Those with ophidiophobia or ophiophobia (take one guess) should look away or skip to another post.
Thailand’s history with using animals as tourist attractions notwithstanding, Bangkok’s snake farm is perhaps one of the best places to get up close with the formerly legged. At the Bangkok Red Cross Institute (AKA the Queen Saovabha Memorial Institute), a performance matches nicely with a worthy display of snakes.
The show starts shortly after 11am (on weekends; during the week it’s at 2:30pm), and a bilingual speaker gleefully tells us about all the things that’ll happen when this particular kind of snake bites. His smiles and happy persona seem better suited to another job, but his upbeat manner and excellent English skills make his presentation unimpeachable.
Did I mention these are poisonous snakes? These aren’t quite like the Samut Prakan crocodile shows, where an untimely move would sever a limb. To be fair, the anti-venom these same men have most likely produced is but a few meters away.
That doesn’t make this guy any less of a bad-ass — especially after seeing this particular snake lunge.
After 40 minutes worth of photos of snakes being held by other people, it’s your turn. One big, heavy snake coming right up! Expect a queue, but the photo opportunity is free.
The small outdoor garden is full of snakes (safely stowed away in their glass boxes or pits, naturally), all with English signs explaining the usual scientific details. Inside, however, is the rest of the story:
Called the Simaseng Building, the “Four Snakes Building” was originally funded by HRH Prince Paribatra Sukhumbhand and three of his royal siblings in 1926. They all were born in the year of the snake in 1881, and the idea for the building was to keep snakes and other poisonous animals for public education. After 70+ years of service, the original building was demolished to make way for the current five-story building. You’ll only see two stories of the building as a tourist, though there’s still plenty to see.
Just one of the many pretties. Not all are poisonous, or even particularly dangerous, and the English signs / icons help to categorize the living exhibits.
Up on the second floor, there’s more emphasis on preservation and sharing information about snakes themselves. These can be a bit esoteric, but one of the last rooms is worth it:
Try to sleep tonight after picturing that in the house.
It’s a mainstream enough destination, and as such foreign tourists almost numbered in the majority during the show we attended. What makes it weird is the very cool part of getting your picture taken with one of the big snakes (if you want), and otherwise getting closer to the poisonous ones than you probably ever have before.
Where to stay in Bangkok? Bren on the Road has the ultimate guide.
Name: Bangkok Snake Farm (AKA Thai Red Cross Institute AKA Queen Saovabha Memorial Institute)
Address: 1871 Rama IV Rd (Thai Red Cross Institute), Bangkok, 10330 (GPS: 13.732131,100.532769)
Directions: From Silom MRT, head west on Rama IV. Walk about 500 meters from the station’s intersection, looking right for the Red Cross. When you enter, look across the roundabout for the entrance — or just follow the signs.
Hours: 9am-5pm during the week and 9am-1pm during the weekends. The real reason is go is either venom extraction, shown during the week at 11am, or the snake handling (11am on the weekends and 2:30pm during the week).
Admission: 200 baht for tourists, 50 baht for residents and Thai nationals (we had to fight to get the resident price)
Phone: 02–252–0161
Website: http://www.saovabha.com/en/snakefarm_service.asp
