Inthanon Royal Project Research Station

Purple and white flowers on a green background of leaves.

In Doi Inthanon National Park, there's a Royal Project Research Station. This was set up by the King, with the intention of finding produce for the local hill tribes to grow other than opium poppies. They grow well around here and are, well, popular. Surprisingly, the people who grow the opium don't actually make much money - apparently hardly more than they would make growing fruits and vegetables. I've heard different stories about that, it's kind of hard to get good statistics on that kind of thing. But I think it's safe to say it isn't the farmers that get rich from the opium trade. So the research station works to grow produce and flowers to see what's most viable in the area and educates the hill tribes on how to grow these.