How I got bitten by a snake in Thailand

It was another glorious sunny day in Pai, Thailand. We had been out all morning doing whatever we needed to do when really we had nothing to do at all. Ahhh, the freedom of travel. We jumped on our moped and headed back to our wonderful bungalow which was slightly out of town. The ride was spectacular with mountains all around us. As we got nearer to our place, I decided to spend the afternoon reading on the brilliant floating library / chill out zone that our accommodation had. (The bungalows surround a fishing lake.)

I quickly grabbed my book and headed to the library. I wanted to beat my fellow guests to the daytime bed that was free. I had already spent an afternoon reading there and it was bliss. With views of the distance mountains and the slow trickle of water entering the lake, it was almost impossible not to drift off asleep within the first page of the book.

As I got nearer to heaven on earth, my leg jumped up flicking my flip-flop up in the air which almost landed on a woman sunbathing nearby. I looked down and thought to myself, that was odd. I was about to carry on and think nothing of the incident until I saw the large brown snake nearby and blood on my toe………………………

How I got bitten by a snake in Thailand

My reaction was one of bewilderment more than fright. I grabbed my flip-flop and headed to reception to tell the Thai lady who worked there. After explaining what had happened she kind of just shrugged and said no problem. Now, I had no idea if she was being typical Thai and wanted to brush me off or she actually knew that particular snake was not venomous. I quickly went and told Karen who went into full on panic mode after doing some research online. Bizarrely I was still quite calm.

My calmness quickly evaporated as we waited for the ambulance. The ambulance seemed to take an age to arrive. As we waited Karen was on the phone to our travel insurance company who were being far from helpful. I felt my heartbeat quickening and I was sweating a lot more than normal. Was this psychosomatic? Or was it the venom kicking in?

Eventually the ambulance arrived. The ambulance crew looked at me and seemed calm but still wanted to take me to hospital which confused me even more. Surely, if I was okay they would have given me some medication and left me to my book? I was actually looking forward to the ambulance ride as I had never been in one. I am a strange human being I know. The journey to the hospital was more dangerous than the snake bite in my eyes as I was thrown from pillar to post as they raced around the bends.

When we arrived at the hospital, I was treated like a B-list celebrity by fellow travellers who were there with the usual cuts and bruises from motorbike falls. Apparently word had gotten out that an English guy had been bitten by a snake. When people looked at my minuscule cut on my toe, they seemed disappointed!

Thankfully, it turned out that the snake that grazed me was not venomous. The nurse and doctors were more interested in talking to me about Harry Potter than my near-death experience. They gave me some drugs that I had never heard of and sent me on my way. After reading up on said drugs I decided I would had rather had venom in me than the side-effects these drugs gave me!

These drugs could cause:

Vomiting, Diarrhea, Hallucinations, Drowsiness, Nightmares, Mood Swings, Rash, and probably much more that they couldn’t be bothered to write. I threw them away and trusted in nature.

When I got back to our accommodation, I hunted down the snake and stamped on it repeatedly. Of course I didn’t. I actually felt sorry for the snake. There he/she was minding their own business, probably just coming back from the snake shops when a giant foot stamps on them. No wonder he/she reacted.

Next time you are in Thailand, please look where you are walking!

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