In reply to dogfish:
I went climbing here and used The Mountain Shop for a guide and gear. Organised thru' email it worked well and I had a fantastic time. I used local transport from Phuket and on the island, shops for food and obviously the guide. I realise the shop is not Thai (Canadian owned I believe, please correct if wrong), but I hope I contributed somewhat to the system.
Years ago I went to Krabi and used an outfit called Hotrock, locally owned and run, and felt awful knowing they were probably wiped out in the tsunami. I fail to see how some jumped up official can benefit the economy/environment with this, given most climbers are probably insured. Even if they did have an accident, the hospital gets an income, jobs filled and ££ into the economy.
Sad. If anyone finds out who to mail with "comments", I'm sure you could let us know.
Chris