Russians are back in force in Pattaya. Many work without work permits.

[sojourner007]

High season is coming and Central Beach, Royal Garden Plaza, Walking street in the evening and Bali Hai pier in the morning are packed with Russian tourists. Seems like the recent ruble appreciation and problems in Turkey and Egypt are the reasons. The industry that caters to them is also gearing up for the high season. I walked along 2nd Pattaya Rd the other night between the Central and Pattaya Klang and counted about 6 tour booths catering exclusively to Russians and staffed by Russian native speakers. It seemed some of those booths have only become operational recently. I talked at length to a lady in one of them and she told me that they work on a commission basis and do not have work permit. She told me it's been like that for years because the Russian companies that hire them maintain a cover with relevant authorities.

Edited November 4, 2016 by sojourner007
grammar

[Jingthing]

Well, they need the Russian speaking workers to deal with all the Russian speaking tourists that mostly don't speak English and it's not as if many Thais speak Russian.

 

Next ...

Nyet?

[sojourner007]

20 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

Well, they need the Russian speaking workers to deal with all the Russian speaking tourists that mostly don't speak English and it's not as if many Thais speak Russian.

 

Next ...

Nyet?

Plenty of Thais working in shops and restaurants in Pattaya speak some Russian. I'm pretty sure there are many of those in Thailand who are more proficient in it and studied the language systematically.  I think the reason for the illegal activity observed is more to do with a natural preference among people to deal with your kind in any business and also the corruption and lack of labor law enforcement in Thailand.

[Jingthing]

Not enough to deal with the masses. Obviously. 

[newnative]

Ha.  I doubt 'plenty' of Thais speak Russian.  I eat lunch and dinner at lots of restaurants in Pattaya, different varieties and price ranges, and it's often a struggle to ask the server for a fork.  Usually met with a blank look.  Salt?  What?  I suspect very few Thais could do any kind of sales work in Russian.

[OMGImInPattaya]

4 hours ago, newnative said:

Ha.  I doubt 'plenty' of Thais speak Russian.  I eat lunch and dinner at lots of restaurants in Pattaya, different varieties and price ranges, and it's often a struggle to ask the server for a fork.  Usually met with a blank look.  Salt?  What?  I suspect very few Thais could do any kind of sales work in Russian.

As you don't know even rudimentary Thai ,  maybe a change in moniker is called for. As for the Ruskies...not my problem and they're good for the ladyboys...the Russian boys quite fancy them.

Edited November 4, 2016 by OMGImInPattaya

[guzzi850m2]

I fancy some of the young Russian ladies, some are true stunners but most goes rapidly down hill above 35-40, like most Thai ladies.

 

Hmm I am a dirty old bastard, well I don't care, looking is for free but I sometimes get elbowed by the wife

[moonseeker]

Just back from Naklua / Russian area and a coffee @ Royal. Very few people at all and still very few Russians. However I am being told by a friend who manages a large  hotel-chain, that Russian bookings are picking up and are expected to be much better, also hardly what they used to be, for next year. Still they expect total numbers even lower than this year's in their internal projection.

Russian don't bother me. Mostly younger, mostly happy and mostly with much better looking ladies then local residents :-)

Good night.  MS>

[sojourner007]

On 04/11/2016 at 2:32 PM, newnative said:

Ha.  I doubt 'plenty' of Thais speak Russian.  I eat lunch and dinner at lots of restaurants in Pattaya, different varieties and price ranges, and it's often a struggle to ask the server for a fork.  Usually met with a blank look.  Salt?  What?  I suspect very few Thais could do any kind of sales work in Russian.

It's funny but many Russian tourists in Pattaya on the basis of their experience here believe that all Thais speak some Russian. A few Russian friends who visited me in Pattaya were surprised when I told them that Russian is not a second language here. Walking around the town with them I was in turn surprised how many shopkeepers and waiters in restaurants addressed us in rudimentary Russian. And I don't think selling tours requires particularly strong language skills as there are detailed brochures available in Russian for every type of excursion.  We booked some of those tours and in reality there was not much need to ask more information about them and in any case when we asked a question the Russian staff had to call somebody to answer it.  Curiously the listed prices were negotiable, appropriately so for Thailand. There are some interesting Pattaya bay multi-island day cruises sold to Russians. The cruise boats are large and have comfortable seating, deck chairs on the roof, clean showers, lunch and free unlimited Thai whisky for a foam party at the end are included. Great fun!