Edwin
10-13-03, 09:32 AM
Is it just me, or does he look drunk? ;)
http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/afp/20031012/capt.sge.nwj86.121003232728.photo00.default-378x284.jpg
PATTAYA, Thailand (AFP) - A professional Thai centipede-performer put his love of the critters to the test, moving into a glass room with 1,000 of them for a planned 28-day stay in a world record attempt.
Boontawee Siengwong, 26, coolly took up residence in a 12-square metre room kitted out with a bed, toilet, television, refrigerator and fan at a shopping mall in this southern seaside resort.
"I don't think I will have any difficulties in staying with the thousand centipedes," he told AFP from the box through a translator.
"I'm very excited to have people come and see me. The one thing I have to lose is my privacy and that's the only thing I'm a bit concerned about."
Earlier Boontawee told the assembled crowd he was spurred into action after his girlfriend Kanchana Ketkaew sailed into the record books in September last year after a 32-day stay with thousands of deadly scorpions.
"He said he wanted to do it to win a world record and because his girlfriend is a world record holder and he doesn't want to be left behind," said Vichai Lertlitrichai, public affairs manager for Ripley's Believe It or Not!, which is coordinating the attempt.
Boontawee frolicked with an array of centipedes, snakes and scorpions before the attempt began, leading to screams from the gawking audience.
Vichai said Boontawee had collected more than 900 of the centipedes himself from the southern island of Ko Samui, where he performs with both them and scorpions at a snake farm. The remainder were purchased in Pattaya.
"He knows a lot of dangerous animals very well and is not afraid of them," Vichai said, adding that the centipedes will be returned to Ko Samui with Boontawee afterwards.
"He will take care of them and use them in his performances."
During the record attempt Boontawee will be permitted to leave the room for 15 minutes every eight hours, while medical officials from a local hospital will remain on stand-by.
No one has attempted to create such a record before, Vichai said.
While a bevy of insects are often on the menu as crunchy streetfood in Thailand, centipedes are not.
Instead, some people drown them in liquor, which releases their poison to create what they believe is a remedy for backache, Vichai added.
Link:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1516&ncid=1516&e=2&u=/afp/20031012/od_afp/thailand_animals_031012232732
http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/afp/20031012/capt.sge.nwj86.121003232728.photo00.default-378x284.jpg
PATTAYA, Thailand (AFP) - A professional Thai centipede-performer put his love of the critters to the test, moving into a glass room with 1,000 of them for a planned 28-day stay in a world record attempt.
Boontawee Siengwong, 26, coolly took up residence in a 12-square metre room kitted out with a bed, toilet, television, refrigerator and fan at a shopping mall in this southern seaside resort.
"I don't think I will have any difficulties in staying with the thousand centipedes," he told AFP from the box through a translator.
"I'm very excited to have people come and see me. The one thing I have to lose is my privacy and that's the only thing I'm a bit concerned about."
Earlier Boontawee told the assembled crowd he was spurred into action after his girlfriend Kanchana Ketkaew sailed into the record books in September last year after a 32-day stay with thousands of deadly scorpions.
"He said he wanted to do it to win a world record and because his girlfriend is a world record holder and he doesn't want to be left behind," said Vichai Lertlitrichai, public affairs manager for Ripley's Believe It or Not!, which is coordinating the attempt.
Boontawee frolicked with an array of centipedes, snakes and scorpions before the attempt began, leading to screams from the gawking audience.
Vichai said Boontawee had collected more than 900 of the centipedes himself from the southern island of Ko Samui, where he performs with both them and scorpions at a snake farm. The remainder were purchased in Pattaya.
"He knows a lot of dangerous animals very well and is not afraid of them," Vichai said, adding that the centipedes will be returned to Ko Samui with Boontawee afterwards.
"He will take care of them and use them in his performances."
During the record attempt Boontawee will be permitted to leave the room for 15 minutes every eight hours, while medical officials from a local hospital will remain on stand-by.
No one has attempted to create such a record before, Vichai said.
While a bevy of insects are often on the menu as crunchy streetfood in Thailand, centipedes are not.
Instead, some people drown them in liquor, which releases their poison to create what they believe is a remedy for backache, Vichai added.
Link:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1516&ncid=1516&e=2&u=/afp/20031012/od_afp/thailand_animals_031012232732