Visitors from cities such as Bangkok and Chiang Mai continue to trek up the winding dirt road to the tin-roofed retreat Mr. Thongbai built at the top of Hidden Hill here to pray before Buddha statues and paintings of Suthat.
She lived with four other adopted children in a ramshackle, tin-roofed hut that would flood during heavy rains. ("We put bricks on the floor to walk around, " she says.) She still remembers selling all her toys at age 4 to neighborhood kids to help make ends meet.