Cobra Loose in Manhattan? Oh my! I laughed when I saw this story on Gadling.com, one of my favorite travel sites. Now my New York friends can share my trepidation.
I, the self-appointed adventure-travel queen of ophidiophobia–fear of snakes–have made a career trying to avoid sneaky, creepy serpents in the often jungly parts where my wanderlust has carried me.
I worried about boa constrictors on the Sekonyer River in Borneo, and fretted endlessly as I hot-footed it through cobra-invested rice field on the way to a Loi Krathong ceremony on the banks of Thailand’s Chao Phraya river.
Above, Jack and I join villagers in a Loy Krathong ceremony in Thailand.
Later, loping through the jungle on the back of a bull elephant, I spent more time looking up for hanuman snakes than down at the scenery.
Most recently, Costa Rica’s dreaded fer-de-lance–“one of the scariest snakes on the planet”–was my nightmare of choice.
Read about my latest serpentine adventures in my story “Dodging Snakes in Costa Rica” in the 2010 travel anthology Wandering in Costa Rica.
Better yet, if you’re in the San Francisco Bay Area, join me and other Wanderland writers reading some of our favorite travel stories on Monday, April 11, 2011, at 6 pm at Book Passage San Francisco in the Ferry Building. 
Filed under:Asia, Thailand || Tagged under: Costa Rica, Featured
