Some things are funny. Snakes are just not!

Snakes have always been one of my greatest fears . Thinking of them gives me chills and horror dreams in the night. Anytime I am out in the wild and see one, the rest of the day I can't enjoy the views for watching for snakes. So, what am I doing kissing one?

I said no the first time the tuk tuk driver asked if I would like to see the King Cobra show. Then, I relented and decided I would. I kept seeing signs about it and just got curious, I guess.

Thailand has a lot of exotic wildlife and so far I have enjoyed all of it I have seen. The guide on my trek (I talked about in an earlier post) mentioned how he had walked upon a cobra on the trail a few weeks earlier.

This show features indigenous venomous snakes of Thailand. It's billed as the King Cobra Show, but includes other, mostly venomous, snakes. They have done a great job of working humor into the show. It helps put the audience more at ease, and is entertaining in what might otherwise be a tense perfomance . Most of the audience seems to have about the same feeling about the snakes as I do.

The snake handlers are all young Thai guys and they laugh as they play with these deadly reptiles. The audience is mostly gasping.

My Thai driver walks inside the gate of the snake farm with me. He takes me to a cage with small rabbits and tells me I will see them fed to the snakes today. It's not what I want to see, really.

Then a snake handler comes out with a snake. He puts it around my neck. I want to back away, but I don't. This journey has been about doing things I have not done before, so here I go.

The snake felt much different than what I always imagined. I always thought they would be slimy and flimsy. Instead, it feels a little rough and somewhat firmer than I thought. I asked what kind it was, but could not understand. Maybe you will know when looking at the picture. Maybe it's a python?

Holding the snake is not as creepy as I thought it would be . I started to feel the snake wrapped around my neck. I started exploring it's skin texture with my hands and watching it's body movements.

I learn later that a big goal of the snake show is to "break down barriers, enabling audience members to conquer this learnt and unnecessary fear which can be one of the most empowering and motivational experiences that life has to offer."

I feel less horrified after holding and playing with this snake a little. After roaming the grounds and looking at other penned up snakes, it is time for the cobra show.

The trainer, Mr. Lek, has worked with Silvester Stalone in his movie, "Rambo 4". The show includes several types of snakes local to the region, but the climax of the show is the King Cobra. The snakes are not tamed. The show works because of the skillfulness of the trainers.

The venom of the King Cobra is so potent that often a bitten victim can die before an antidote can be obtained. They have two short, fixed fangs in the front of their mouth . They use these fangs to inject the venom into their prey, like hypodermic needles.

The cobra is the world's longest venomous snake. It has enough venom from a single bite to kill an elephant. The longest was 18.5 feet. The average cobra is 9.8 feet to 13 feet in length. It usually weights about 13 pounds. It mainly preys on other snakes and is found in the forests throughout Southeast Asia. In spite of it's large size, the cobra is very fast and agile. The expandable hood of the cobra makes it's head appear massive.

The average life of a King Cobra in the wild is about 20 years. They have scales on their skin. But the scales on their bellies are smooth, enabling it to slide along the ground easily..

Cobras are revered in India and Southeast Asia. The Buddhists believe a massive cobra spread its hood over the Buddha to protect him from the sun while he meditated. I see many cobra images at the Wats I have visited . Now I know why. You will find a picture of an image of the cobra as itsupposedly  spread it's hood over Buddha.

In South Asian countries, the king cobra is believed to posses exceptional memory. One myth claims the picture of the killer of a king cobra stays on the snakes eyes. Later the image is picked up by the snakes partner, which it uses to track down the killer for revenge. Because of this myth, when a cobra is killed, especially in India, the head is either crushed or burned to destroy the eyes completely .

During the show with the cobras, the snake handler kisses the cobra on the head. This is explained that the snake sees left and right because of the way the eyes are positioned, but not straight ahead. So, the handler goes in straight toward the snake to kiss it on it's head.

As I sat in the stand, I suspected maybe the venom had been removed from the snakes. About that time, the cmmentator over the speaker system told us the fangs and venom were in tact on the snakes . They use both to capture and digest their prey. The fangs release the venom of the captured prey and the venom starts digesting the victim. If these were removed the snakes could not eat and would die.

The snake was brought around for us to see as the venom was being extracted into a glass jar.

Anyone that wanted could have their picture taken kissing the cobra. The trainer held the head so it could not bite, though. These are beautiful snakes. At least as far as this reptile can be called beautiful.

At one point in the show, the trainer put a snakes head into his mouth. It was not the cobra but a more venomous snake which bite kills in half the time the cobra bite does. The cobra bite kills in one hour or less and this snake kills in 1/2 hour. I forgot the name of the snake. The commentator on the intercom said the trainer could not smile or the snake would bite.

Snakes will still not be on list of possible pets, but I now know what they feel like.

I put some videos of the show in this post, but I cannot see how they display on my ipad. If someone wants to they could let me know if the videos are something I should continue to use in my entries.