a docile snake at dairy farm quarry

normally, my encounter with any snake is one of the 'hello-goodbye' kind; you go your way, i go mine and we shall not stay to antagonize. i am actually scared, no, terrified, of snakes and when i see one, i will try to make myself scarce. that is because i am awfully scared of this slimy reptile. however, i also found out from previous encounters that snakes do not choose to confront the human kind; when they see a human, they normally slither away.

today i met one which actually appeared to be the friendly and docile kind. i came upon it in an open field. at first, i kept my distance because i was afraid that it could be the striking kind; the one that spits venom into your eyes. as i do not wear glasses these days, i have no protection if it should propel its venom at my eyes.

it took a while for us to size each other up. it must have decided that i was not the hostile kind because it carried on minding its own business and moving slowly from side to side. if it had moved towards me, i would have taken to my heels and left it far behind.

although the snake was about one and a half metres long, it did not appear to be threatening at any time. in fact, after i had overcome my initial fear and moved closer to it, it seemed quite nonchalant and was not bothered by my presence.

i even felt protective towards the snake and stayed with it for nearly 45 minutes before it finally decided to make its way into the undergrowth.

snakes making love by the track

they have removed all the barriers leading to the nature section of admiralty park, which means visitors are now welcome. looks like not many people are aware of this, as mine was the only car in the car-park at the north entrance.

i headed for the mangrove area and spent sometime watching three foreign nationals trying to catching fish with nets at low tide in the river sungei cina. they did not seem to have much luck. from the shaded track i walked on and crossed the second bridge to get to the wider unshaded track.

as i walked past the first clump of nipah palms, i heard a thumping sound. turning to where the sound came from, i saw two snakes - about 1.5m long - tangled together.

the two snakes must have been as startled as i was because by the time i got my camera out, they had untangled themselves and disappeared into the grass. at least, snakes have some sense of modesty and decency - they quickly get out of the act in the presence of a spectator.

i am not very familiar with snakes but they looked like cobras to me.