The Priciest Booze I’ll Never Drink (or, a note to travelers even more stupid than me)
Despite appearances, this slimy reptile is quite likely not a cobra but Xenochrophis piscator, more commonly known as the Chequered Keelback or Asiatic Water Snake, a common non-venomous species found widely throughout Asia. It’s also harvested by merchants who then stuff it into a bottle of a putrid local alcohol and sell it to unassuming tourists –or just plain dumb people like me– as an exotic snake wine said to have countless medicinal qualities. An all-natural viagra among other things. It’s then promptly confiscated at an EU port of entry, approximately three weeks before you receive a letter informing that you’ve been fined EUR 125.19.
The snake itself isn’t endangered, but it does appear in Appendix III of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) as a ‘Species included at the request of a Party that already regulates trade in the species and that needs the cooperation of other countries to prevent unsustainable or illegal exploitation’.
Oftentimes they’re modified post mortem by stretching the skin to make them look like cobras. Black markings are also added with a simple permanent magic marker.
Including the 5 USD (EUR 3.78) street price in Hanoi, my 500ml non-souvenir cost me just under 130 EUR, or about 8 EUR per shot. I hope someone at the Environmental Agency of the Republic of Slovenia (ARSO), who were assigned to identify my short-term pet in a bottle, managed to enjoy a swig or two.
There’s a good study on the Vietnamese snake wine industry in the Journal of Threatened Taxa, published just a few days before I bought the snake, here.
Previous Vietnam posts:
- How much would you pay this gentleman to snap a pic of him atop his cross-eyed water buffalo?
- Hoa Lo, aka The Hanoi Hilton: an Abbreviated Tour
- I found the g-spot in Hanoi today
- Would you shop for clothes at a place called ‘Piggie Shop’?
- The Prince of Hàng Bè
- I wanted to visit Ho Chi Minh today, but he wasn’t there.
- Women of the Temple of Literature
- Klimt in Hanoi
- 45 Minutes in Sapa’s Central Market
- Vietnam, Northern Highlands
- Wine (Good for Women)
That’s a real word of warning – and I don’t think your average tourist appreciates just how large the fine is. Good info – and I had no idea about the magic marker.
I had no idea how large it was until I got the bill in the mail.