Elephants play an important role in Thai culture. Not only are elephants deeply ingrained in the national religion, Buddhism, but they are also symbols of the longstanding monarchy. Until recently, too, elephants were used for labour and industries like logging. Many ancient temples around Thailand will also have elephants depicted in some way. So it’s not entirely out of the ordinary that a modern city like Bangkok would have a building constructed in the shape of an elephant. But take away the wooden beams that represent the tusks and the large circular windows that are the eyes, and this would simply be an odd building in the shape of the letter “M”.
