Many years ago the Golden Triangle was a very dangerous place.  In fact, near the Wang Lao village school is The Hall of Opium museum.  That museum says it all about the danger of days gone by.  Now, the village is a quiet place where high quality hand woven textiles are made as the people did back in the “black and white days.”  The Elephant Story polo team gathered there several weeks ago to compete with our old friends, The Four Seasons Tented Camp team.  As you can see, it is most important to be properly attired even for a “friendly” match on a village school soccer field.

On my right is Khun Saeng and on my left is Khun Wee.  These gentlemen are two of the most knowledgeable elephant people in Thailand and in the top ranks of elephant polo players.  Both Khun Saeng and Khun Wee work at The Four Seasons Tented Camp, our  home in the Golden Triangle. Jason Friedman, our team captain and GM of The Siam Hotel in Bangkok, our other home in Thailand, was unable to join due to his international marketing obligations.

You may recall that we only had one day of play in the swampy pitch at the King’s Cup.  The Wang Lao school pitch is not as elegant as that in Bangkok, but it was playable every day.  In fact, we have played there in the rain many times.  If you think elephant polo is rather a slow paced sport, try it in the rain.

We will close with a flip side image of our team.  Although we aspire to be the best elephant polo team in the world, we are confident that we are consistently the best dressed.  The credit for this distinction goes to our noted designer, Khun Joey.  You will see a sak yant of Archan Noo on the back of our polo shirts.  Two of our team members have Archan Noo sak yant tattoos to protect them from the rigors of elephant polo.