THAILAND: Thai man claims a new world record of consecutively kissing 19 King Cobras

A Thai snake charmer made a new world record by consecutively kissing 19 King cobras on Saturday (October 7) in the tourist beach town of Pattaya. Khum Chaibuddee, 45, from the northeastern city of Khon Kaen claimed the record by kissing 19 of the most venomous snakes in the world, King Cobras. The record was set in Pattaya, 150 km east of Bangkok, and smashed the previous record set by American Gordon Cates who kissed 11 venomous snakes in 1999. The part-time snake charmer has been working with King Cobras for more than 12 years in his village where it's claimed that a hundreds of snakes live. He was bitten only three times in his life at the village show by snakes. To have his name entered as a Guinness record breaker, Chaibuddee followed strict rules and regulations. Guinness World Record book states that a successful kiss is only counted when lips touch the snake's head. If bitten in any way at all, the attempt shall be disqualified. The snakes in the performance were released on stage only one at a time. He spent less than an hour finished kissing 19 largest snakes and won the title of "Dangerous Kisses". "I spent lot of time training for this competition because it needed strong legs, arms and waist muscles. These muscles are needed when I went down to kiss the snakes and jumped away when the snakes tried to bite me. Before I came to this competition, I exercised every morning and evening," Kham said. He received 50,000 baht cash and the golden certificate issued by Ripley's museum. His name will be submitted for a new world record to Guinness World Records and the Guinness Book. "I think this is the record that will stand for long time and will be very hard to break again," said William Heinecke, CEO of a Ripley's museum in Thailand. ANIMAL FUNNIES

ITN Source | October 8, 2006

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