It was a time when travel around the globe became available for the everyday holidaymaker. The airlines had not yet introduced the "Jumbo" Jet, that was 1970, and there were not the deals that are available today, however accessibility to the Exotic became a great money maker and a tourism boom began. Thailand became and still is today, one of the most desirable destinations due to the culture, gentle nature of the people and beautiful beaches and Islands.

Our family lived in Thailand for sixteen years so saw some tremendous changes in that time. But I digress, this story is about the White Elephant and what is expected of the owner if one is born into the herd. My fascination with the giant pachyderms and not so giant ones has been an on going affair even though we do not live there any more. An Elephant that was born during our time in Thailand became a source of great enjoyment as we followed her progress on a regular basis. Her name was Mali (Thai for Jasmine) and although we have lost contact, I like to think she has grown up to be a caring mother and a happy member of her herd.

Every now and again, well quite rarely actually, a White Elephant is born. This comes with highly mixed emotions as White Elephants are sacred. They are expensive to feed and as they cannot work for their upkeep, end up being quite useless to the owner and a financial burden. However, being sacred, they are usually presented to the King as they are a symbol of royal power. The next step is in the grading of the qualifications to be acceptable as a White Elephant. Pure white is not what we expect it to be nor is albino for the criteria to achieve this status. The skin should of course be pale and the eyelashes and toe nails fair, but eye color, ear shape and the tail along with a certain amount of intelligence, will win the day.

If this is confirmed by the grading committee, it is a great day for the owner as the elephant will be presented to the king with great ceremony. The elephant however is not taken into captivity. This is a good thing. The more elephants the king has, the greater his standing as a monarch. This culture was practiced in India, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Burma (now Myanmar).

With every interesting story there is sometimes a diversionary tactic practiced by those with an ulterior motive. One story relates how lesser White Elephants were given as a gift to some enemy, maybe a lower nobleman who had displeased the king. This poor person could not work the elephant and due to the expense of taking care of a gift from the king, would suffer financial ruin.