LIPS LOCKED FOR LOVE

Seven couples celebrated Valentine’s Day this week by taking part in a contest to break the world record for the world’s longest continuous kiss.

A gay couple from Thailand kissed each other for 50 hours 25 minutes and 1 second at the Royal Garden Plaza Pattaya, setting a new Guinness World Record and taking home two diamond rings, Bt100,000 in cash and a gift voucher from the Anantara Phuket.

The previous record of 46 hours 24 minutes and 9 seconds was set by another Thai couple last year. This time round, they managed to break their own record and finished in second place.

The gay couple, Nontawat Jaroengasornsin, 31 and Thanakorn Sittiamthong, 29, who hail from Chachoengsao, have been living together for three years. This is their second shot at the kiss competition. Last year, in Thailand’s debut longest continuous kiss contest, they managed 22 hours 9 minutes and 17 seconds.

Nontawat, a coffee shop owner, said he would give the two diamond rings to his boyfriend and his mother. They would use the cash to pay for his mother’s medical treatment and Thanakorn’s further education.

Of the seven couples who took part last Sunday, four were veterans from last year. One couple quit after locking lips for nine hours but the other six all made it to the second day.

According to Somporn Naksuetrong, General Manager of the organiser Ripley’s Believe it or not!, no sitting or sleeping was allowed during the competition; the couples’ lips could not part at any time, even during their bathroom breaks. Only water, milk or juice could be consumed through straws while they continued the kiss and no food was allowed.

Unlike in other countries, the organiser set a rule that all competitors must be over 20 years old and they must have been living as a couple for more than one year. Proof was required through sight of a marriage certificate or letter of confirmation from the couple’s parents to the organiser.

Having set a new record of more than 50 hours, Somporn said discussions would be held to decide whether to hold a third competition next year. He pointed out that the new record would probably be really hard to break and it might be wiser to come up with another event to celebrate Valentine's Day 2013, for example, a wife-carrying competition around Pattaya. Whatever form it takes, he added, it will only be open to couples, as all activities organised by Ripley’s Believe or not! focus on strengthening family relationship and giving couples an opportunity to show their love for each other.