Snake temple

Many years ago there was a Chinese Buddhist monk named Chor Soo Kong who came to live in Penang. Like the Buddha he cared for all living creatures—even poisonous snakes. It is said that he gave shelter to snakes from the jungle.

A temple was built in his memory. It was finished about 1850. After it was completed vipers, poisonous snakes, came to stay in the temple. Vipers are still living in the temple today. Although their venom is deadly to humans, they have never been known to attack anyone. The correct name of the temple is Hock Kin Keong, sometimes it's also called the Temple of the Azure Cloud but most people call it the snake temple.


I visited the snake temple recently. There is a room in the temple where there are quite a few snakes. There are some big pythons. You can have your picture taken with them if you wish. There are also a few little guys like this.


Actually, when I got there these snakes were not moving at all. I thought they must be fakes. I asked someone and he said 'No, they like to rest in the daytime. They move around more at night.' Most of them were on a tall stand but this one was on a stand about one metre high. The man prodded it and it started to move. So I took a few photos.


The man explained that all the snakes on the high stand are venomous. They have poison that can kill a man. This one has had the venom removed. They put a red mark on its forehead so they know which one is safe.

I went out the back of the temple where there are some gardens. In trees in the gardens you can see more snakes sleeping.


When I came back inside I took this closeup shot of the snake without any venom.


Some of the others were moving around a little too. So I got on a chair and took this pic of one of them.