Big scale climbing industry at Railay

- Put the left foot to the light! Climbing at any of the three beginner crags at Railay is super hectic. Some instructors even have a laser pointer to coach their clients on routes that are way too hard. As can be seen in the picture from Phra'Nang, the instructor is trying to support the beginners, pulling them up. At the same time, they are mostly really nice so you can even borrow their top rope while their clients rest. During the six months of high season, more than 100 people climb daily with an instructor at Railay and with 50 every day during low season, there are about 25 000 beginners trying it out annually. Most pay 1 000 baht, 300-350 out of which is paid to the instructors. This means that there are people making more than 30 000 baht a month during high season. For Thai standard this is quite good as they do not pay any taxes. The head instructor says that even so it is quite hard to find new workers as they normally need to work for free for 2-3 months before they can pass the test. Moreover, the hardest thing for the newcomers is actually to learn English well enough.