ones in American houses; they are actually just wardrobes that have been installed.]

There are three bedrooms, all nicely furnished; two of them have their own balcony. The house is across the street from a lake, which we can see from the master bedroom. And another bonus -- there is a mango tree in the front yard! We will get to enjoy fresh mangos just by going outside and picking them (the house comes with a mango picker too!)! I remember eating mangos fresh off the trees as a little girl, and I'm looking forward to doing that again. But the best part about this house? It's in a very quiet neighborhood.