A gift fit for a new Thai king

Rare kind: Plai Ekachai doing his daily walking exercise in Maha Sarakham. — Reuters

MAHA SARAKHAM: A large portrait of Thailand’s King Maha Vajiralongkorn dominates one end of the open-air enclosure where an elephant known as Plai Ekachai starts his day at a conservation centre in the country’s northeast.

Since last year, the 33-year-old male elephant has been treated with reverence as a deity after being identified as the first auspicious white elephant to be discovered under the reign of King Rama X, as the monarch is also known.