Aaaah!!! Cobras!!!

Saturday February 5th, 2005 12:48PM Chicago, IL (Happy Superbowl Eve)

Hope those of you that got the Simpson's reference enjoyed it.

Here are a few photos of, well, cobras. Sorry, no posts in the past couple of days, I've been working on the 1060west blog and all the furor surrounding the Sammy Sosa trade. To see updates, check out www.1060west.blogspot.com

The Badger hoops team is about to dump one against the damn Goofers; thankfully, the Badger hockey team won 3-1 last night. NHL what?

On my Thailand trip of last February, one of the things on my list to see was cobras; as long as they weren't crossing my path. I had two opportunities to see them at two different snake farms. The first photos are from the snake farm that is run by the Red Cross. The last three photos are from a snake farm that was part of a canal tour I took. There was a stark difference between the two, especially in the was the snakes were handled. I'm no snake fan, but these animals are used to manufacture anti-venom which helps countless snakebite victims in Thailand which is definitely a good thing. Anyway, on to the photos:


 

This is the entrance to the Queen Soawapha snake farm. Its run by the Red Cross and has shows twice a day. I went here on my second day and was really looking forward to seeing a cobra up close (well, not that close). The farm holds a slide show and an exhibition of milking the snakes for venom. Yeah I know, an educational activity on vacation? Go figures, it was pretty interesting.


 

After the slide show, you're escorted out to a covered set of bleacher seats. I had the misfortune of getting a seat in the top of the bleachers; I wanted to get closer down to get photos, but still got a few good shots. If you look in the background, there is a structure that looks like a hut. This is where the cobras are housed. The whole area is roughly 40 yd x 40 yd with these little structures. One of the workers then went down there, grabbed a couple Siamese cobras, and brought them up. As you can see, they look real happy to be disturbed. Smile for the camera guys.


 

Maybe its better that I'm not too close.


 

After having the Siamese cobras out, they bring out a king cobra. Look at that damn thing. You're not going to really run into one of these unless you're in the deep forested areas of Thailand. That being said, I'm not going out to the forest anytime soon.


 

A close up of the king cobra. These things can rise up about 1/3 of their body length. That's easily a 6 foot snake there. I'd seriously wet myself if I saw one of these in the wild.


 

Anyone want to hold it???


 

This photo was taken from the second snake farm. I had no intention on going here, but wound up getting roped into going. The day I went here I was at Sathorn pier and wanted to go on a canal (klong) and river tour. After agreeing on a price for an hour tour (I think it was around 500 baht), we were off on the river on the longtail boat. We entered one of the canals and after about 15 minutes, the boat pulls up to a pier where the driver told me "snake farm" and urged me to check it out. Well, it was a ploy for the longtail boat driver to make some commission by having me go there. The cost was much more that the other snake farm and the facilities left much to be desired.

I walked around the cages and eventually came up to this stage area where they have the show. Here you can see this guy taunting the cobras. Umm, is that a good idea?

 

Here he picks up the cobra and it makes an attempt to bite the handler. No such luck of seeing someone bit by a cobra.


 

Here he lets the snake go away. One thing that I did not enjoy was at the end of the show this guy grabs the cobra and swings it toward the crowd. Not cool at all. There was a woman sitting next to me (I was standing) who must have jumped 3 feet and ran. It was kind of funny after the fact, but if the guy lost control of that snake, I'd have been right behind her.

11 days to go...

Tomorrow, photos of the monk bowl village.