Phetchabun

Phetchabun's mountains once hid Thailand's communist insurgency. From 1968 to 1982, guerrilla fighters established bases in the highlands here, fighting skirmishes against the Royal Thai Army from positions invisible to lowland forces. In July 1972, a joint military operation began the suppression; by January 1973, insurgent activities were disrupted. The Khao Kho Sacrifice Memorial now stands in white marble on the same peaks—a monument visible across the landscape that once concealed enemies of the state.

The name means "Perfect Diamond" in Sanskrit, and the province occupies the divide between central Thailand and the northeast, its Pasak River draining toward Bangkok while its mountains reach toward Laos. That geography made it strategic before it made it touristic. Khao Kho, nicknamed "Switzerland of Thailand," attracts visitors seeking cool temperatures rare in tropical lowlands. Sweet tamarind grows here as both cash crop and symbol; the January harvest fair celebrates what survives after the war memorials are visited.

Today tourism is the main industry—the Cold War's end turned battlegrounds into destinations. But the province's agricultural base persists: tobacco, rice, and sugarcane along the Pasak. Phetchabun demonstrates how contested terrain can transform: the same inaccessibility that made mountains useful for insurgency makes them desirable for escape, and the same isolation that prolonged conflict now extends tourism's reach beyond Bangkok's immediate orbit.