In the ninth episode of Luke Nguyen’s Greater Mekong, Luke arrives at mountainous Mae Salong, where he prepares a rustic tomato dish with Apear, an Aka grandmother. Getting off the beaten track, Luke sets up kitchen in a banana forest where he creates a jungle chicken curry. Luke travels further up the mountainside to the Royal Project, where he prepares an aromatic pork hock, and learns how the Thai king helped local farmers change from growing opium crops to farming sustainable produce.