In Penang, For Heaven's Snakes

Today we sailed away from the Thai coast and crossed over to Malaysia. We arrived at Penang, an island off Malaysia connected by bridge to the mainland. We got to spend the whole day in Penang. I blew off the regular tour group and did my own tour. I negotiated a taxi to take me around to all the points of interest in the city in the morning. Lunch at Eastern & Oriental Hotel. In the afternoon I opted to visit the Snake Temple. Janet wanted to tag along so I took her with me.

The Snake Temple was created in the 1800s by a Taoist Monk, who built this temple in the middle of a jungle. After he built the temple, a bunch of the snakes from the jungle (green pit vipers) came and took up residence in the temple. However the snakes did not bite anyone. To explain this fact, the locals imagined the snakes must be really deities and guardians of the temple. So the snakes were allowed to remain in the temple ever since. Now, there is no more jungle; the temple is in the middle of a city, surrounded by tourist shops. The snakes no longer freely roam the temple, but are carefully placed by hand every day on tree branches in the temple. In the back there is a "snake farm" where snakes are raised and exhibited. They had a really big python (9 meters in length) and a *huge* King Cobra!