Climbing guides wanted for Ha Long Bay - Vietnam!

Hi all you climbers out there!

We're a small locally owned climbing company on Cat Ba Island, off the coast of northern Vietnam, looking for experienced lead climbers to guide our tours.  

As part of the Cat Ba Climbing team you will be required to guide small groups of beginner to intermediate climbers either on the island, in the bay or deep water soloing. You will have the opportunity to climb, set and bolt new routes, climb on secret beaches in Lan Ha & Halong bay or on stunning limestone crags in the jungle, meet a bunch of other climbers & travellers, live in this amazing part of the world and totally submerge yourself in the amazing culture of Vietnam!

Some quick info about the position: 

• Minimum 3 months, if you have stayed here for that long, visa expenses will be covered.
• Free food and accommodation. 
• First month volunteer work and afterwards 200.000 VND/ working day. (5 days on/2 days off)
• When you have days off you can use the climbing gear in the shop for free and go climbing with the rest of the crew. 

If  you have experience and are interested, please send us a message on; catbaclimbing@gmail.com

:)

Per Google... 200 Vietnamese Dong equals 0.008804 US Dollar

Scott O wrote:

Per Google... 200 Vietnamese Dong equals 0.008804 US Dollar

It's 200,000 not 200. The "." is sometimes used in place of the comma. Still not a lot but cost of living is a lot different... 

Oops. I missed that it was a triple zero after the period. 

$9 a day... that's pretty laughable to attract any actual qualified guides.

That is a typical wage for Vietnamese middle class people, actually.. and you don't have to pay for food or accommodations with it, unlike local people. Keep in mind the cost of living in Vietnam is very different from here. You're not going there to become rich or to make money to bring home, but to have a good time, climb, gain some interesting experience, and earn some money to offset your living expenses over there. In Cat Ba, a meal is somewhere around 30,000 (local) to 80,000 (tourist place) or so.. local currency is "dong". A 2L bottle of water is about 10,000. Just to give you a sense of living expenses...

I met folks from both Asia Outdoors and Cat Ba Climbing and they all seemed to really enjoy their jobs! You can often find them climbing on their days off.

They're not trying to find qualified guides. 

They're looking for anyone that can belay tourists, namely younger folks down for 'the experience'.

If you're 23 and romping around the world, it's not a bad way to spend a few months.

Yes, the only people who access their guiding services tend to be beginners. Experienced climbers will just go climb on their own (sometimes with staff on their off days :))

You have to work for free for a month

Hi guys,

Keep in mind that this is in Vietnam and you would already earn an average Vietnamese salary and additionally to that food and accommodation. That's a lot more than most people here earn. And no, you will not get rich, this is a job where you can experience being out in one of the world's most famous deep water soloing spots. It's a great place to be and to meet new great people. The 1 month volunteer work is because we get a lot of travellers coming through and we are mainly looking for long term people, not only temporary staff. This is a local Vietnamese company, you will not earn an American salary. 

Best regards

Jakob

Cat Ba Climbing