From Pattaya With Love: Forget Sex Trainers, Meet The Real Russians Of Thailand’s Party Town

[webfact]

From Pattaya With Love: Forget Sex Trainers, Meet The Real Russians Of Thailand’s Party Town

-- The arrest of two ‘sex trainers’ – one claiming to have inside info on Trump’s election – has shone an unwanted spotlight on the Thai city’s Russian community

-- Most Russians visit briefly but thousands have stayed, buying homes and starting businesses

BY THOMAS STURROCK

 

The Pattaya Skyline. Photo: Claudia Hinterseer

 

It’s hard to imagine a building less in sync with its surroundings. In the crooked soi s (side-streets) of northern Pattaya, cluttered with motorbike taxis encircling steaming street-food stalls, All Saints Russian Orthodox Church may as well have come from outer space. Yet here it stands, in the middle of this quintessentially Thai streetscape – its bright white walls and bronze onion domes gleaming proudly in the ferocious afternoon sun.

 

This dissonance is even more pronounced inside, where the temperature seems to drop, silence descends and the bleached white light of the outside world is replaced by the flickering of dozens of candles. Murals depicting the gospels adorn the ceilings and walls, flanked by a mixture of Thai and Cyrillic script.

 

Shelves are lined with hundreds of pocket-sized religious icons and books exalting the mission of the Orthodox Church. There is an abiding sense of peace – and enough gold to make the Romanovs blush. It’s everywhere: gold altars, gold goblets, gold lecterns, gold trim on the carpets.

 

Full story: https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2185341/pattaya-love-forget-sex-trainers-meet-real-russians-thailands

 

-- SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST 2019-02-11

[fruitman]

Having spent more than half her life in Pattaya, Daria sees her future in the city.

“There are more opportunities,” she says. “There are things you can do easily here, more easily than in Russia, like find a job. Pattaya is home. 

 

Easy peasy.

[DrTuner]

Russian mafia has been in Pattaya since .. forever?

[malibukid]

can't really blame them for wanting to leave Russia

[KittenKong]

Perhaps one day they will show up-to-date photos in these reports:

 

 

[chama]

7 hours ago, DrTuner said:

Russian mafia has been in Pattaya since .. forever?

Where there is easy money there is Russian mafia. Soldiers with money brings prostitution which brings Russian mafia. Vietnam effects are still in play.

[khaowong1]

2 hours ago, chama said:

Where there is easy money there is Russian mafia. Soldiers with money brings prostitution which brings Russian mafia. Vietnam effects are still in play.

You used to see lot's of Russian girls down on Walking Street, don't know if that's still the case. 

[mikebell]

8 hours ago, khaowong1 said:

You used to see lot's of Russian girls down on Walking Street, don't know if that's still the case. 

They are still there.  Last time I went we were menaced because we didn't tip each girl who came to dance at our table.  The sign said 'You may tip our girls.  Minimum tip 50 baht.'  A short stay + drink would have been prohibitively expensive had we abided by their rules.

[Rimmer]

A troll /baiting post removed

[Henrik Andersen]

Mini Moscow