My Thai Golf-Snake time on Koh Samui

Earlier this year there were six of us left on Koh Samui with a whole day to kill. 
'How about I call Greg and get him to arrange an island tour' I suggested.
The consensus was it was a great idea to see all the main sights but JC insisted on adding a proviso.
He would go so long as we could include a visit to the Samui Snake Farm.
As usual we all fell into line to keep the old fella happy.

I called Greg [Samui Golf] and told him what we wanted to do.
His reply stunned me slightly.
'Hell Bob, what do want to go to a snake farm for? You'll see enough snakes tomorrow when you play golf at Santiburi'   He was being very serious.
Nevertheless we insisted on going to the farm and he agreed to add it to our schedule.
What an experience it turned out to be. Health and Safety officers could write a thesis on that place.

It started with a wander around various cages and pits.

Burmese Pythons

Then we came across this fella

There was a sign saying 'don't feed the crocodile' and I was already tempted to throw JC in.

 Our guide was an interesting character. He only had two fingers and one thumb. He'd lost the the rest of his digits as a result of Cobra bites. He been bitten over 300 times and was now immune to their poison. He also only had a couple of teeth so who knows what happened there!

Meanwhile the rest of the staff were preparing for the show.

The show began, not with Snakes, but with Scorpions.

To begin with our smiling compere lined them up on his arm.

 

Then he stuck them on his face.

I think he had done this before.

Then it turned into an audience participation show.

At this point Jan suddenly developed a severe case of flatulence

Then out came Carlos the Cobra.

I am quite close whilst taking this picture and Carlos is really giving me the eye.

 

The show then developed into a test of 'who has the fastest reactions' as several more Cobras entered the arena, and that pit wall was pretty damn close to where we were all sitting.

Would you even think about getting as close as this?

The show ended with Mr. Three Fingers bringing out a Burmese Python for a photo shoot.
Apparently these don't bite but have been known to hug their prey to death before swallowing it.
Sorry but not for me.

Fozzie wasn't so sure either as his face clearly shows.

 On the way back to the hotel there was a chance to stop off and sit on the beach telling snake stories.

'I'm telling you Fozzie it was this big'

The following day we were playing golf at Santiburi.
As our first group walked off the 3rd green a Cobra slid silently through the semi rough and into some nearby bushes. Ball hunting was suddenly off the agenda that day.

Thanks again to Greg once more for arranging our island tour.
We did manage to see some culture during that day but we'll all remember it most for our visit to the Snake Farm. It was a very good shout JC.

If you are visiting Koh Samui then Greg Lester at www.samuigolf.net will arrange an island tour for you, and if you ask him nicely he will include the Snake Farm.