ORAL HISTORY AMONG LOCAL COMMUNITIES ALONG THE MOH HIN KHAO ECO-HISTORICAL TOURISM TRAIL IN CHAIYAPHUM PROVINCE

Abstract

The research on Oral history among local Communities along the Moh Hin Khao Eco-Historical Tourism Trail in Chaiyaphum Province, has two objectives: 1) To collect stories about local history of Mo Hin Khao in the form of an academic work, and 2) to study about image formation of Mo Hin Khao tourist attraction for tourism promotion in Chaiyaphum Province. The research results showed that 1) the stories about Mo Hin Khao came from beliefs of the community that had been told since people immigrated to live in Mo Hin Khao in 1964. It is believed that Mo Hin Khao is a city in the middle of the sky that connects the three realms: the human realm, the Naga realm, and the god realm. The god resides on each rock. There are 5 powerful gods residing on the 5 stone pillars in the area where a strange green light shot through each rock, rushed down to Wat Pa Phromraj Satthatham, and bounced back to the 5 stone pillars every 15th day of the waxing moon in the past. 2) The image of Mo Hin Khao tourist attraction for tourism promotion in Chaiyaphum Province was formed in 2 directions. In the first direction, villagers migrated from the Mo Hin Khao area during the government's communist suppression in the forests and mountains in 1980, and the public area was turned into tourist attractions through collaborative management between the communities surrounding the Mo Hin Khao area and the government agencies. Later, the area was publicized as an important natural tourist attraction in the province.  Many tourists have visited the area since 2001. The main tourist attraction in the area is the 5 stone pillars. The attractions are publicized through the webpage and the website of the Chaiyaphum Provincial Tourism and Sports Office, and through the movie “The Legend of King Naresuan the Great” In the second direction, the management of tourism image got conflict in concept among 2 communities in the area around Mo Hin Khao, Chaiyaphum provincial government agencies, the Royal Forest Department, and Phu Lan Kha National Park. The community in Tha Hin Ngom Subdistrict wanted the community to be involved in managing the Mo Hin Khao area while the community in Sap Si Thong Subdistrict thought that the government agencies should be responsible for maintaining the area order which included management of shops around tourist attractions and security around the Mo Hin Khao tourist attraction, instead of letting the community manage it due to the increase of tourists to the number that the community could not manage the area by themselves. This problem still exists until present.