Had a Blast in Bangkok!!! (Part Six)

Whew! I believe this will be the last post of the "Had a Blast in Bangkok" series. As you can see, we were quite busy!

The only thing left to share with everyone is our long-tailed-boat canal tour. Michael and I were really proud of ourselves for this adventure. Instead of signing up for a group tour, we went directly to the pier and negotiated a private tour. There are so many of these "water taxis" (similar in status to the tuk tuks) that we were even able to get the private tour for the same rate as a group excursion.

These special water taxis are propelled by old car engines, and the operator is able to steer by moving the whole engine and propellor (attached to a very long pole) left or right.



Bangkok used to be known as "Venice of the East" because of its many canals. However, more and more of these canals are being filled in to build roads, so few canals are left. The ones remaining meander through more residential areas of the city. Can you imagine living here?

These boys didn't seem to bothered by the water quality (or lack there of). They were busy playing on large pieces of styrofoam: improvised "pool" floats!



As I have already mentioned, this canal tour dropped us off at Wat Arun, but the other stop on this tour was the Bangkok Snake Farm. The Snake Farm is the second in the world, established in 1923 for the purpose of manufacturing vaccines and serum used to treat snake bites.


This fella doesn't bite, but he sure can squeeze! Don't worry, this snake's owner assured me he was a "friendly" snake before I turned him into a fashion accessory. Ha! I had this guy drapped over me for less than 30 seconds, and he was already tightening up and wrapping around my leg as well!

By chance, we arrived at the Snake Farm just as the daily "milking" of venom was beginning. We saw king cobras, copperheads, and a unique indigenous species of venomous snake too (neither Michal or I can remember the name, sorry!). While I was eager to wear the python earlier, I scurried quickly when one of the snakes in the show "jumped" over the netting about 2 feet from me! Michael had a good laugh, but he was safely tucked away taking these photos:

King cobras: two at a time and barefoot!

Milking time for the King Cobra

This guy really played around with this copperhead. At one point, the snake was just a few inches from his face!