The Chinese-style buildings of the Rong Tiem Resort and Restaurant stand in marked contrast with the surrounding greenery of cabbage plantations on Phu Thap Boek. Decorated with hanging red lanterns, the garishly furnished restaurant greets visitors with artificial grass on the pathway at its entrance.
A couple of small cabins sit inside the restaurant compound, which are easily accessible via a cement pathway. Despite a recent court order forcing Rong Tiem to cease operating, there was no sign that its owners were planning to move out. In fact, the business was being expanded with a group of workers constructing a two-storey building next to the restaurant.
- VIDEO: Saving Phu Thap Boek
Speaking by phone, the owner of the Rom Tiem Restaurant, who asked not to be named, responded to questions from Spectrum with anger. “Would you move out if you had already invested a lot in this restaurant?” he said. “We have been here since there was nothing.”
Rong Tiem has been operating since 2009 and business is good. On the day Spectrum visited, several families were dining there. Apparently they were not aware or didn’t care about the court’s decision to close the place.
The Appeal Court recently upheld a decision by the First Instance Court ordering Rong Tiem to vacate, saying it had been built in an area that was supposed to be used for the welfare of a community of hill-tribe people. If the Appeal Court decides not to change a ruling by the First Instance Court, a case is deemed final.
Asked about the court’s decision to order the restaurant to move out, the owner said, “What about the others? We should not go down alone.”
The battle over the Rong Tiem Resort and Restaurant is not an isolated case at this emerging tourism destination in Phetchabun province. Several dozen colourful, zinc-roofed resorts have sprouted up over the mountain in the past few years.
Phu Thap Boek has been in the news recently after photos were published of the overcrowded peak congested with cars and people, and illegal buildings.
While Phu Thap Boek is not a national park, it had been set aside by authorities to help preserve the lifestyles of the Hmong hill-tribe people. In 1966, the government gave the Social Development and Welfare Department permission to use about 47,000 rai of land on Phu Thap Boek as resettlement areas for Hmong people.
Now about 62 resorts have been built in the area without proper official oversight and the government is cracking down.
According to Manop Sai-Unjai, the director of Forest Resource Management Office 4 which oversees Phitsanulok and Phetchabun provinces, the Forestry Department is also pursuing 27 cases from 2011-2014.
But despite the legal cases, new resorts and restaurants are still mushrooming on the mountain. Mr Manop estimated that in the past year alone, about 30 commercial buildings went up. “I think there are more than 56 operators who are operating in the forest area now,” Mr Manop said.
ILLEGAL ENCROACHMENT
Sitting around 1,500 metres above sea level, Phu Thap Boek is the highest peak in Phetchabun province.
ON A MISSION: Manop Sai-Unjai has work to do.
In recent years, Phu Thap Boek became known among nature-loving tourists for its natural charms and elevation — visitors were enveloped by the low-lying sea of clouds moving across the panoramic landscape.
“With only a little help from tourism authorities, Phu Thap Boek became popular by word of mouth,” said Thon Thamrongnawasawat, an environmentalist and a member of the National Tourism Policy Board.
“The commercial activities expanded without the supervision of the authorities from the beginning. It’s a shame because by the time we realised the severity of the damage caused by illegal encroachment, it may already have been too late.”
Phu Thap Boek has become the new must-visit place after previous trendy destinations such as Pai in Mae Hong Son or Suan Phung in Ratchaburi became heavily exploited by unmanaged and uncontrolled commercial activities.
The mountain peak has everything a city slicker could ask for. But the places originally set aside for temporary tents for overnight stays have been replaced by urban-style restaurants and air-conditioned resorts.
Without permits and supervision from authorities, some poorly designed resorts were carelessly built on steep hills, posing safety risks for guests. Some commercial buildings were also erected without taking the visual or environmental impact into account.
Bright-coloured cabins with zinc roofs have mushroomed all over the hills. Rough cement has replaced the natural dirt in many places and there are piles of waste in the back yards of several resorts — which critics say is proof that Phu Thap Boek was not ready for large crowds of tourists or commercial businesses.
“The place was overcrowded,” said Natchai Boonpothong, a 37-year-old entrepreneur who took his staff to Phu Thap Boek recently for an overnight stay. Mr Natchai had been to Phu Thap Boek several times.
“The place has changed very fast. Too many people are visiting Phu Thap Boek. I agree that the place has to be managed.”
Mr Natchai was staying at a resort called Dinosaur Thap Boek Hill, which had become famous for the big statue of a dinosaur on the top of the resort’s roof. However, the statue had been demolished a few days before Mr Natchai’s visit after complaints about the resort’s design.
“It’s a pity. I came here because my son wanted to see a dinosaur,” Mr Natchai said.
A spokeswoman for Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul, the Minister of Tourism and Sports, said, “Minister Kobkarn has disapproved of the fancy resorts and buildings on Phu Thap Boek, which take in no consideration of the surroundings.”
The Tourism Ministry, the Forestry Department and the Social Development and Welfare Development are working with local authorities and community leaders to come up with a master plan to crack down on encroachment, while trying to come up with something acceptable to all parties. They hope to have a solution in three months, she added.
“Phu Thap Boek should showcase the culture and tradition of hill-tribe people,” the spokeswoman said on behalf of Ms Kobkarn, who was on an overseas trip.
With fewer cabbage plantations, many Hmong people are now working in the resorts and restaurants. Some are working to build new resorts, with trucks carrying construction materials such as cement and rocks going up and down the hill all day.
WHAT THE LAW SAYS
The area was once known as a red zone, in the days when communism was seen as a security threat. In 1966 the cabinet designated the area covering 47,021 rai in Phu Thap Boek as a place for the resettlement of Hmong people, under what was then known as a “welfare community for hill-tribe people”. The area was under the management of the Public Welfare Department.
Phu Thap Boek has, however, been regarded as conserved forest because there was no law to recognise its welfare community status at that time. As time passed, the people there were not aware of the absence of the law, according to Mr Manop.
The area also boasts one of the country’s largest cabbage fields, which is not meant to change hands.
In 2012, the Administrative Court in Phitsanulok ruled against a forest encroacher by saying that Phu Thap Boek still belonged to the Royal Forestry Department. The court’s ruling was based on the absence of a royal decree to recognise the area’s status as a welfare community, said Mr Manop.
Phu Thap Boek is still governed by a law passed in 1941 which says that forest means land which is not acquired by any person under the Land Code.
A section of that law also states that no person shall construct or do anything to destruct, hold or possess forest for himself or other persons, except for the area classified as agricultural under the notification of a minister and which is published in the Royal Gazette, or any licence granted by a competent officer.
“After the Forestry Department realised it had full authority over Phu Thap Boek, we have been working to ensure the area was not exploited for purposes other than farming,” Mr Manop said.
The Forest Resource Management team then started pursuing encroachment cases. There were 27 cases from 2011-2014, not counting the 30 or so commercial projects which have sprung up in the past year.
In 2013, the Public Welfare Department asked the Forest Resource Office to survey the area which had been occupied by settlers. The office listed 187 settlers, covering 258 plots of land.
The total area covers slightly more than 1,051 rai. But it has not yet been determined how many of those have already transferred land to new investors.
Mr Manop said the unmanaged commercial activities have an adverse impact on the peak.
“Not to mention the fact that urbanisation would affect the traditional way of life of the hill-tribe people,” he said.
“If their plantations are used for other purposes, Hmong people will encroach on other parts of the mountain to farm. The ecosystem will be affected.”
Phu Thap Boek is the western catchment area for the Pasak River.
“Thailand has seen similar cases to what is happening at Phu Thap Boek everywhere because we don’t prioritise sustainable tourism. People want to earn quick money from tourism regardless of its long-term cost,” the
National Tourism Policy Board’s Mr Thon said.
“Phu Thap Boek should have been a place for one-day trips. It is not for overnight stays. Tourists should enjoy the nature and the cabbage plantations and the cool-climate flowers, not the urban-style resorts and restaurants on the mountain.”
Of the resistance from resort operators who refuse to move out, Mr Thon said rules and regulations must be followed.
“You cannot make an argument about ownership because no one can own a conserved forest area.”
A RETURN VISIT
Second Lieutenant Nippa Janpeng, a 57-year-old retiree, went back to Phu Thap Boek early last month for the first time since 1985.
Thirty years ago he went to Phu Thap Boek as an army officer to take part in a reforestation programme. This time around, he went as a tourist.
“I remember we came here by helicopter carrying small trees,” said Mr Nippa, who comes from Phetchabun, while he waited for his wife to see which resort had rooms for their overnight stay. It was a Monday, but many of the resorts were fully booked. Long lines of vehicles moved slowly along the narrow road up the mountain.
Asked whether he remembered which trees he had planted three decades ago, Mr Nippa shook his head.
“It was different then. There was a dirt road and lots of trees.”
PHOTO OPPORTUNITY: Left, a Hmong farmer tends to a cabbage crop and right, tourists snap photos in the mountain fields.
ROOM WITH A VIEW: Visitors enjoy meals and drinks in one of the many restaurants that have sprung up on Phu Thap Boek.