Story Title: Doi Inthanon Park
Episode: 5
Broadcast Date: Saturday 21 December 2013
Presenter: Trevor Cochrane

Nowadays, Doi Inthanon is a huge and superb national park full of majestic waterfalls, lush green valleys, terrace paddy fields, fruits and vegetable crops, flowers in greenhouses and ethnic communities living prosperous, free and happy in their natural environment, but that has not always been the case…

Elevating Education

• Located in Chiang Mai Province, Doi Inthanon National Park encompasses the highest mountain In Thailand, Doi Inthanon, as well as several lesser summits.
• The highest mountain of Thailand has been famous in the whole country since the 1960s.
• In that time, poppy fields were widespread here and there in the mountains of Northern Thailand the hill tribe villagers were working constrained by opium smugglers.
• King Bhumibol (Rama IX) initiated drastic reforms in the whole North to put an end to it. It was the beginning of the ‘Royal Projects‘.
• Doi Inthanon Royal Project is in Khun Klang village close to the park headquarters.  The project was initiated in 1979 to help the hill tribes to cultivate cash crops other than opium and train them on modern agricultural practices.
• These projects were highly profitable to the whole region and to the little ethnic communities who were literally slaves of the drug barons and addicts to opium.
• Most of the produce cultivated by the ‘Royal Project’ are temperate Zone Plants. Flower plantations, a plant breeding research lab and flower plantations of hill tribes (Hmong) are open to visitors.
• The ‘Royal Project’ is one of many re-education projects conceived to familiarise the hill tribe people with new agricultural techniques.
• For more information on visiting Thailand click here