zhaffsky

How much time does it take to get a permit?

How are the cameras in the i-Mobiles, particularly in low-light conditions (without using flash)? I've just read the article The Best Smartphone Camera and was wondering where the i-Mobiles' cameras would rank in comparison.

Don't expect very good quality but you can make good-enough-for-facebook photo, if your hands are not trembling ;-)

See for yourself

Does he really think that taxpayers' money will be better spent on lawsuites instead of rebuilding the country?

As being almost from Russia (former USSR) and knowing their psyche and way of life, one possible turn of events comes to mind:

Russian could have gotten scammed by bike renter and, in order to get the passport back, had to pay large sum of money that was not his but owed or belonging to someone like his gang boss. He knew he will most likely be hit hard (if not killed) by his superiors for losing their (owed to them) money so decided to fight his money back by turning himself into a living torch. Did not work out, ended up in jail with even gloomier perspective of explaining where the money went after getting out - figured to end it all there...

The gangs are not as powerful in Russia as they used to be in 90s, but a lot of them just migrated into seats of business owners with ties in government/police. And their methods did not change all that much - if you lose our money, your life is not worth a ruble.

The guy could just go to the consulate and claim that his passport was lost - why take a suicidal course of action when there is an easy way out?

Also I suspect that you knowledge of Russian gangs currently comes from whatching too much TV shows ;-)

People actually surrender their passport willingly? Just to rent a motorbike? You've got to be kidding.

Alas, many Russians do that. On Koh Samui they take your driver license though...

I have to wonder why you would travel at all if not to meet diverse people.

Obviously most Russians are after the sea and sun.

Here is the investigarion where QE2 money actually went

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/exclusive-feds-600-billion-stealth-bailout-foreign-banks-continues-expense-domestic-economy-

In summary, instead of doing everything in its power to stimulate reserve, and thus cash, accumulation at domestic (US) banks which would in turn encourage lending to US borrowers, the Fed has been conducting yet another stealthy foreign bank rescue operation, which rerouted $600 billion in capital from potential borrowers to insolvent foreign financial institutions in the past 7 months. QE2 was nothing more (or less) than another European bank rescue operation!

Now since Russian influx to Pattaya is becoming annoying to many western expats, let me (being Russian) to speculate a bit to help you to deal with it better.

It all starts with not knowing English language. I don't know why Russian schools are doing such a poor job teaching English - but this is the fact - most Russian can't get any information except the bull the Russian media feeds them. Not that I'm saying that western media is better ;-) - but unfortunately most Russians can't even talk to people to have any other point of view.

I do believe that many Russians coming to Pattaya would be thrilled to communicate with westerners and learn something from them - they just don't know how. As result they behave like they don't care.

This is really weird but many Russians get lost even at the airport. They see foreign language signs they don't know how to read and start to panic. Then they become aggressive.

Add to this that Russian tour agencies are trying to force them to buy everything through those agencies - so they feed customers pure nonsense like "all Thais are crooks - don't even think about buying anything from them directly or you will be conned". This cultivates paranoia resulting in angry behavior over 10 baht. Not that 10 baht are so important – they just don’t want to feel like they were conned.

So my advice – just be friendly to them ;-) Most of them don’t really want to be bad. Of course there are some bad types it is better to avoid (in Russian we call them bydlo ;-) but as it is rightfully mentioned you will see them in most nations.

I don't really link directly to the Russian wave. Do other people? I don't see it.

Well... I don't know other explanation why the staff of 3-star hotels now speaks so poor English. Or why you have to call three times to the reception and finally go there yourself if you need something. Such a thing is simply impossible in Bangkok. I attribute it to Russian tourists not speaking English and not demanding quality service. Perhaps we can thank Chinese package tourists for this too. Why bother to hire quality personnel if any former rice field worker will suffice?

But there is more to it. Russian forums are receiving more and more reports of Russians getting into fights with Thais. The reasons are ridiculous like misunderstanding over the few hundred baht. Or there was a guy recently who bragged about not paying and beating Baht bus driver because the driver refused to go to far end of Jomtien.

Such reports a pretty disturbing to me since this means that Pattaya's Thais are adopting to rude behavior.

I'm Russian. I think the vote should be renamed to "Do you think the Russification of Pattaya is a good thing for Pattaya or not?" ;-)

In my opnion it is a bad thing for Pattaya but a good thing for the rest of Thailand ;-) Because the rest of the Thailand goes on un-russified and unspoiled as far as service quality is concerned.

Myself I don't go to Pattaya anymore. Not because I don't like Russians but because of our low standards. A hospitality of this place degraded tremendously.

Source ????????????????

The info is taken from Russian-speaking forum. I've provided the link initially but it was removed by moderator.

The author of original article met this German guy yesterday and claims that he is in bad state and could use some help.

There is an address of the photos where to find him of you want help.

The guy refused to give 1000 baht to street robbers and was hit to the head. Reportedly, they took everything he had is his bag - money, documents and credit cards.

Bali, Indonesia?