Photos - A day out to the Snake Temple

The entrance to the Snake Temple.

The alter inside the temple.

A cupola in the gardens.

 

One of the snakes, the only one we managed to get a photo of as the camera ran out of battery!

On our last day in Penang we decided to go visit the  Snake Temple  because - surprise surprise - it has snakes living in it and I really like snakes. It was located at the far side of the Island so we had to go to the bus station and find the local bus that would take us there. Luckily Malaysian people are very helpful to tourists so a conductor took us to the correct bus and told the driver to let us know when to get off. It took us hour to get there. We were quite happy with this as it was a boiling hot day and the buses are air-con. When the driver told it that it was our stop we got off to find ourselves at the edge of a very busy dual-carriageway and, of course, the temple was over on the other side. How we got across the road in one piece I'll never know. The temple was really small so it only took us 10 minutes to walk around it - not much after a one hour bus journey. Was worth it though as there were loads of snakes, all different sizes. They were lying in plants, hanging from picture frames and all sorts. There was a warning sign not to touch them as some are poisonous. Red rag to a bull - I had to touch one so I got a wee feel at the snake in the picture above. We got back out to the bus stop outside only to be told by a Malaysian lady that the bus would be another hour before it arrived. Finally we got on the bus for the one hour journey back and it was packed, squashed standing room only. A few stops later someone got off their seat to get off the bus. A few people started heading to get the seat but the Malaysian lady from the bus stop, put up her arms to stop them, shouted on me where I was standing at the front of the bus and motioned for me to come and take the seat. I was mortified but, after all her effort, I wasn't going to say no. I did get a few angry stares from others though.