Hua Hin King's Cup Elephant Polo 2012

[Big Boy]

Thanks guys, I'm looking forward to it .

[JW]

One of the funniest things you will ever see is the poor little guys who run around scooping up the huge steaming elephant turds from the pitch during the game - must one one of the most dangerous jobs in the world!

[buksida]

[Big Boy]

A couple of snaps from today's parade:

[buksida]

If anyone has any more photos, please post them!

[Big Boy]

We're going with the grand children on Sunday morning, so will take a few more then.

[StevePIraq]

We went yesterday morning. Plenty of parking for bikes, cars and buses and the military guys were really pleasant and helpful, all had big smiles whenever you spoke with any.

Apart from watching the polo games which are quite brief and rather slow compared to horse polo there really isn't much else going on. You can sit in one tent and have coffee, cold drinks and some meals, a little pricey but what can you expect, nothing to complain about. Lots of boards up explaining where the elephants come from and how they are treated which is quite informative. Nice to know the ele's are being taken care of instead of being abused.

Just a shame there wasn't a little more to get involved with or see. Regardless my thanks to Antara for supporting this event and bringing something interesting to HH

[Big Boy]

Are the elephants available to see when they are not participating in the tournament?

[StevePIraq]

Are the elephants available to see when they are not participating in the tournament?

Yes you can walk around to the far side of the pitch where the elephants and handlers rest and there is a great photo op of the elephants taking showers to cool off

[buksida]

Day two of the 11th King's Cup Elephant Polo Tournament included a fiercely fought match in which Citibank, captained by Prince Carl Eugen Oettingen Wallerstein, stole the game in spectacular fashion from the talented and highly experienced ladies team, The Nellies.

The first chukker saw the European royal polo veterans, Prince Carl and Princess Yoanna Otto, along with fellow teammate, Agustin Kronhaus, stunned in the first 20 seconds of play by Nellies player Robin Lourvanij, who easily scored the first goal of the game.

Citibank's Agustin Kronhaus struck back, trading shots down the field with his royal teammates. But it was Lourvanij's exceptional defence that proved crucial, wrestling the ball from Citibank and passing to Lucy Monro, whose goal at the end of the first chukker equallevelled the score.

Citibank proved too strong and went on to win 16-5. The annual tournament ends tomorrow.

YESTERDAY'S RESULTS
Anantara 8 Mercedes Benz 10, Blue Label 10 PWC 4, Citibank 16 The Nellies 5, Mercedes Benz 8 King Power 18, Audemars Piguet 13 Blue Label 9, Sara Story Design 6 Anantara 1, Rueng Cheng 8 Citibank 7, PTT 1 PWC 5, Kasikornbangk 9 The Nellies 4

Source: Bangkok Post

[cookie102]

When we went last year and the best bit for us was when the Elephants had their breakfast. It was served on two long tables laid out complete with white table cloths one each end of the arena.
When the elephants were led in they all ate with perfect manners, much better than you see western children have.

[buksida]

King Power beat Mercedes Benz 11-4 yesterday, ending their chance of securing a place in the final at the King's Cup Elephant Polo tournament.

King Power started the first chukka with aggression and technique to unwind Mercedes' solid early play. But strong defence from Mercedes players James Douglas and Hiro Suzuki was not enough to fend off King Power's attack.

The King Power team, consisting of captain Tom Claytor and Thailand's finest polo players Apichet Raksriskasorn and Nattapong Pratumlee, drew first blood.

King Power continued to rattle early in the second half with their mesmerising skills to get more goals and went on to win 11-4.

Unbeaten King Power will meet Audemars Piguet in the 2012 King's Cup final today.

YESTERDAY'S RESULTS
Anantara v The Nellies 2-4, PTT v Sara Story Design 4-2, Citibank v PriceWaterhouseCooper 12-5, Kasikornbank v Blue Label 4-6, King Power v Mercedes Benz 11- 4, Rueng Chang v Audemars Piguet 7-13

Source: Bangkok Post

[Big Boy]

We went this morning, but have to say 'unimpressed' has to be an understatement.

Excellent organisation and facilities by the Army - a big well done to them.

Kick off was delayed because they were waiting for enough hungover players to make it to the tournament. OK, last night was the main event, and they made over 3M Baht for the elephants, but why have the party when the tournament is still on? Surely, tonight would have made more sense.

I loved the elephants - there were a lot more than I expected. There was no problem getting up close to them (despite warnings every 5 yards not to).

The polo was a bit of fun, but I couldn't have watched more than one match.

The timetable was nowhere near what was publicised on the leaflets given out during the parade.

We were completely taken in by the publicity video earlier in this thread, when the guy said that food was available, and not expensive. The grand daughters were hungry (Thais always are), and Mrs BB bought them a BBQ sausage each (no bread roll) and a small glass (plastic) of Sprite. Cost - 830 Baht. I only hope that profiteering goes to the elephants.

I agree with an earlier comment - not much to do when the polo is not being played.

I will post a couple of photos and 2 short videos shortly.

[Big Boy]

A couple of photos:

Full photo slideshow here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8517813@N0 ... 4655/show/

[Big Boy]

A couple of short videos: