News Forum - Russian invasion spreads to Thailand’s paradise islands

[ThaiFoodGuy]

On 2/23/2023 at 2:08 PM, TheDirtyDurian said:

So what were the bad Russian people doing when you had a run in with them? Just curious.

One group was at Ton Mai spa in Rawai, which has signs everywhere not to make loud noises and be respectful to others. So this family, and their friends, were there with 3 young children, the men in the group were all the typical full sleeved tattoo MMA guys and the moms were all fake breast lip injection types. Anyway, so the kids are splashing around and screaming, so the staff asked them probably 6 times to be quiet and calm down, the moms and dads just chuckled and said ok. Eventually my wife and I were in their pool area, and this kid jumps over our heads from the side of the pool, and splashes water all over our faces. So I walked over to two of the moms in the group, unsure of who is actually the kids' mom, and I asked politely "would you mind please asking your kid not to splash us with water? The staff have asked everyone to please be respectful too, we're just trying to enjoy our time like everyone else." So one of the MMA dad guys walked over and says "DO NOT TALK TO MY WIFE, YOU TALK TO ME, PIECE OF SHIT!" I was like "ummm what's your issue I didn't say anything rude to her, I just asked if she could get her kid not to splash us with water", and the guy said "HE SPLASH YOU IF HE WANT YOU, I SPLASH YOU IF I WANT TO, WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO?" And the other guys he was with saw this and joined him, literally forming up a gang, so I just said "alright guys calm down I was just asking if we could all enjoy our time here quietly" and the other guys laughed and said some shit in Russian, and they walked away staring over their shoulders at me, so my wife and I just felt like it was probably time to leave or they'd stomp my head or something.

Second run-in was at a restaurant in Rawai called Issan Classic. Waiting for a table, a server was wiping one off for us, and a Russian guy just walked past us, walks up to the table, stands there, and when the server asked him what he's doing, he says "I have table". She was like "no it's for them" and pointed at us. He said "no it's for me." So I walked up and said "hey man this is really rude, what's your issue?" He said "I come here all the time, this is for me, NOT you." I just sat down in the chair at the table and ignored him, and he walked away, but he stood at the front of the restaurant staring at me and talking on his cell phone for about 15 minutes. I thought he was calling his guys to come fight or something but he just left.

Another run-in was at a 7-11, waiting in line for a cashier. Russian sleeve tattoo MMA guy walks past everyone waiting and puts his stuff on a counter while another person was still paying, the cashier told him "mister please wait in line". He shouted some stuff in Russian and smacked his groceries, seemingly insisting the cashier takes his stuff next. When the person was done paying, she signaled for the next person to come, and he picked up his stuff and threw it back on the counter, shouting some more stuff in Russian. I said "hey man there's only a few of us in line, it won't even be a couple minutes." He fast walked up to me and got right in my face, said "F**K YOU what are ya gonna do?" I just stood there, didn't say anything, didn't do anything, and he went back up to the counter and grabbed his phone wallet and just walked out of the 7-11, left his groceries on the counter. 

Unfortunately, I can really only say the positive experiences I've had with Russians in Phuket were ones where I simply didn't notice or have any interaction with them. The only times I've actually interacted with anyone Russian, at least in Phuket, have been negative interactions.

[BigHewer]

My first encounter with “Russians in Paradise” was at the pool bar at the Kata Beach Hotel in the 90s. Russians were a rarity in those days and there was a spirit of solidarity in the west. I was friendly, overly so (by my standards) and they just shut me down. Not interested. Dismissive and rude. At the time, I just chalked it off to them being a**holes as an isolated case and didn’t realise it was a national trait until I visited Koh Chang about ten years later. Overrun with Russians and not a polite one among them.

[Soidog]

13 minutes ago, BigHewer said:

My first encounter with “Russians in Paradise” was at the pool bar at the Kata Beach Hotel in the 90s. Russians were a rarity in those days and there was a spirit of solidarity in the west. I was friendly, overly so (by my standards) and they just shut me down. Not interested. Dismissive and rude. At the time, I just chalked it off to them being a**holes as an isolated case and didn’t realise it was a national trait until I visited Koh Chang about ten years later. Overrun with Russians and not a polite one among them.

Yes they are rude and aggressive culture. They are also cowardly if you stand up to them.  No one wants to get in to a confrontation with anyone but sometimes these guys deserve it. 

[JamesR]

2 hours ago, ThaiFoodGuy said:

One group was at Ton Mai spa in Rawai, which has signs everywhere not to make loud noises and be respectful to others. So this family, and their friends, were there with 3 young children, the men in the group were all the typical full sleeved tattoo MMA guys and the moms were all fake breast lip injection types. Anyway, so the kids are splashing around and screaming, so the staff asked them probably 6 times to be quiet and calm down, the moms and dads just chuckled and said ok. Eventually my wife and I were in their pool area, and this kid jumps over our heads from the side of the pool, and splashes water all over our faces. So I walked over to two of the moms in the group, unsure of who is actually the kids' mom, and I asked politely "would you mind please asking your kid not to splash us with water? The staff have asked everyone to please be respectful too, we're just trying to enjoy our time like everyone else." So one of the MMA dad guys walked over and says "DO NOT TALK TO MY WIFE, YOU TALK TO ME, PIECE OF SHIT!" I was like "ummm what's your issue I didn't say anything rude to her, I just asked if she could get her kid not to splash us with water", and the guy said "HE SPLASH YOU IF HE WANT YOU, I SPLASH YOU IF I WANT TO, WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO?" And the other guys he was with saw this and joined him, literally forming up a gang, so I just said "alright guys calm down I was just asking if we could all enjoy our time here quietly" and the other guys laughed and said some shit in Russian, and they walked away staring over their shoulders at me, so my wife and I just felt like it was probably time to leave or they'd stomp my head or something.

Second run-in was at a restaurant in Rawai called Issan Classic. Waiting for a table, a server was wiping one off for us, and a Russian guy just walked past us, walks up to the table, stands there, and when the server asked him what he's doing, he says "I have table". She was like "no it's for them" and pointed at us. He said "no it's for me." So I walked up and said "hey man this is really rude, what's your issue?" He said "I come here all the time, this is for me, NOT you." I just sat down in the chair at the table and ignored him, and he walked away, but he stood at the front of the restaurant staring at me and talking on his cell phone for about 15 minutes. I thought he was calling his guys to come fight or something but he just left.

Another run-in was at a 7-11, waiting in line for a cashier. Russian sleeve tattoo MMA guy walks past everyone waiting and puts his stuff on a counter while another person was still paying, the cashier told him "mister please wait in line". He shouted some stuff in Russian and smacked his groceries, seemingly insisting the cashier takes his stuff next. When the person was done paying, she signaled for the next person to come, and he picked up his stuff and threw it back on the counter, shouting some more stuff in Russian. I said "hey man there's only a few of us in line, it won't even be a couple minutes." He fast walked up to me and got right in my face, said "F**K YOU what are ya gonna do?" I just stood there, didn't say anything, didn't do anything, and he went back up to the counter and grabbed his phone wallet and just walked out of the 7-11, left his groceries on the counter. 

Unfortunately, I can really only say the positive experiences I've had with Russians in Phuket were ones where I simply didn't notice or have any interaction with them. The only times I've actually interacted with anyone Russian, at least in Phuket, have been negative interactions.

All sounds bad.

I have been in Phuket since November last year and I have not had a problem so far, in fact, the Russians I have come across seem to be no different from anyone else so far.

Most of the farangs I have seen have been Russians.

I have not been to any tourist part of the island so far except, for New Year's Eve, the Russians in the crowd seemed OK and were having a good time with the rest of us.

The others I have seen in the non-tourist areas such as Kathu seemed OK, in a restaurant one politiely asked me if the chair at my table was free, I said OK, he smiled and took it.

At another restaurant, a family of Russians with a young kid were well behaved and the hundreds I have seen in places like Central Shopping near Kathu seemed OK, all clean cut, no tattoos, and 'normal'.

I am not saying you are wrong and I am correct, I am just putting forward my experiences with them.

Hang on, I have just remembered, when I went to the immigration office earlier this week to pick up my passport containing my one-year permit to stay for a year, there was an immigration officer dealing with a Russian man, he was with a Russian woman, the immigration officer was telling the man he needed some more paperwork, the Russian woman just kept on shouting at the top of her voice in Russian, it went on for a few minutes until the annoyed looking immigration officer told the Russian man to "tell her to shut up", it worked for a minute and then she started again.

As I picked up my passport I was going to tell the Russian man to tell the woman to completely shut up otherwise the officer will tell you both to piss off but I thought no she deserves to learn a lesson. 

 

[TheDirtyDurian]

One of my sons is going out with a Russian girl and she seems quite nice, and I lived next door to a Russian woman on an army base at one time who was also okay, although my wife didn't get on with her. 

Never had enough dealings with them in Thailand to get bad vibes. Saw a lot in Phuket new year 22, but never noticed anything in particular that was bad. 

Maybe I've been lucky. 

[JamesR]

40 minutes ago, TheDirtyDurian said:

One of my sons is going out with a Russian girl and she seems quite nice, and I lived next door to a Russian woman on an army base at one time who was also okay, although my wife didn't get on with her. 

Never had enough dealings with them in Thailand to get bad vibes. Saw a lot in Phuket new year 22, but never noticed anything in particular that was bad. 

Maybe I've been lucky. 

Probably about five years ago I was with some Thais in Soi Bangla on New Year's Eve, a couple of gay Russian gay guys joined in with us, we had a good laugh, the place was packed.

On New Year's Eve 2022 we were in Soi Bangla again, lots of Russians, no problem, before midnight we were all on the beach watching the fireworks, and lots of Russians were cheering with the rest of us.

The streets were packed and not a single problem, it was all good fun.

[Guest1]

On 2/23/2023 at 4:04 AM, Marvin said:

I don’t have anything against Russians

Yep, nothing really works that you can get legally and on the free market!

[Vigo]

On 2/25/2023 at 11:55 PM, JamesR said:

"No. History shows that it was public sentiment in the USA that forced the Nixon administration to enter into the peace accords with Vietnam..."

Erm, it was because the North Vietnamese had surrounded the Americans so they had to do a runner while throwing their helicopters overboard and deserting the people who had been helping them for decades. 

" Well, it is more  truthful and accurate than the bankrupt 1970's era political platform you regurgitate..."

Maybe there are two of me and it was the other me who did that. 

You are offering your revisionist version of events, none of which is factually correct. There were no US military forces in Vietnam when the North Vietnamese captured Saigon, so there were no Americans to surround. In fact, the North had violated the peace agreement and cease fire they signed on to in the Paris Peace accords of January 1973. All US military forces were withdrawn from South Vietnam as of March 29, 1973. Saigon was captured a month later, when the South Vietnamese military collapsed.  The helicopters discarded you refer to were flown in by deserting South Vietnamese. The US marines seen departing from the embassy were attached to the embassy grounds and the North Vietnamese breach of the embassy was illegal and a violation of the Paris peace accords, to which the North Vietnamese had agreed to in bad faith.

Don't blame the Americans for the collapse of the South Vietnamese government as there was just so much propping up that could be done. Many of those people you claim were "deserted" by the  Americans had been opportunistic, receiving large amounts of money or had been double agents. Prior to the departure, hundreds of key assets had been removed; it just was never made public. These evacuees were resettled in France,  Canada and the USA and the project had occurred over a period of several months. These countries had an ulterior motive as they knew there would be a wave of refugees to follow once  the South fell and they wanted to keep an eye on refugees that knew would be dusted with foreign agents.

Go and check the dates.

[JamesR]

1 hour ago, Vigo said:

You are offering your revisionist version of events, none of which is factually correct. There were no US military forces in Vietnam when the North Vietnamese captured Saigon, so there were no Americans to surround. In fact, the North had violated the peace agreement and cease fire they signed on to in the Paris Peace accords of January 1973. All US military forces were withdrawn from South Vietnam as of March 29, 1973. Saigon was captured a month later, when the South Vietnamese military collapsed.  The helicopters discarded you refer to were flown in by deserting South Vietnamese. The US marines seen departing from the embassy were attached to the embassy grounds and the North Vietnamese breach of the embassy was illegal and a violation of the Paris peace accords, to which the North Vietnamese had agreed to in bad faith.

Don't blame the Americans for the collapse of the South Vietnamese government as there was just so much propping up that could be done. Many of those people you claim were "deserted" by the  Americans had been opportunistic, receiving large amounts of money or had been double agents. Prior to the departure, hundreds of key assets had been removed; it just was never made public. These evacuees were resettled in France,  Canada and the USA and the project had occurred over a period of several months. These countries had an ulterior motive as they knew there would be a wave of refugees to follow once  the South fell and they wanted to keep an eye on refugees that knew would be dusted with foreign agents.

Go and check the dates.

OK, I see, so the Americans deserted Vietnam earlier than I thought after their decades of involvement caused three million people to lose their lives, I stand corrected.