Royal Beauty at Doi Angkhang (Part 1)

One of the coldest places in Thailand, Doi Angkhang in Chiang Mai, is renowned as a scenic wonderland of orchards, flowers and forests. The area attracts tourists to enjoy the chilly beauty of this picture-perfect valley in the mountains 1,400 metres above sea-level. Here, the ever-present influence of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej, Rama IX, can be sensed at the Royal Agricultural Station Angkhang which has done so much to effect the greening of the valley, bringing agricultural affluence and a better quality of life to the ethnic people there.

Royal Intervention
It was not always such an attractive place to live. In the 1960s, Doi Angkhang was remote, isolated, with no roads and off limits to outsiders. Its occupants — refugees from Yunnan in China and Black Musers — grew opium, peaches and rice, living in poverty with no proper access to education or medical treatment.

King Bhumibol learnt about Doi Angkhang while travelling nearby in 1969. “As we had a helicopter, the King decided to fly to the top of the mountain to see for himself,” explained His Serene Highness Prince Bhisadej Rajani, Chairman and Director of the Royal Project Foundation. “There were poppies and peach trees, but the hillsides were extensively deforested through slash and burn cultivation.”

It was time for intervention. The King purchased land to set up the first research station for temperate fruit, vegetables, trees and flowers. According to Prince Bhisadej, “His Majesty asked us to find temperate fruit to grow on Angkhang, because he thought that income from the fruit would be higher than from poppies.”

It was. The Royal Project persuaded two or three families to grow some fruit. “We helped them cultivate the fruit, harvest and sell it. They earned a lot of money. Once word got around about the income coupled with the King’s influence, everyone wanted to grow fruit,” recalls Prince Bhisadej. “After that it was easy.”

Today, the Royal Agricultural Station Angkhang is the flagship for the Royal Projects, and the premier research station in Thailand for temperate fruits, testing new strains and cultivating fruit saplings for extension throughout the Royal Projects.

Other goals set by King Bhumibol are also evident. The hillsides are covered in new forests and agricultural plots that have helped eliminate poppy cultivation; four schools provide education for children; a small medical centre keeps everyone healthy; and there are now good roads to the outside world.

Original : Tourism Authority of Thailand