Gallery: Thai elephants go from the streets to the polo pitch

Capping off a week of mad mallet skills, big money, hot ladyboys and boozy afternoons on the pitch, Thailand's annual King's Cup Elephant Polo tournament came to a close on Sunday.  

This year's King's Cup had 12 teams, plus an exhibition match featuring players from the New Zealand All Black rugby squad and a few of the ladies from Pattaya's famed Tiffany's transvestite cabaret show. (See the gallery above for highlights.) 

Organized by luxury hotel brand Anantara in the southern resort town of Hua Hin, this year's event raised over 3.3 million baht (US$107,000), which will go to various charities that support Thailand's elephants. 

In the end, it was Thailand's very own King Power team that took the top trophy, beating out the Audemars Piguet squad.

Fun times aside, elephant polo isn't without controversy.