Sangworn, a mahout (elephant driver), stands with his elephant, Bussaba, 13 years old, at his temporary camp in Bangkok, Thailand. While the elephant is a symbol of Thailand, it is a fairly common site to see the unemployed and homeless animals roaming the city streets begging for food. The tame elephants dodge the traffic as their mahouts (elephant drivers) sell sugar cane by the bag to tourists who then feed them. Mahouts say that they have little choice but to bring their elephants to cities like Bangkok and Chiang Mai. Thai officials frown upon the practice and have passed laws banning elephants from roadways but the mahouts still come risking fines in order to survive. Elephants have been big business for the country for centuries but now they are reduced to a major tourist attraction. Elephants are trained to paint, play musical instruments, and even kick soccer balls. In addition there are elephant camps dotted all over Thailand catering to tourists employing up to 650 pachyderms, according to government figures. The Tourism Authority of Thailand says that about 65 percent of tourists will visit an elephant during their stay. Until Thailand banned logging in 1989, many Asian elephants. (Getty Images)

A customer selects bottled beer on the shelves of a supermarket in Bangkok on October 23, 2008. One of Thailand's top beer makers has applied to be listed in the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) with 80 million shares available for investors, Thai Beverage said in a statement. The producer of the popular Chang beer said clearer regulations prompted its decision to list, despite the bourse falling by more than a quarter since late May amid anti-government protests and the global market meltdown. (AFP/Getty Images)

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (R) shakes hands with Thailand's Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat before their meeting in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing October 24, 2008. (David Gray/Reuters)

Thai regional army commander Wiboonsak Neeparn (L) signs a document beside his Cambodian counterpart General Chea Morn, commander of the 4th region, after the 11th meeting of the regional border committee between the 4th military region of Cambodia and the 2rd Army area of Thailand in Siem Reap province, 320 km (199 miles) north of Phnom Penh, October 24, 2008. (REUTERS /Chor Sokunthea)

Thai regional army commander Wiboonsak Neeparn (L) toasts with his Cambodian counterpart, General Chea Morn, Cambodia general commander of the 4th region. (REUTERS /Chor Sokunthea)

A Buddhist monk walks past the Wat Pa Maha Chedi Kaew temple, built with more than a million glass bottles, in Thailand's Sisaket province, about 600 km (370 miles) northeast of Bangkok. The Thai Buddhist temple has found an environmentally friendly way to utilize discarded bottles to reach nirvana -- using them to build everything in its premises, from a crematorium to shelters and toilets. (REUTERS/Chaiwat Subprasom)

The Wat Pa Maha Chedi Kaew temple (REUTERS/Chaiwat Subprasom)

Thousands of Buddhists monks pray for peace at Royal Plaza in Bangkok October 22, 2008. (REUTERS/Chaiwat Subprasom)

A Thai woman prays next to Buddhist monks at the Royal Plaza in Bangkok, Thailand Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2008. Thousands of Buddhist monks took part in the mass pray ceremony organized by pro-government supporters. (AP Photo/Apichart Weerawong)

Judges on Thailand's Supreme Court sit in Bangkok on October 21, 2008. Thailand's Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra had violated a conflict-of-interest law while in office and sentenced him to two years in prison. (REUTERS/Chaiwat Subprasom)

Thai police stand guard outside the Supreme Court in Bangkok. The court found ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra guilty of conflict of interest and sentenced him in absentia to two years in jail, in the first ruling against the exiled multi-millionaire. (AFP/Pornchai Kittiwongsakul)

Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej, with Queen Sirikit by his side, raises a white tiered umbrella to the summit of the royal funeral pyre, during a pre-funeral ceremony for his late sister Princess Galyani Vadhana in Bangkok October 20, 2008. Hundreds of thousands of Thais are expected to take part in Princess Galyani's cremation ceremony, which is scheduled from November 14-19. (REUTERS/Chaiwat Subprasom)

Royal guards men are seen in the foreground as the funeral pyre for Princess Galyani Vadhana lights up at dusk in Bangkok October 20, 2008. Thailand's revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej earlier held a pre-funeral ceremony for his late sister Princess Galyani at the site, a month before her scheduled cremation ceremony. (REUTERS/Chaiwat Subprasom)

Anti-government protesters hold portraits of Thai Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat as they march during demonstration in Bangkok on October 20. About 1,000 anti-government protesters marched past Bangkok's upmarket shopping malls accusing police of brutality, upping pressure on the increasingly-isolated prime minister. (AFP/Pornchai Kittiwongsakul)

Anti-government demonstrators march in the streets of Bangkok, Thailand, Monday, Oct. 20, 2008. Members of the People's Alliance For Democracy continue to call for the government in Thailand to step down. (AP Photo/David Longstreath)