Bizarre myths: drinking snake blood

One of my friends is working for a big IT company in a position that requires him to travel a lot. He is frequently in and out of almost every country in Asia and he never returns without an interesting story…

The last one involved a drink which I had hope to be a myth: fresh snake blood. Apparently there are some countries where snakes are slithering around in a box, waiting for their turn to be beheaded. Their blood and heart are caught in a small glass and served to the customer. It is believed to be a natural aphrodisiac, the Viagra of old times.

“It’s a bit gooey,” he explains while I listen in shock. “The texture is thicker than normal liquid. You have to drink it up in once and when you swallow the heart, you can feel it beating in your throat…”

I’m disgusted, but the guys around me are not. They want to try it as well. Unfortunately for them, this kind of practices is becoming illegal in more and more countries. And even if it isn’t, “you have to know where to find it,” my friend says. I’m relieved. But until tourists start seeing the animal cruelty in this practice, it will be long from over…