Snake Shows and Insect Zoos in Chiang Mai

After settling into a bit of routine on our extended stay in Chiang Mai, we decided to explore some of the outskirts of the city.

First off…we located a marking on our map that said “strawberries for sale in winter.”  That was enough to peak our interest, so we set out in search of the fresh strawberries! You can say we’re a bit of berry fanatics, particularly after living along Lake Chapala, Mexico for 2 years (where Driscolls has endless raspberry fields, and strawberries also abound).

As we made a bee line from Mae Jo (where we lived on the outskirts of Chiang Mai) to the Mae Sa Rim road, we found this beautiful sight! Beautiful plump strawberries for 100 baht a bag ($3). The hardest part was figuring out which of the 10 vendors to buy from…

We then jumped on the Mae Jo Road, and immediately realized it was a hot spot for tour companies offering a wide range of activities. Crocodile shows, monkey shows, snake shows, ATV tours, even bungee jumping (where just a few weeks later we let our 7 year old bungee jump)—it’s all here.

Curiosity got the best of us, and we turned into the Mae Sa Snake Farm to see what it was all about. The show’s stage was a circle ring of green turf with a small barrier, and a few men stood in the middle displaying various snakes. Our kids were not scared of the snakes—and Ethan was mesmerized.

The short 30 minute show featured some blaring Rambo-like music, with a guy mumbling broken English into a portable mike/speaker that would cut out the music whenever he had something to say. We couldn’t understand half of what we said—but were giggling to ourselves at the whole poor presentation. WOW.

The snake “trainers” loved freaking out the Japanese tourists by taking the snakes over to their bleachers…sending the ladies scrambling up to the top.

Overall, the snake “training” looked more like snake-taunting to me. Man snaps a snake—snake snaps back. When the snakes were not being “displayed,” they were stored in metal cages or in potato sacks. Not very impressive.

The show ended, and I can honestly say I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone (unless out of simple curiosity). The price was cheap, and our curiosity was certainly satisfied. Enough of inhumane animal tours for the amusement of tourists.

The tour also had a very odd “zoo” of caged snakes and creatures behind the show area. We wandered through for quite awhile, and after seeing the live animals in bad conditions in small cages, we ended at the bottles of dead snakes.

Moving on, we jumped back on our motorbikes and kept driving up the Mae Sa Road. It quickly became lush, and incredibly beautiful.  Scattered on the winding roadside we found more small strawberry stands, restaurants, or other things that encouraged me to stop. Like the pumpkin house…

And an irresistible sign near the entrance to an elephant tour…

Pulling over to the side of the road, we could see a few of this tour’s elephants busily eating on the other side of the stream.

Sadly, it looked looked like the elephants were chained up when not “in use,” and I saw one of the workers walking around with an elephant hook (think “Water For Elephants”). Nothing at all like our amazing Patara Elephant Daycare tour/experience where the elephants are treated so well!

We moved on, and soon stopped at this roadside berry stand (with fields on the hillside), and we purchased the remainder of our 5 strawberry bags for the day. That’s at least 5 kilos…

Our children were very well-spoilt during our brief stop…particularly Ethan.

He has this magic of attracting free food!

Not having anything else particular in mind, we then found our way to the Siam Insect Zoo. What a pleasant surprise!  It was a very well-done mini zoo for insect creatures.  Granted, not everything was alive…they also had amazing insect and butterfly displays!

We were advised to go into their Butterfly House first, as it was getting later in the evening and butterflies are most active when it is warm and sunny.  After searching for butterflies on the trees in the greenhouse, we then noticed several large racks of butterfly cocoons (of various varieties) that we could examine closely (yes—they were real and alive—and some new butterflies were trying to come out!).

Some of the cocoons were so foreign-looking…some looked like leaves, and others had metallic gold trim, like a jeweler had made them!

They had a large area where they kept a huge assortment of the different kinds of caterpillars housed in breathable tupperwares. Some caterpillars had built their cocoons in there, too!

The staff was very kind to show the kids many different types of caterpillars, and let them hold some.

Next, we moved onto many other larger displays of other insects. Wherever the insects were friendly and the kids showed interest, the staff offered to let the kids touch. The leaf bugs were a big hit!

As was the chunky millipede!

The kids also enjoyed their large entomology room with beetles, butterflies and other wild insects displayed.

I liked the world map of insects (although I presume it is not likely representative of which bugs are found where).

Overall, we had to rush through the Siam Insect Zoo in about 1 hour, due to arriving just before closing time (they kindly let us stay late and let the kids in free). We could have spent more time there, and greatly appreciated the one-on-one attention from the staff as they walked around with us, basically giving us a private tour of the insects! The facility was not huge, but it was well done. Your kids will love it!

They are open daily from 9am-5pm, and their entrance fee is 200 baht for adults ($6 USD), and 150 baht for kids ($5).