CANOE (Toronto, Ontario) 01 March 06 Thailand a real charmer - Cobra show a riveting slice of local entertainment (Diane Slawych)
Joe Joe Chat Ram is about to meet a king cobra face to face. Standing on a red carpet in a concrete pit, he places his hands on his knees, then bends forward, slowly inching towards one of the deadliest snakes on earth.
His gaze is so focused, his eyes don't even appear to blink. The audience is still and silent, perhaps fearing any sudden move or sound could put a man's life at risk.
"Be careful Joe Joe," cautions a colleague from the sidelines.
I want to tell him: "This is good enough, don't go any closer. But it's too late. Joe Joe has just planted a kiss on the king cobra's head! Then, with lightning speed, he darts back before the reptile has had a chance to react."
Part of me wants to believe this is not as dangerous as it looks. But I later learned the king cobra is one of the most aggressive snakes of all and may attack without provocation.
Guide Panya Tulyasuk tells us the king cobra's diet is almost exclusively other snakes; that it grows to a maximum length of seven metres; and that it's able to raise its head a metre and a half from the ground before it strikes.
It's also unpredictable -- something Tulyasuk knows from experience. He was bitten by one three years ago and shows us the scar on his arm as proof. The attack happened during a split second of inattention.
He was lucky. A colleague who was attacked by a king cobra the same year died on the way to the hospital. Photos on display here show a range of snake bite injuries that resulted in mangled flesh and lost fingers.
Though billed as the King Cobra Show, several other snakes are part of the 45-minute-long performance. At one point Chat Ram introduces three mangrove snakes into the ring, holding one up in each hand and picking up a third with his mouth. The mangrove isn't considered dangerous but no one in the audience takes up the challenge to try a similar stunt.
Nor is anyone willing to get too close to a cobra while its poisonous venom is being extracted into a glass jar as part of a demonstration. One drop can kill, we're told.
Following the show's final climactic moments with the king cobra, Chat Ram takes a cigarette break, while Tulyasuk fields questions from the small but inquisitive audience.
"Are there any other shows like this?"
Apparently there's one in Phuket.
"Why is the carpet red?"
It offers better contrast with the dark-coloured snakes.
"What a scary way to make a living," said Robert Cohen from England, after the show. "I've never seen anything like it. It's definitely worth 350 baht (the entrance fee -- about $10 Cdn)."
Krabi, a scenic town about 1,000 km south of Bangkok on the Andaman Sea, is a popular base for island hopping. One guidebook with an in-depth section on Krabi is the Lonely Planet's Thailand.
The King Cobra Show, recently opened at this new location 14 km south of town on the way to Ao Nang beach. Shows take place whenever enough people turn up.
While here, visitors can wander along a path to see more than 15 types of snakes "Python," "viper," "jumping snake," were among the signs hung outside the cages.
"We have 180 different snakes in Thailand, 46 are poisonous. Don't worry, we only have 15 very poisonous that can kill," says guide Panya Tulyasuk.
Cobra show a riveting slice of local entertainment