The country's biggest "Thai sakura" field and the pristine nature of a newly opened peak in the northeastern province of Loei demonstrate that when communities return forests and apply their know-how, the returns are bigger than expected.
The field of blossoming pink wild Himalayan cherry flowers, known as nang phaya sua khrong in Thai, is located on Phu Lom Lo in tambon Kok Sathon of Loei's Dan Sai district.
The pristine natural surroundings are on Phu Bak Dai in tambon Pla Ba of Loei's Phu Rua district.
About 1,600 metres above sea level, both sites are among the mountaintop attractions of Loei, a province famed for its alpine scenery, offering abundant ecotourism and adventure tour opportunities.
Decades ago they served as strongholds for communists, witnessing battles between the government and insurgents. Deforestation continued during the effort to flush out the communists and the mountains became treeless. Conservation initiatives were implemented soon afterwards.
Part of Phu Hin Rong Kla National Park, Phu Lom Lo had been encroached on by hill-tribe communities growing cabbage as a staple.
In 2008, then park chief Mano Manoonsaran encouraged locals to plant wild Himalayan cherry flowers on the mountain in exchange for a period of grace of a several years before the mandatory end to their encroachment, said Yo Lampueng, secretary of the tourism promotion club of tambon Kok Sathon, which operates tourist services on Phu Lom Lo.
The reforestation project began with about 100,000 wild Himalayan cherry plants from Chiang Mai province planted on 1,200 rai of Phu Lom Lo. They started to flower in 2010.
The plot became the country's largest field of "Thai sakura". Park officials and local people planted wild Himalayan cherry flowers on a further 800 rai and in three years the field should be the biggest in Southeast Asia, says Mr Yo.
With the pink beauty of "Thai sakura" attracting visitors, local people have become tourist service providers. Social media coverage resulted in the popularity of Phu Lom Lo from December to February. Problems arose as the locals had no idea how to handle the influx of visitors, leading to conflicts as they competed for clients, he says.
"It was too much already for local residents to provide charcoal for thousands of people camping on Phu Lom Lo each night," Mr Yo recalls of the initial opening of Phu Lom Lo to tourists. Camping was later prohibited to protect the environment.
The Designated Areas for Sustainable Tourism Administration (Dasta) came to the rescue in 2012. The agency advised the locals to form a legal body, the Kok Sathon tourism promotion club, to organise tourist services and local residents learned how to handle the influx of visitors.
During the high season, tourists are required to use locals' vehicles to climb to the peak of Phu Lom Lo to experience sunrise, the cooling windy mist and the "Thai sakura".
On a clear day, visitors can see well-known Phu Thap Boek and Phu Hin Rong Kla nearby.
With the villagers operating 118 four-wheel-drive pickup trucks normally used to carry crops, the number of visitors boarding the vehicles to the mountaintop is thus limited and the tourist activities are eco-friendly.
Since private vehicles are not allowed, accidents are rare, there is no traffic congestion and little chance of visitors getting lost on the mountain. Meanwhile, the villagers' shuttle services generate substantial income for the Kok Sathon community as charges per trip that last 4-5 hours range from 1,500 to 2,000 baht, depending on the number of passengers, Mr Yo said.
For four years, Dasta officials trained local communities to organise tourist services and villagers settled well with their operations last year.
Visitors must leave their vehicles at the parking lot of the Kok Sathon tourism promotion club which is in the same compound of the Kok Sathon tambon administrative organisation. The vehicles are guarded by local security volunteers who monitor the parking area via a CCTV system.
Training also covers the local drivers operating the FWD shuttle service. They cope well with the steep and rough 15-kilometre route originally used for park rangers' patrols of Phu Lom Lo.
Tourists need to be strong to hold their positions on the loading platforms of the pickup trucks. They also need a strong will to enjoy the adventurous one-hour uphill trip to the peak and the return trip.
Those who prefer more comfortable rides to the top of Phu Lom Lo should catch the shuttle trucks from Phitsanulok province where the roads are smoother.
Kok Sathon shuttle pickup drivers also support conservation by collecting tourists' garbage and serving iced juice in bamboo cups with bamboo straws as plastic straws. Local people are aware that they must protect the mountain for their own interest, says Mr Yo.
Local tourist service providers have also developed connections with local health and rescue workers so that visitors will receive proper help in the event of an accident.
The community enjoyed an unexpected bonanza of 3 million baht from its winter service between December 2015 and January last year, up from 2 million in the previous season of blossoming pink "Thai sakura" flowers.
Of the sum, 90% or 2.7 million baht went to community dwellers who provide the shuttle service, homestay accommodation and local souvenirs and products including small bottles of ginger powder in honey.
The rest of the money funded the operation of the Kok Sathon tourism promotion club, supported charity projects and became dividends for 248 club shareholders, says Mr Yo. The sharing is a rule of the club of tambon Kok Sathon, which has a population of 7,300.
During the low season, the shuttle drivers use their FWD vehicles to carry water tanks to control wildfire and local people join park rangers to expand the reforestation area.
"Dasta has trained everyone. What we learned from Dasta is invaluable because in the past villagers had no idea how they should manage visitors," says Mr Yo.
Tourism on Phu Bak Dai highlights local residents' creative solutions that provide unique tourist services and innovative forest protection by community dwellers.
As with Phu Lom Lo, visitors to Phu Bak Dai must board local residents' vehicles but the transport is in the form of small farm tractors known as rot itaek. They have wooden boards covered with mats both in front of and behind the vehicles. They have loading compartments in the middle to carry tourists' luggage, camping gear and food supplies.
The rot itaek tractors slowly ferry tourists to the top of Phu Bak Dai. On the 2km, 20-minute trip, visitors are able to see sedate houses and their friendly dwellers as well as slow life on the farm before reaching the peak that stands as a majestic background en route and is an excellent venue for tourists to camp and view the sea of mist, sunrise and sunset in one place.
Residents have their own approach to tourist services that simultaneously maintains their tranquil and simple lifestyle as they had long and strenuously fought for their settlement at the foot of the mountain, says Cherd Singkhampong, community leader and chair of the Pla Ba tourism promotion club who has lived there for four decades.
He recalls that during the time the communist insurrection was being suppressed, local people had been allowed to turn forests on the mountain into farmland to facilitate security operations.
After the insurgency ended over three decades ago forestry authorities told the villagers they were living in a forest reserve.
The villagers lost their farmland and breadwinners were jailed. Residents whose tambon Pla Ba community had been established a few centuries ago had to fight for survival, said Mr Cherd, a former kamnan of tambon Pla Ba.
Finally local residents ended their conflict with the authorities by convincing national park officials to let the community remain with some farmland on the condition that they returned 5,000 rai of the former forest and planted and cared for trees with financial support Mr Cherd secured from the private sector. Attempts to persuade residents to return the forest took time and the last plot in the 5,000-rai area was handed back four years ago, said the former kamnan who played an important role in pushing for the co-existence of people and forest.
Apart from reforestation, villagers also initiated win-win firebreaks to protect the forest.
Conventionally villagers would need money for their labour and resources to maintain firebreaks, but at Phu Bak Dai they were growing organic vegetables and fruits along firebreaks and generating satisfactory income from the strips, says Mr Cherd.
About 700 residents participated in the win-win firebreak solution. They grow cabbage, cassava, dragon fruit and rice. With the win-win initiative, local residents are keen to maintain the firebreaks while the state does not have to invest in wildfire control.
The revived forest significantly secures the water supply in Loei and other regions of the country as Phu Bak Dai is a catchment area of the Loei, San, Man and Pa Sak rivers which supplies water to Bangkok.
Residents also formed a group to offer tourist services. Dasta arrived in 2012 to support the establishment of the Pla Ba tourism promotion club registered with the Pla Ba tambon administrative organisation. The club has 350 members who are part of the 3,300 inhabitants of tambon Pla Ba.
Members of the club were ready for standard tourist services in 2015. Since then they have brought visitors, whose number is controlled, to camp on the peak of Phu Bak Dai and trek some 30km in the forest on a three-day-two-night tour package, charging 3,300 baht per head.
The package includes environmentally friendly activities such as collecting organic vegetables and fruits and planting plants to support reforestation, says Mr Cherd.
Last year the community expected to earn 300,000 baht from its tourist services, but the actual revenue was 4.8 million baht, says Mr Cherd. The revenue includes that from the sale of local products like grass brooms made by old villagers and macadamia nuts which are also an ingredient in the unique papaya salad served at Pla Ba homestay accommodation.
The successful tourism on both Phu Lom Lo and Phu Bak Dai stems from the cooperation of local communities with guidance from Dasta.
The public organisation has implemented schemes to encourage and enable local residents in tourism-potential areas to operate tourist services that are beneficial to themselves, local resources and visitors, says Suthep Keasang, Dasta deputy director-general.
Communities have learned from the agency how to run tourist services as well as the fair distribution of tourism-related income among community dwellers. The extra income means local people feel they own their tourism resources and learn the need for conservation, he said.
"Public participation in tourism is the key to sustainable tourism and tourism-related income can become the main source of revenue when farm prices are low," says Mr Suthep.
Dasta has trained local people on tourism and worked with local administrative organisations to set up legal community-based tourism promotion clubs that enable local residents to take charge of local tourist services. The process took 3-4 years at each community.
The clubs in Kok Sathon and Pla Ba provide visitors with standard and safe services and introduce visitors to local lifestyles, culture and cuisine, says Mr Suthep.
"Running tourist services on their own, local communities are able to choose their target groups of visitors and regulate the numbers of visitors too. By this means, local communities are happy because they do not feel besieged by hordes of tourists," he says.
The promotion of established tourist destinations without the readiness and participation of local communities will continue to hurt the country's tourism resources as operators aim to maximise the volume of tourists regardless of the negative impact including pollution, says Mr Suthep.
Efforts to develop community-operated tourist services will lead to the expansion of sustainable tourism in Thailand, he adds.
For more photos and video, please go to the story on Bangkokpost.com
LOCAL TREATS: Children sell honey and macadamia nuts (right) at the Pla Ba tourism promotion club in Phu Rua district, Loei.
HUMBLE ABODE: Wooden houses in Pla Ba.
ALL SET: Tourists put their gear on a shuttle pickup truck at the Pla Ba tourism promotion club, which is also the community leader's house providing homestay services.
SLOW BUT SURE: A driver of a 'rot itaek' tractor transports visitors on Phu Bak Dai.
NO WILDFIRES: A section of the firebreaks on Phu Bak Dai where villagers grow cassava.
SIMPLE LIVING: A view from one of the bungalows in Kok Sathon.
WELCOME RAYS: Tourists snap photos as they gather on the slopes of Phu Lom Lo at daybreak.
LEAD-IN: Tourists wait for sunrise in windy mist on Phu Lom Lo.
TAKING THE LEAD: Yo Lampueng is in charge of tourism services on Phu Lom Lo.
THINK GREEN: Dasta deputy chief Suthep is pushing sustainable tourism.
FOREST MAN: Community leader Cherd Singkhampong has pushed reforestation.
ENVIRONMENT FIRST: Visitors must leave their vehicles at the parking lot of the Kok Sathon tourism promotion club.
INITIATIVE: Kok Sathon tourism promotion club shares a compound with the tambon administration.
PRETTY AS A POSTCARD: A bungalow in tambon Kok Sathon.