My current place is across from the train station. Recently some idiots from a local church took it upon themselves to blast their guitar (with amp) and electric piano and to sing REALLY loud. The police came to remove them but it’s still a hassle. Things like this happen fairly often. Apparently my life is on hold until they decide to shut up or I am suppose to love their awful music (since apparently the rapture could happen at any time and this is only my pre-life I guess I ought to lighten up…bah!!!)
The totally inconsiderate church wackos at least gave me yet further affirmation for why I said good bye to Christianity and religion years ago (silver lining in everything).
Below me there are some shops and that often involves noise pollution (loud music and playing loud recordings from a megaphone).
Lessons learned: avoid living near a train station, avoid living above shops, and live in a high rise (if you can find one and can afford it).
Train station with churches singing… hmmm… can’t picture that spot. Not MRT station?
To avoid noise pollution during apartment hunting, go sit outside that selected spot in the morning 830ish, and late afternoon rush hour, to check for school, temple, police station practice noises, chickens if in country, scooters running around making deliveries at particular times. Then stake out in evening to see if neighbors are doing any number of unexpected noisy activities. Walk the stairway after 11pm to listen for other odd noises. Check neighborhood for temples, construction, business activities, morning or night markets, who knows what else.
High rise and high up, could hear it all, plus traffic from highways.
Find obscure locations, in an alleyway, not anywhere near or facing a major road.
Avoid night markets. They are noisy until well past 1am.
Gated buildings/communities are often quieter because either they use better quality windows or they’re just secluded enough to not have traffic noise. But make sure it’s inward facing (if the building has a courtyard) and not facing any major street.
Newer buildings often have less noise because they use better quality windows rather than those crap old windows that are drafty and doesn’t seal, thus letting air and sound in.
A quiet lane would be nice, but it’s easier said than done. All you need is someone nearby with a yappy dog (or 3), someone practicing scales on the piano, or neighbors who love to crank up the KTV, and I would think the quiet lane wouldn’t be so quiet. (speaking from experience, as you can probably imagine)
One further tip I would suggest:
If you’re renting, look carefully at the windows in your prospective rental. I’m on the 16F in Taipei and there aren’t any big buildings directly to the south of me (where my living room and other windows face) but any and all noise from down below seems to cascade up and into my apartment. Anything from screeching birds in cages, dogs barking, to a DIY shop that cuts mental tubing among others. The windows are somewhat older style. I’m not about to soak money into replacing them as I plan to move in the next year. But that would certainly be one thing to check when looking at places to rent. Certainly scour the neighborhood a few different times during the day and night as well, to get a sense of what the environment might be like.
I feel like it’s a roll of the dice. I had an awful experience moving to what should have been a nice apartment in a quiet lane near the Shida area. Lasted 4 months before I had to pull the trigger on a higher rental.
Live with your back to the mountain. If your apartment block faces right onto a hillside or mountain side it’s usually a good choice (you may have some dogs barking at worst ) and choose one that is off the main road some distance. You get the bonus of hearing birds singing and great views.
A quiet lane off main roads is also another good choice, yes. Never rent above or beside a temple because of the noise and smoke. Don’t rent a ground or second floor in general. Also as KK said , you don’t really know till you move, if you find a quiet place hold onto it.
Our place is in a quiet alley. Good area. Everything seemed cool. Then we moved in and discovered that the guy upstairs keeps strange hours and likes to carry out renovation work from the hours of 12 til 4am. Dunno how you could see that coming…
I personally wish I had’ve considered ground floor apartments now. Tired of walking on egg shells due to the shitty between floor noise insulation in these f@&king rattraps.