Thailand - Take 4 (Snakes)

Anyone who knows Trip, knows that he hates snakes.  One of Mr. B's favorite stories is about when Trip was little and found a snake in the backyard and freaked out about it.  His sentiments haven't changed much over the years.  That is why many of you will not believe your eyes when you read this post.

One of the popular "tourist" places that we stopped at in Chiang Mai was a snake farm.  They had some snakes that were called "big eyed snakes" and I swear those things were watching us like prey.  They also had King cobras.  Now, snakes aren't really what I would call friendly looking to begin with, but King cobras are the toughest, meanest looking of them all.  They had tons of snakes and snake keepers who were absolutely insane.  The following story should explain just how insane the snake dudes are.

Before the snake show (that was put on just for us), we decided to wander through all the cages and check out the different snakes.  As we were taking pictures, one of the snake keepers, or whatever you want to call them, told us to follow him, so we did.  He takes us over to this cage at the back, opens the door, and starts to walk in.  About a second later 2 snakes pop their heads up and flare out their hoods.  Yes, he just walked into a cage with 2 King cobras, and they were not happy about it.  You would think that this guy would take the hint and leave, but instead he grabs one of them by the tail and tosses it out the door!  For the next few minutes we are all standing within feet of this ridiculously poisonous snake while the snake guy is provoking it so that it will flare it's hood just so we can take pictures.  We thought he was nuts until the snake show.  That was a new experience for all of us.

Trip, being the aspiring photographer, kept his fear at bay and snapped some great shots throughout our visit.  He was even convinced to hold one of these bad boys (not a cobra)!  Following are the pictures and proof for you unbelievers.

I love the look on his face in this picture...you can just tell what he is thinking!

Another great look on Trip's face!  This is in response to the tongue of the snake touching him.

Creepy "big eyed snakes"

Crazy snake man picking up a big eyed snake with his mouth

The King Cobra
 

From the snake show

I think it is funny how calm mom is with a cobra wrapped around her neck.  They did this to everyone, but mom's picture was the best.

 This guy actually let this python go into the water, then jumped in after it and didn't come back up until he caught it.  Can't tell if he caught it or it caught him...