Russians stand up to armed robbers again

November 4, 2011

I have to admire holidaying Russians for their bravery/insanity when faced with threats by Thais in Pattaya, especially when the Thais are armed and dangerous.

Pratumnak Road-an unilkely Wild West

I wrote in a previous column:

I have a theory that Thais are actually scared of Russians, seeing them as macho, confrontational and uncompromising, and their lack of English language skills means that a satisfactory negotiated outcome cannot be certain from a Thai point of view....Also witness the number of Russian women the subject of bag-snatching who fought back last high season, making the thieves’ job difficult for them (but upping the levels of extreme violence needed to get a result).

(http://inpattayanow.com/2011/09/29/opinion/russians-and-arabs-in-fine-town/ )

Those words were in my mind last week when I read about a Russian man and woman who were held-up late at night on Pratumnak Hill, by a Thai couple, on the night of Halloween.

The Thai man produced a gun and threatened the Russians, demanding cash and valuables, but the Russian woman fought back, leading the cowardly Thai man to punch her in the face to subdue her.

She fell to the ground at which point he took her bag and her necklace, and the robbers disappeared.

Although the thieves got a result, it could not have been easy for them, and I bet they were not expecting such spirited resistance by a female tourist when faced with the threat of a gun.

The police are looking for the thieves, but it’s a fair bet that the coming high season will be filled with unfortunate stories like this, of Russian women who don’t like being robbed and aren’t scared of a fight, making it hard for Pattaya's scumbag thieves, armed or not.