Land of records
SW looks at amazing feats
By Itsarin Tisantia
Photos courtesy of Bangkok Post,
Post Today, EPA and www.manager.co.th
Apart from Thailand's numerous interesting sightseeing places and plentiful natural resources, the Land of Smiles has attracted the attention of tourists and the media with various activities that aim to set Guinness World Records.
Student Weekly explored some of the recent Guinness World Records set in Thailand.
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Onlookers check out the world's longest mini racetrack outside the CentralWorld shopping mall on March 5, 2011. The track is 3,223.62 metres long. |
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Guiness World Records spokesman Jason Curran inspects a replica of Thailand's parliament building made of fish cans. The model, designed by Chulalongkorn University architecture students (right), is more than three metres tall, weighs 32 tonnes and incorporates around 200,000 fish cans. |
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More than 45,000 people on April 15 break the Guinness World Record by taking part in the Human Waves NOAL World Record during this year's Songkran festival celebrations on Khao Niew Road in Khon Kaen province. |
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Also during the last Songkran festival, 3,477 Thai and foreign revellers continuously spray one another for 10 minutes in front of CentralWorld shopping mall to break the Guinness World Record previously set in Spain in 2006. |
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Students and teachers of KIS International School in Bangkok on March 22, 2010 line up for the toilet to form the world's longest toilet queue as part of the campaign to promote World Water Day. |
The Youth Sports Centre in Yala province is packed with more than 8,000 Krong Hua Juk birds. The bird contest was arranged by the Yala municipality to set a new Guinness World Record on March 7, 2009. |
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More than 400 Mini Cooper cars on September 22, 2007 line up into characters spelling out "Long Live the King" in Bangkok's Bangkhen district to celebrate His Majesty the King's 80th birthday anniversary on December 5, 2007. |
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A herd of 286 elephants are fed with a variety of fruit laid along a 2,000-metre-long route in Surin Province in November 2003. Organisers arranged the banquet that comprised some 60 tonnes of assorted fruit to be listed in the Guinness Book of World Records. |
Exercises
Read through Freeze Frame. Then, answer the following reading comprehension questions.
1. Who arranged the world's longest toilet queue?
2. When did the Mini Cooper cars line up?
3. What was the replica of Thailand's parliament building made from?
4. Where did the bird contest take place?
Vocabulary
plentiful (adj): available or existing in large amounts or numbers
racetrack (n): a track for races between runners, cars, bicycles, etc.
replica (n): a very good or exact copy of something
incorporate (v): to include something so that it forms a part of something
reveller (n): a person who is having fun in a noisy way
banquet (n): a formal meal for a large number of people, usually for a special occasion
assorted (adj): of various different sorts
