A trip to northern Thailand in 1964 helped change her routine. Not long after the Bhubing Palace in Chiang Mai Province was completed, the king invited the princess mother for a visit. As was her habit in Switzerland, the princess mother went for long treks through the woods behind the palace, enjoying the flora and fauna, and stopping in villages en route. It was then that she discovered the poverty of the villages in remote areas. There was a lack of schools and health services. Even the border patrol police, who acted as guides and also provided security for her on the trips, were very poorly paid, and received no "per diem" supplement for services rendered over and above normal duties. Her observations of the precarious economic situation of the rural areas, prompted the princess mother to make regular visits to the remotest areas of the kingdom, starting in 1964.