The rich folk from across the road had another one of their parties.
They are frequent and they are loud.
Really loud; we couldn't hear the TV in our house at its maximum volume. For a moment it looked like we were going to be saved by the weather as a thunderstorm circled overhead. Alas it was brief and and didn't provide the much wanted lightening strike required to take out the sound system. And it didn't carry enough rain to ruin all the carefully prepared food either. Nor did it stop the guests from leaving their homes. Pity.
Parties are often loud anywhere of course, especially when teenagers are involved. But Cambodian events, despite a mixture of old and young guests being the norm, are intolerable. So few look like they are enjoying the event; families cannot talk to each other and friends can do little more than acknowledge each other. So often they just sit, eat, grimace and drink. Oh, and how they drink...
One way of coping with the cacophony, I suppose. Mercifully the parties always stops at 12 o'clock. On the dot, lightening strike or not.
This seems to be true of anywhere in Asia. Certainly true of India and, to a lesser extent, here in Sri Lanka. I went to a wedding reception the other day. No word of a lie, I could only have a two-way conversation 100 metres away. In India the local temple (>1km away) slung up horn speakers in the trees outside my house. It was absolute hell, torture, often going on for days, sometimes overnight. My complaints were ignored. Making noise is part of the culture but noise at these stupid volumes is surely not.
ReplyDeleteI sincerely sympathise and can only suggest you invest in industrial ear defenders or a night out of town. Or sling a bit of metal across the overhead cables ;)
Clive
That's interesting about Sri Lanka, Clive...
ReplyDeleteAsk Cambodians (and Thais) about noisy weddings and parties and they will tell you, slowly and somewhat reluctantly, that they hate them. Ask them why parties are always so loud and they simply can't provide an answer.
Weird... I'll try asking more questions...