Vietnam just surpassed Thailand as number one destination for Russian tourists
Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Well, as someone that has lived in South East Asia for over 20 years I can tell you without any personal bias that it is a mixed bag.
Russians are just people, just like you and me, but they tend to not speak English very well and this is understandable. I took the first lesson of Russian on Duolingo about a year ago and bowed out after the first lesson. It is completely understandable that someone would experience difficulty in learning English as a Russian speaker because the languages have exactly NOTHING in common.
Because of this, it can appear as though the Russians do not want to be around anyone or are being difficult or even rude but the fact of the matter is, they simply don't know what you are saying. In my building where I live several of my neighbors are Russian and we barely ever say anything to one another. I tried a couple of times but the response was something along the lines of "sorry, English not good."
There's not much I can do from that point forward I suppose.
I do have a few Russian friends who had tried to explain this to me about how Russians are for the most part, quite friendly, but they tend to flock towards places that are filled with other Russians just like you would probably feel more comfortable hanging out with people that speak the same language as you.
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The reason for this shift from Thailand to Vietnam for the Russians is often for the same reason why I live in Vietnam and not Thailand as well. Vietnam visas are easy and while Immigration here is stoic and very serious and I think are not allowed to smile or even look at you for very long, they don't harass you for having a bunch of stamps in your passport. In Thailand, they seem to get a great deal of joy out of looking for reasons to deny you entry or to at the minimum, harass you for having a Thai stamp or two. When I was approaching my 15th year of living in Thailand I would get an absolute grilling every time I was speaking to an Immigration official in Thailand. The fact that I owned multiple businesses there legally and at one point employed almost 20 Thai people didn't seem to matter a great deal to them. It didn't matter to them that I was conversationally fluent in Thai either. To them, I was somehow breaking a rule by being there "too long."
I have been living in Vietnam for close to 6 years now and I have never, not once, been asked by anyone in Vietnam checking my passport why I have so many Vietnam stamps in my passport.
I know for a fact that the Russians have been going through the same thing in regards to Thailand because I witnessed it.
Now, there are a few bad apples in the bunch as far as Russians are concerned because there are some of them that gravitate towards not obeying the law as far as businesses are concerned. When I was living in Thailand it seemed like it was every week that I would hear about a Russian owned business that didn't have any of the permits necessary to open a business and they didn't employ any locals either.
As someone with a great deal of experience in being an expatriate that owned and operated a business in SE Asia, I know that the primary concern of the government in these countries is to protect their own citizens first. If they simply opened up the borders and allowed foreigners to buy up everything and open up businesses willy-nilly (that means however they feel like doing it for anyone that doesn't speak British) then whatever country it is that allowed that would soon find themselves overrun and with a population that can't find employment while at the same time being priced out of property in their own country.
You can kind of see that happening in my own neighborhood where the residents are 90% foreigners. Virtually zero Vietnamese people live in the area where I live and it is lovingly referred to as "crackertown."
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According to the couple of Russian friends that I have here the major reason why Russians are choosing Vietnam over Thailand now isn't just because of Thai Immigration being mean to them, it is also because recently Vietnam started pushing for more direct flights to and from Russia.
As someone that absolutely loathes air travel and especially when it involves changing planes in some transit airport, I can definitely relate to why this would increase the number of people coming here.
Reports vary depending on who is interpreting the stats but it is something crazy like a 300-400% increase in Russian tourists or expats in the past 2 years. I've been here for the past nearly 6 years and I can tell just from walking around that there are a LOT of Russians here now. I would say that when I encounter strangers on the street and overhear their conversations, more often than not they are speaking Russian.
Vietnam has a long history with Russia for a couple of reasons, so they are probably always going to treat their people pretty good. The Russian tourists have a reputation for spending a lot of money in a short amount of time and this is any country's favorite kind of tourists.
The Russians that live here though, are not like that. I'm also not like that so there is no judgement here. When you live somewhere you tend to not spend a ton of money on tourist things... you know?
This hasn't been without its issues though. There are several illegal Russian businesses that have been removed just in the past few months and I don't get why they think they can get away with it. One thing I know about Vietnam is that you definitely are being watched and just because you don't see the police car down the street doesn't mean nobody knows you are there. This country is notorious for having a vast network of plain clothes snitches so when I heard the other week that 3 Russian owned restaurants were raided and shut down, I wasn't all that surprised.
I've come to quite like Russian food so I hope there are enough of them that are opening these kinds of places legally. Have you ever had Russian Borscht? Oh man that is so delicious.
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It's meat, it's beetroot, it's sour cream and a little bit of spice. What's not to like about that? Oh and it also heats up in the microwave the next day or even two days later and is still amazing!
If you live over this way you will often hear people say "there are too many Russians here now" and to those folks I say shut up and get off your high horse. Depending on the perspective of the person talking, there is too many of all kind of people everywhere. What we really need more of is cute dogs with great temperaments.
In the meantime, I hope the Russians continue to come here. Just chill out with the illegal business operations ok? It reflects badly on all of us when stuff like that starts happening and if there is one thing I definitely don't want, it is to have problems with visas again.
In my experience, both Russians and Chinese, in general, don’t speak much English.
I’m not sure why this is the case for Chinese people, but for Russians the reason is quite clear. At school, the requirements for learning English are very low, and by the time people grow up, it becomes much harder to learn a new language. There’s less time, less motivation, and everyday life takes over.
Another thing is the language itself. Russian is incredibly rich in expressions and nuances. You can say the same thought in a hundred different ways, all with slightly different emotions and meanings. English, on the other hand, often feels very mechanical to me. It’s efficient, practical — but emotionally flat.
When I hear two elderly people having a conversation in English, it sometimes sounds like two robots talking to each other. The same standard phrases, the same patterns. I understand most of it, even though I’ve never formally studied the language.
I don’t mean to offend anyone — this is just my personal observation from the outside.
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nah, no offense taken. I often wonder what my native language sounds like to other people who have learned it and can give an outside perspective. I recall talking to a very fluent Chinese person who would tell me how difficult it was to become fluent in English and her major complaint about English was that "there are too many exceptions to the rules" and well, I can certainly relate to that. I do enjoy the organizational structure of Thai as there are almost zero exceptions to the rules, in English, a lot of the "rules" seems as though they were made intentionally difficult just for the sake of having special speech.
That is very interesting to hear the differences of how the two countries treat Russian tourists. I wonder if people from other countries receive the same experience?
Well I think, but don't know, that Russians get treated very well by the government here in Vietnam because of all the assistance Russia provided during multiple major armed conflicts that I am sure you have heard of that took place here.
Thailand unfortunately are just kind of jerks about their visas towards everyone. They spend a bunch of time luring in particular demographics, then the plan works, then they act like they don't want them there and create new prejudices so that the very thing they set up, becomes something that they are actively discouraging. Then the complain about not having enough tourists. They are a truly strange country in regards to that.
We've kind of dealt with similar things in the US. I think you don't see it as much because it is spread across such a larger area. I know when visit many of the popular tourist places they are practically over run with Eastern European folks. I can appreciate why they want to check out our amazing country though.
I bet they don't ever see the majesty that is your state though. Seriously, A lot of people don't know what they are missing by bypassing your state. Torch lake and a lot of other nature areas like it in Michigan are just outstanding. I reckon most people just head straight to Vegas or the Grand Canyon. When I hear that people really like to visit NYC I really don't understand that. Why would anyone want to travel to a dirty and overpopulated city where everything is expensive AF?
Yeah, I kind of feel the same way about Vegas as you do about NYC. I think it is cool to visit once or twice, but after that, meh. We have spots like Mackinac Island where a lot of people come from other countries to visit. I've also seen a lot of foreign folks at Tahquamenon Falls, but as you said, probably not nearly as many as the big spots get like the Grand Canyon and things like that. Sleeping Bear Dunes get a fair number of visitors too in Michigan I think.
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Well if you are getting quizzed every time at immigration it can make you feel unwanted and not welcome. You can't blame them for finding somewhere else to live and to have direct flights means the demand is there so the Russians will keep on coming. Never tried Russian food and would do so if it was available.
borst is one of the most widely available ones if you do get a chance. I reckon it is something almost anyone would enjoy. There are other russian delicacies that I have tried that don't appeal to me such as their dumplings, which i find disgusting.
People from may countries travel the world, emigrates and all that.
With about 140M Russians in Russia alone, it isn't surprising we see them going to other countries, and see a lot of them.
Especially the state Russia is in these days, or better said, last decades.
Any nation produces good as well as not so good people.
Its great, you have some Russian friends. Perhaps this helps to pick up their language a bit?
Question: Why so many non-natives in your neighbourhood? Immigrants flocking together? Locals not liking the immigrants to much, or at least, not that much to share a residential door, or street? Or simply, because immigrants and expats drive the prices up way too much?
NJOY the international character of Vietnam! And the Russian food! yes, indeed, I tried a few dishes. Been to Russia myself a few times in the further past, kinda like the 00's of this millennium/century, about 2 decades ago. Moscow, always Moscow. Never St Petersburg.
absolutely not but this has everything to do with me and how I simply cannot learn languages. This has always been the case with me. IT took me 10 damn years to become conversationally fluent in Thai and children can easily confuse me if they want to.
I think because Vietnamese is such a difficult language to the point where almost zero non-natives speak it. It can be quite difficult to get things done when you are completely lost as soon as you leave your apartment. I think it is flocking together for the same reason that there is a "chinatown" in almost every major city in the world, people are more comfortable around their own I guess.
For me, when I could speak Thai, I preferred to be NOT in the unofficial foreigner areas but realized that this was only the case because I could speak the local language. I would be completely confused here in Vietnam because I speak NONE of the language.
I would really like to travel to Russia one day, perhaps with some of my Russian friends so they could be my guides.
True, expats and immigrants tend to flock together.
Am always surprised when discussions happen in my country about why immigrants from the same background live together in the same area. While what I've seen with Dutchies living in other countries, they always have a Dutch bar, club and whatnot, and usually they live in the same area/district. They are telling: We like to stay connected with our own.
I do hope you'll make it to Russia at some point in your life.