One of the mornings I opened the door to go outside and I saw a looong black (2″ in thickness and maybe 5ft. long) snake quickly escape into the bushes from my porch. It was thrilling but scary at same time. Even though I like snakes and always want to come close to see them and feel their shiny scales, there is always the thought of it being poisonous.
**We have been told not to worry if we get bitten. Just try to remember what “kind” of snake bit you. Because some of them are not poisonous. And even if you get bitten by a poisonous snake just stay calm and try not to run or make fast movements so you would not speed up your blood circulation. And we also are not supposed to try to ‘suck’ the poison out of the bite because if poison enters your mouth and maybe through one of your gums and goes to your brain, this will result in a quicker death! But if you get bitten by poisonous snake you have some time to get to the closest hospital and be treated. Snake bites are common here so hospitals are well-equipped for it. And there haven’t been any cases for a looong time of anyone dying because of a snake bite.**
The king cobras are a REALLY poisonous (haven’t seen one yet). Also we have to also look out for the black/white/black snakes since they are very poisonous, too.
While we’ve been here, the guys here at Avoda have already killed multiple snakes and showed them to us. Some were poisonous and some were not. I actually got a chance to participate in one of the snake-killings :P it was THRILLING!!! Teacher Sherene yelled for help and said that there was a snake in her outside bathroom, so Aron (Raimund’s youngest son) and I came to the rescue. We grabbed sticks, and by the time we got to the toilet, the snake crawled up the wall and coiled by the ceiling almost falling outside (since there is space between the wall & roof for bathroom to breathe), and it was a fairly thin but BEAUTIFUL green snake. So I poked it with a stick and it LUNGED at me, so I swung it away sideways with my stick to the ground and it started running away. Aron & I chased after it and he started hitting it with his huge stick. He delivered a couple blows (and missed a few times) until the snake stopped, but it wasn’t dead yet, just disoriented, so we started hammering it on it’s head lightly until we were sure it was dead. He opened the snake’s mouth to see whether it was a poisonous one, but it wasn’t. I was sad because it was a beautiful snake and I wish I kept it as a pet :(
::VIDEO:: http://youtu.be/q-iLB0E2g2U
Another day when we were having a meeting with Ploi in the kitchen, Raimund brought a snake hanging on his stick that he just killed outside his house. This one wasn’t too beautiful but still had some interesting colors of light brown/black/red spots but we couldn’t figure out what type of snake it was. It seemed to be poisonous and Raimund said that it was a very slow moving one…which means that it’s mostly likely poisonous. Poisonous snakes are not afraid of anything because they can bite. Another very cool thing is that even when the snake is dead, its body still moves and its nerves still twitch and it seems like it is still alive, especially when you pinch it and body still moves.
::VIDEO:: http://youtu.be/AltC8x3UmTY
There are also giant scorpions here. If you get stung by one, you don’t have to go to a hospital. They are not poisonous enough to kill you. It will just hurt as if you broke a bone, and the pain will go away within 1 or 2 hours :) (that’s comforting) We haven’t seen any scorpions yet, but Raimund’s oldest daughter (Pearl) told us that she got stung a few times in the past and so did Raimund.
You can also find giant tarantulas in Thailand, but we haven’t seen these yet either.
But we did see a few skinny “stick” bugs. These can grow pretty huge too.
Also there are BIG centipedes. They normally like to hide in clothes or sneakers (good thing all of us wear sandals & flip-flops), and once bitten, you will not die (but you can if you get bitten in the neck). They cause agonizing pain as if someone has beaten you up with baseball bat and you HAVE to go to the hospital asap and spend the next 1 or 2 weeks under ICU. If you see a centipede here…RUN! It’s by far better to get stung by a scorpion than by a centipede.
(Raimund once told us a story about his friend who put on one of his dress shirts and felt like something was inside his shirt. He had one of his friends peek inside and there was this HUGE centipede. He sloooowly took off the shirt and luckily it did not sting him.)
Also there are very beautiful and large lizzards called “Tokay“. The name comes from the sound that they make at night (which is SUPER cool)! Tokay normally does not attack people and are not dangerous but eat bugs and other critters. But it can bite you if you are messing around with it too much. And when Tokay bites he “locks” his jaws and will not open them again…you will need to cut off his head to unlock his jaw.
We have one Tokay living in our house (in the ceiling actually). And he normally likes to come out at night since it’s not so hot. We’ve spotted him many times and tried to take some pictures. (He’s nearly 1 foot long). And several times throughout the night he charges up with air and goes REALLY LOUD: “Tooo-kei…tooo-kei….too-kei…too-kei” until he runs out of breath.
Our 1st night in Thailand he woke us up and we had no idea who was making all that noise. It is VERY loud and sounds as if human being is talking into a loud speaker (maybe it’s because he lives on the metal roof which echoes) .
I always try to catch him on camera doing his “speech”, but he does it very unexpectedly and by the time you turn on your phone, he is usually done. :( So one time I got sick of trying and trying and always being too late, so I sat outside by the door and had my phone ready to record and I FINALLY got him!!! :D (too bad it was night so you couldn’t see anything)
::VIDEO:: http://youtu.be/r0osxEeEPZ4
Also there are a TON of other small geckos running around. They are fun to watch. They do not bite, but catching one is hard because they are VERY FAST. These normally run around the house and bathroom and just chill on the ceiling by the lamps and eat all the mosquitoes and bugs. So they are good to have in your house.
::VIDEO:: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8j0knokdpac
Here at Avoda they have a few dogs, and one of them is the coolest and most ‘chill’ dog ever. His name is: Dia (dee-aah). Everyone loves him here. He is very friendly and VERY patient. Poor dog, what has it not gone through! The children always play around with him and pull his ears, and choke him, and squeeze him and hug him & pet him, and Dia shows no emotion…he just lays there and waits till they finish doing whatever they are doing to him. Very patient dog, but also very beautiful.
There are also lots of chickens here on the property.
And some water buffalos. They are my favorite! Dad, mom & a baby buffalo. They don’t do much…they just have a set schedule of their routine where they go around the whole Avoda property and eat leaves and grass. And the funny thing that they have a SET schedule! It’s amazing! They will be passing by the same place at the same time every day! Like for example EVERY morning around 6:45am they pass by our house looking for freshly fallen leaves. Every morning at the same time! Or on Sunday when we have church service and they pass by every time at 2pm to go for a swim & eat around the mud pond that is just below the church.
They are very cool beasts. I always like to come up and pat them because they like attention and love to play. ESPECIALLY with Natasha!!! But she is SO scared of them! :D hehehe She says that they are always following her and says that they are “chasing” her (don’t read into her words too much…I saw them “chasing” her one time (as she described). It means they were just walking behind her trying to sniff her!) :D hehe
Water buffalos are very curios, and they love to ‘stare’ at people and sniff them. One morning Natasha woke up early and decided to go for a walk around the property. Her walk didn’t last long. She saw the water buffalos on her path so she decided to take a few photos while she was still far away. But soon the BIG one (daddy) saw her and started coming towards her to take a closer look (he was either curious or just smelled fear) and Natasha has this tendency to freeze up when she is scared. So she hid behind the skinniest tree she could fine and froze! And water buffalo kept coming closer and closer…and closer until he was just a few feet away from her and started staring at her! She was too afraid to run. Too afraid to scream (because it is morning & people are still sleeping). So she was “whispering” for Staya to come rescue her (since this was not too far from their bungalow). And Staya finds Natasha frozen by the tree and looking away, trying not to make eye contact with the buffalo (fearing that eye contact will make him attack her), and Staya just started laughing and takes some pictures before she rescues Natasha. :) I keep telling Natasha that these are friendly beasts…but she doesn’t believe me :P
::VIDEO:: http://youtu.be/VUuhmd9Vcco
These are the actual photos of what took place :)
