AYUTTHAYA, Thailand (AP) — A huge work force in Thailand was back on the job Tuesday: the elephants famous for carrying tourists through the country’s ancient capital.

Authorities reopened a major elephant park in Ayutthaya, hoping to show tourists the country is beginning to return to normal following historic floods that have left more than 550 people dead nationwide.

Still, the prime minister said some parts of Bangkok could remain flooded into the New Year holiday period even though water is receding.

The pachyderms from the Ayutthaya Elephant Palace stood and sat with their mahouts — or handlers — through a prayer ceremony asking for blessings as the park opened for the first time since it was swamped in September.

The park is famous for offering tourists elephant rides through the ancient temple ruins that dot the city, a UNESCO World Heritage site 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of Bangkok. Experts fear that at least half of the more than 200 waterlogged monasteries, fortresses and other monuments in the one-time royal capital have been damaged by Thailand’s worst floods in more than half a century.

Parts of the city were covered in up to six feet (two metres) of water for more than a month.