In the Majapahit period of Southeast Asia, celengan were used to collect and save money. Unlike its modern successor, however, the ancient celengan were made from terracotta. This weak material allowed the owner to smash the piggy bank when needed.
Check out a 15th century celengan here, as stored in New York’ s Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Red Bull / Krating Daeng- Thailand
This world-famous energy drink is no stranger to Asia. Invented in Thailand by Chaleo Yoovidhya, it was locally called Krating Daeng, or red gaur. A gaur is a type of large cow or bull native to Southeast Asia.( You can see these gaurs on the Red Bull logo!)
When concocting this drink in 1975, Chaleo mixed“ water, cane sugar, caffeine, taurine, inositol, and B-Vitamins.” The drink was an instant hit among blue collar labourers in Thailand. The following year, as the drink grew in popularity, a paramilitary group attacked Thai students. This group bore a similar name, Red Gaurs, which triggered nosedive in the drink’ s popularity.
The logo of two red gaurs going to head-tohead is symbolic of the period where the drink sponsored Muay Thai matches among the working class.
In 1982, Austrian businessman Dietrich Mateschitz visited Thailand. The entrepreneur
22 ISSUE 55 OCTOBER 2025 / WWW. AFMA. ORG. AU