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Thailand
Polo: Sport of Kings Includes Horses & Elephants
By Nicholas Snow
Dateline: Bangkok, March 9, 2009
Hi-So ladies in their finery, royalty, sports enthusiasts, celebrities, and media including yours truly were honored with the opportunity to attend the Mercedes-Benz – B. Grimm Thai Polo Open 2009 at the Thai Polo Club near Pattaya in mid-January. Sure, the event is over, but there’s more ahead. Read on!
Horseplay
Harold Link of B. Grimm wrote, “The two most famous quotes in polo seem to be:
‘The sport of kings is still the king of sports’ and
‘Polo is the passport to the world.’”
He continued, “Polo is a noble sport and a sport in which you can make friends easily. It is a noble sport as we should play it with a noble spirit on noble animals, of which horses may be the finest examples.”
I must say, having seen both horse polo (that used to be redundant) and elephant polo, I enjoyed them both, but there’s still nothing like the speed and precision of the horses. As a child I had a horse which I rode to the hounds, over hills and mountains and fences, through snow drifts—it was all very exciting. Just so you know, even back then we only treed the foxes and did not kill them.
Equestrian fans visiting or living in Thailand will definitely want to take note of the Thai Polo Club, especially if you are going to be near Pattaya. To begin to get a sense of what the club offers visit www.ThaiPoloClub.com. With year-round activities, the Thai Polo League is playing soon—great fun to watch! They also offer lessons!
For the Elephants
While not inexpensive to get there, it is actually free to watch the King’s Cup Elephant Polo Tournament taking place March 23 to 29 near the Golden Triangle, presented by Anantara Hotels, Resorts & Spas. This year’s event begins with a blessing ceremony in which holy water is sprinkled by monks over both animals and players before the opening match to “ensure a successful tournament.”
Organizers have also indicated that “A parade of northern traditional-style dancers, hill-tribe villagers in traditional costume, elephant spirit men (Khru Ba Yai), colorfully decorated pachyderms, and teams holding up their respective country flags will kick off the week-long competition held on the banks of the Ruak River which divides Thailand from Burma.”
I haven’t watched Elephant Polo at the event itself, but have been fortunate to have seen exhibition games here in Bangkok. Known worldwide, the tournament originally began in Hua Hin but is now held where the elephants live year-round. The event remains a fundraiser for Thailand’s National Elephant Institute in Lampang.
So, what happens at the event? Last year they had 12 teams representing four continents, and 40 players from at least 15 countries. The games are much slower paced than when played with horses, but the scene is still very enjoyable and sometimes even suspenseful.
To date the tournament has raised over US$200,000 for the National Elephant Institute, which provides medical care, sustenance, employment, and mahout training to Thailand’s elephant population. In 2008 the funds were used to run the custom build ambulance that was donated at the opening ceremony of the most recent tournament.
If you are a high-end tourist, you may wish to stay at the Anantara Resort Golden Triangle, home to its own Elephant Camp. “The property’s focus on the future of Thailand’s pachyderm population forms an integral part of the resort’s operations.” Representatives of the camp explained, “It is estimated that Thailand has around 2,500 domesticated elephants and 1,500 wild elephants. This is down from an elephant population of around 50,000 in 1950 and 100,000 in 1900.”
The tournament has raised over U.S. $200,000 for the National Elephant Institute – they provide medical care, sustenance, employment, and mahout training to the elephant population. The resort, by the way, offers a mahout training experience over several days.
Fully endorsed by the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), the King’s Cup Elephant Polo Tournament is known as one of Thailand’s prime annual special events, and as I said, spectator entrance is free – but getting there and staying there will cost.
For more information, visit www.AnantaraElephantPolo.com. The resort is located 60 km north of Chiang Rai’s international airport. For enquiries and reservations, call +66 (0) 5378 4084 or email infogt@anantara.com. You can also visit www.anantara.com.
About Nicholas Snow:
Nicholas Snow Returns with New Video Series
For over a quarter of a century Nicholas Snow has been in the media. In the 1990's he reached hundreds of thousands of people in the Los Angeles media market on a regular basis as the producer and host of his own television show. Over the last ten years, he has been known to an increasingly sizable audience on the worldwide web.
Within the last 12 months alone, his family of web sites has received almost two million page views and his video programming has been viewed almost 150,000 times. One of his videos has been viewed over 60,000 times! With four movies to his credit, Snow's most prominent acting role is in a film being distributed later this year worldwide by a global leader in entertainment. Nicholas and his writing are currently featured in leading newspapers and magazines, and he appears on national television.
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For more information about Nicholas Snow, visit NicholasSnow.com, and feel free to visit any of his family of web sites, linked from the right-hand column of that page.
For existing videos from Nicholas Snow, visit: YouTube.com/NicholasSnow
All the best,
Uncle Ted
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