Wanderlust: Expat Life & Style in Thailand Dec / Jan 2017: Special Edition | Page 11

Special Feature
Royal
Agricultural
Station
Angkhang

in a proliferation of charming cafes and even roadside
stalls and gas stations. The best of it comes from the
surrounding mountains, where coffee became probably the most successful and profitable of the cash crops
in the King’s drive to replace opium. With the assistance of the United Nations and nongovernmental organizations, upland communities took to coffee with
a passion. The results are heady cups of espresso and
cappuccino.
Some of the best beans are grown on and around
Doi Inthanon—at 2,565 meters it’s Thailand’s highest
mountain—where Karen and Hmong tribal communities have been aided through the Doi Inthanon Royal
Project. The site and its surroundings abound with trekking trails, waterfalls and some of the greatest number

of bird species found in the country. The project provides some accommodation and several villages offer
home stays, geared to those who wish to delve into
Thai life beyond what can be gleaned from Bangkok’s
nightlife and the beaches of Phuket.
It is on Doi Inthanon’s trails, as on so many others, that the workaholic King tread, armed with a
grease pencil, an acetate-covered map, a two-way radio strapped to his belt and a camera slung around his
neck. Along these byways, he developed countless personal ties to villagers ignorant of the elaborate royal
protocol so evident in Bangkok, where even prime ministers would approach him on their knees. So villagers
sat down with him on the ground, eye to eye, talked of
their troubles and shared jokes and stories.
You may hear some of these memories of their time
with the King if you talk with rural people of a passing generation. Like Jaru, a headman of the Lahu tribe
who will relate how halfway to his village, he volunteered to give the King a piggyback ride for the rest of
the journey. The king good-naturedly went along with
the offer.
And so, amid much amusement, the two ambled forward to the village of Khob Dong—a man with his king
atop his back, making their way together.
Denis D. Gray covered Thailand and Southeast Asia
for The Associated Press for more than four decades
and met the King multiple times over the course of
his career.

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