TOM MASTERS,Tom first visited Eastern Europe at the age of 14 when he went to stay with family friends in Bulgaria just as communism was crumbling there. He has had a love affair with the once-obscure region since he can remember, and aged 15 travelled around a newly democratic Eastern Europe by train with his mother (an experience not unlike a Graham Greene novel). At 18 Tom finally got to see Russia, his true passion, while studying the language at university. A decade later and he still doesn't claim to truly understand the country but thinks he's got a better idea than most.