Snake Pagoda

I've put the snake pictures towards the bottom of this post, just in case you are not a fan of piles of pythons. Although in the top pictures you will also see snakes if you look hard enough!

About an hour and half drive south of Yangon (but only about 40km away) is a temple filled with pythons. Supposedly they are free to come and go and the Buddhist caretakers feed them milk. Some believe the pythons are representations of nats (natural deities) and will grant them good health and luck if they provide them offerings of milk, fruit, and money.

There were also a good number of dogs hoping to be fed, which the kids happily did. We also had some sightings of large cat fish or some type of fish in the murky green waters of the pond. 

And then there were snakes. Lots and lots and lots of snakes. I bet this pagoda is free of mice. 

I felt bad for the snakes, being completely squished in between hundreds of pounds of snake bodies and a metal grate does not look comfortable! We weren't sure if all of them were alive, unfortunately. 

It was an interesting day trip, I'm happy we went. Although I'm not sure I need to go back there any time soon!