We were on a mission, find the Klong Toey market and locate live cobra, for beating heart and blood cocktail. We’d asked a tuk tuk driver early in the afternoon of our first full day in Bangkok where one could obtain said cocktail. He laughed, pulled over another driver and discussed. He put us on a river taxi headed towards Chinatown with a written note. One side said, “I’d like to eat good cheap street food in Chinatown” the other, “I’d like to eat the heart of a snake.”

When we finally got to the large open air market, the sun had already set and some shops were packing up for the day. We meandered through the aisles of produce coming to what appeared to be the meat area and figured we were in a good spot for it. Equipped with cameras and our note, we approached a seated gentleman and politely presented our handwritten message, snake side. Not quite certain if what we were doing was ill-advised or not, we were hesitant, but when he approached a security guard who gladly pointed us in the correct direction, we were relieved and excited all in one breath. Guided by another on looker, we reached the “cobra heart” vendor, which was pretty much a street stall restaurant, where 3 seated army officials sat peering at us.

We’d learn that the live cobras had sold out earlier in the afternoon, but that a dried variety of the same quality was still available. Rather than miss the opportunity in it’s entirety we sat with the military officials and ordered up a blended cobra heart whiskey.

A shot and cab ride later, we’d find ourselves marveling at its effects. Granted Emele’s heart was pounding out of her chest as we approached the market and the adrenalin mixed with a strong shot of whiskey might have also had a role in the euphoric after effects, but we’ll definitely be back for the real thing.