During a jungle survival program February 20, 2013 taught by Royal Thai Special Forces in Sannapit, Thailand, U.S. Marines learned to catch cobras and drink their fresh blood, not to mention eat forest insects and pull the heads off of chicken. The training was part of Operation Cobra Gold 13, the 32nd edition of international military exercises hosted by the Thai. According to a U.S. Marines press release, Cobra Gold is the largest exercise of its kind in Asia and incorporates troops from five other nations in addition to the U.S. and Thailand. The Daily Mail reports that the Marines were invited to experience the local custom of drinking cobra blood after being taught to catch and kill cobras in the wild. As CNN notes, Cobra blood is believed to be a panacea and aphrodiasic in parts of Southeast Asia. In Jakarta, vendors can earn over $100 a night selling shots of cobra blood mixed with liquor. (Photo by Pornchai Kittiwongsakul/AFP Photo)

Only the most intrepid urban explorers cross the tattered ruins of the old Iron Curtain to endure the excessive bureaucracy, military paranoia and freezing winds of the East to hunt for the ghosts of an empire. Rebecca Litchfield is one who couldn’t resist the haunting allure of the ruins of the Soviet Union.

Israeli soldiers pray at dawn as the conflict between Palestine and Gaza enters its seventh day on November 20, 2012 on Israel's border with the Gaza Strip. Hamas militants and Israel are continuing talks aimed at a ceasefire as the death toll in Gaza reaches more than 100 and also three Israelis killed by rockets fired by Palestinian militants. (Photo by Christopher Furlong)

A man holds a pigeon during the British Homing World show of the year at Blackpool's Winter Gardens in Blackpool, north west England on January 17, 2016. Homing pigeon fanciers from across Europe gathered to find the Supreme Show Champion with judges casting their eyes over hundreds of birds on show. The Royal Pigeon Racing Association organises the event and has Queen Elizabeth II, who keeps pigeons at Sandringham, as its patron. (Photo by Andrew Yates/Reuters)

In this June 29, 2016 file photo, boats docked at Central Marine in Stuart, Fla., are surrounded by blue green algae. The 153-mile-long Indian River Lagoon has been plagued by harmful algae blooms. Water quality testing data analyzed by the AP showed the average phosphorous level – a byproduct of fertilizers and human waste that algae thrive on, rose nearly 75 percent between 2000 and 2016. (Photo by Greg Lovett/The Palm Beach Post via AP Photo)

Canadian slackliner Mia Noblet walks on a slackline (25mm wide, 3mm thick and 60m long) during “Tianmen Mountain Female High-Heeled Highline Challenge” at Zhangjiajie National Forest Park on May 27, 2018 in Zhangjiajie, Hunan Province of China. 23-year-old Canadian slackliner Mia Noblet became the first one who finished the challenge in 22 minutes and 36 seconds while 32-year-old French slackliner Mini Guesdon broke the record in 9 minutes and 24 seconds during her second attempt on Sunday. (Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images)

Donald Trump is flanked by Playmates at a party celebrating Playboy magazine's 45th anniversary at the Life Club in New York on December 3, 1998. (Photo by Richard Corkery/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images)

A photojournalist is silhouetted by the sunset as a lightning strike at a resort affected by Saturday's tsunami in Carita, Indonesia, Tuesday, December 25, 2018. Christmas celebrations traditionally filled with laughter and uplifting music were replaced by somber prayers for tsunami victims in an area hit without warning following a volcanic eruption, leaving hundreds of people dead and thousands homeless in disaster-prone Indonesia. (Photo by Fauzy Chaniago/AP Photo)