How would you like to have been one of the custom officials opening up a package that had come from Hong Kong that had been marked “personal clothing” only to find about 300 live scorpions and spiders!

The scorpions and spiders had been packed in nets, bottles and transparent plastic boxes and were concealed under clothing and newspapers within the package. Tarantulas were also included in the spider tally.

“The scorpions almost bit the examiner,” Nelson Ebio, a port collector at the Central Mail Exchange Center, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer. It was the first time the post office had encountered such poisonous mail, he said.

The package had arrived from Hong Kong on a Monday, but it wasn’t clear who had sent the package or why although it’s been speculated that the package was intended for someone who collects these types of invertebrates and insects. My guess, having been involved in reptile keeping, is more along the lines that these creatures were being smuggled into the country illegally for the pet trade.

The spiders and scorpions have been handed over to Manila parks and wildlife officials.

The spiders and scorpions were later handed over to the parks and wildlife office.

You think airport security checks and the delays that it causes are bad here in North America? Well, apparently a 66 year old German tourist, visiting the Philippines, thought their stringent security was pretty bad.

The man was so annoyed and frustrated with security at the Manila airport that he dropped his pants before walking through an X-ray machine. The Philippine authorities were not amused.

Rather than boarding his intended flight to Frankfurt the man was detained. Police filed a complaint of lasciviousness against him.

Did you hear about the massive kiss off in Manila, Philippines on Valentines day?

At the stroke of midnight more than 6,000 couples kissed simultaneously. Event organizers claim to have sent a new world record, breaking the record held by Hungary where 5,875 couples kissed at the same time in Budapest in 2005.

unofficially it’s said that 6,124 couples kissed simultaneously. However the numbers must be verified by an independent auditor and then must be approved by Guinness World Record officials before it becomes a new world record.

The event took place outside a Manila mall. Along with the more than 6,000 kissing couples there were fireworks, confetti, a giant TV screen and red balloons.

Manila airport officials prevented what would have turned into a real life version of horror flick “Snakes on a Plane” this week when they stopped more than 130 reptiles, including poisonous cobras, from boarding a flight to Bangkok.

Reptiles such as dozens of lizards, wearing diapers to conceal the stench of their urine, and 60 snakes concealed in water bottles, were discovered on Tuesday morning inside two suitcases belonging to a Filipino woman, airport officials said.

While her luggage was being x-rayed, security officers noticed something moving and the discovery was made. Unfortunately, one of the nappy-clad lizards reportedly died due to heat.

Reptiles, amphibians and other exotic animals have become a popular delicacy and ornament in many parts of Asia. Due to the belief that they are effective aphrodisiacs and good-luck charms.

In similar news, last week, Manila airport authorities arrested a Filipino man trying to smuggle three live Siamese crocodiles from Cambodia.