There are so many Russian women in Phuket the city has been recommended as one of the top five cities in the world outside eastern Europe for meeting them. Oldnemesis posted in January 2010: "A lot of Russians go there, and while there are less Russian girls than in Turkey (it is further and more expensive), there is also less (almost no) competition for them." That's because most of the guys, the Russian guys included, have their sights set on the local Thai girls. There a lot of single Russian women on the beach hoping to hook up, and have fun. If you are game (and on your game), this could be the place you get lucky. As long as there no suspicious beach chair concessionnaires there to screw things up!

r u s s i a n + t o u r i s t s

ONE OF MY FAVORITE PASTIMES INVOLVES SLOTHING AROUND SOUTH-EAST ASIAN RESORTS FOLLOWING THE SUN. Some day soon I am going to make a professional career out of it. Whether on the Andaman Sea or the blissful Gulf of Thailand or the choppier South China Sea (Vietnam), wherever you go on the beach basically, you will find Russian girls. And their boyfriends, mothers and/or brothers... or even their scary-looking minders, if you are unlucky enough. At resorts in Vietnam the brochures are printed in English, Vietnamese... and Russian. In Phuket, meanwhile, many of the public signs have mutated into Russian in recent years. Yes, the Russians are here as they are almost everywhere these days, and not everyone is so pleased. Some have called them the worst tourists on the planet. In 2007 two Russian women were shot dead in Pattaya after an argument with their beach chair concessionnaire. Talk about beach rage! About two years later, a young Russian man drowned on Karon Beach in Phuket. That was just an accident; the motives behind the murder of the two women at Pattaya are somewhat more sinister. It was hinted the Russian mafia may have been connected with it.

In Thailand as in many countries the Russian mafia have a presence, and Russian bars and nightclubs are springing up. There are already plenty of Russian restaurants, you can virtually eat borsch on the beach. Some ex-pats deride these establishments as fronts for money laundering or even worse, but I am not as cynical as they are. There is a real market for all things Russian, and plenty of honest Russians milling around buying stuff. Of course, most of the tourists and expats in Thailand are law-abiding citizens, as are most of the pretty girls, whatever the rumor mill may claim. All over the place, Russians are snatching up real estate. There is a beach in Pattaya called "Little Moscow", according to a poster on The Lost Boy. There is a Russian guesthouse in Phuket. Things have sure come a long way for the humble Russian tourist since the Soviet times, when workers would travel on holidays organised by their factories. They would often go without spouses. Their children would set off to leafy communist pioneer camps. For most, travel to the west was difficult or impossible. Ordinary Russians would instead spend bucolic summers in their dachas, or swim in lakes and rivers full of small carp. He won't be able to bask in the cheap publicity for long, though, because more serious events are beginning to unfold.

With the country facing a security crisis, the cops and the Interior Ministry can't seem to keep their eye on the ball. Perhaps they should concentrate on targeting the southern terrorists instead of pretty girls in Bangkok nightclubs."

THIS IS LIFTED FROM THE MANGO SAUCE WEBSITE, MARCH 20, 2004: "THAI COPS SHUT DOWN CM2 NIGHTCLUB FOR 30 DAYS":