Hotel & Tours Group

Anantara Hotels, Resorts & Spas has announced the 2010 dates for the King's Cup Elephant Polo Tournament. The highly popular event will take place from March 22 to March 28 in the northernmost region of Thailand known as the Golden Triangle.

This year's event is once again sponsored by Audemars Piguet - one of the world's oldest and most prestigious watchmakers - and will see a number of teams go trunk to trunk to win the coveted King's Cup trophy.

An opening parade and blessing ceremony will be held in Chiang Saen town on the first day of event to showcase the culture of the Golden Triangle region with northern traditional-style dancers, hill-tribe villagers in traditional costume, elephant spirit men (Khru Ba Yai), and colourfully decorated pachyderms. The parade will mark the kick-off of the week long competition held on the banks of the Ruak River, which divides Thailand from Burma.

During the first five years of the tournament, the event took place in the Royal seaside town of Hua Hin before moving to the native home of elephants in 2006 – the Golden Triangle. The tournament was introduced to Thailand in 2001 by Anantara Resorts and is a charitable event that raises money for the benefit of all Thailand's elephants.

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