The Snake Temple
or the Temple of the Azure Cloud

Probably the only one of its kind in the world. The temple honours a resident named Chor Soo Kong, who had healing powers. He was a Buddhist monk, who moved to Penang.
Some devotees from as far away as Singapore and Taiwan come to pray in the temple on Chor Soo Kong's birthday (the sixth day of the first lunar month). The temple was built in about 1850 and is dedicated to Char Soo Kong. The statue of the deified healer was brought to Penang by a monk from China. The legend is that this pious monk gave shelter to the snakes of the jungle; when the temple was completed, the snakes moved in.

The Snake Temple is located at Sungai Kluang near Bayan Lepas airport in the Penang Island. Many tourists visit the Snake Temple. Buses stop, tourists get out and have a quick look at the snakes in the temple. Walking to the temple you find souvenir stands on both sides of you. Here you can buy your camera film or just a nice souvenir.   In front of the Snake Temple is a big incense burner, where they burn large incense. Inside the temple, in the Main Prayer Hall, is filled with the smoke of burning incense  Some people say that the snakes get paralysed by the incense. In a bowl are eggs. That's the food for the snakes, but they are nut hungry.

Although poisonous, these snakes are not known to bite. Devotees refer to them as `officers' of the deity and regard them as `holy and harmless'. They tell us that no one was ever bitten by a snake. On the right site we can give a donation for the temple. You have to sign a book and to write down your donation. Looking at the book it must be very profitable to own a temple like this. At the back of the temple is a snake pool. Not filled with water, but with fruit trees. At the first sight I see no snakes over here. But if you have a close look than you will see snakes coiled on the branches of the tree.

At the back of the temple complex was a man, who assured me the snakes inside the temple were not de-fanged and were all extremely venomous. They were not doped in any way, but were simply friendly spirit snakes, who used to live in the surrounding Penang jungle and as development increased and the surrounding  trees were felled came to find refuge in the Temple and were its guardian spirits. He told no had ever been bitten since the snakes began coming. The snake temple is free to enter and is a very interesting and unusual  stop and well worth the trouble. When you're leaving the Snake Temple are photographers, who want to take pictures of you with snakes draped around your head and neck.