Todd Pitman
Bangkok (AP) - Thailand has long been known as the massage
capital of the world. Now, it has a Guinness World Record to prove it.
A record-breaking 641 massage therapists mass-massaged 641 people
simultaneously for 12 minutes to win the honor Thursday at an indoor
exhibition hall in Bangkok. The event was organized by the Ministry of
Public Health to promote the Southeast Asian nation’s massage and spa
industry.
The therapists more than doubled the previous record - attained in
Australia in 2010 - of 263 people being massaged at the same time for
five minutes.
641 massage therapists
mass-massage 641 people simultaneously for 12 minutes to win a Guinness
World Record. (AP Photo/Apichart Weerawong)
“It was easy because this is what we do every day for
a living,” said 53-year-old Chayanan Chanwuttisawan, one of the mostly
female masseuses who took part in the event. “I’m proud of myself and my
profession. I never thought we’d have a chance to be recognized like
this.”
Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra presided over the spectacle, and a
senior representative from Guinness Records, Rob Molloy, was on hand to
certify the feat.
The vast majority of Thailand’s massage parlors offer everything from
aromatherapy to foot rubs to Thai “traditional massage” - an ancient art
offered at shops across Bangkok that is still practiced and taught at
the city’s revered Wat Pho temple.
A traditional massage lasts two hours. An abbreviated version was on
display Thursday as therapists, dressed in traditional garb,
demonstrated their skills on a sea of thin sky blue mats spread across
the floor. To a soundtrack of dreamy music that included the sound of
chirping crickets, they went through their repertoire with a series of
massage positions choreographed by the tinkling of a bell.
The event ended quietly, but hands went up and therapists cheered after
Mollow confirmed they had won a Guinness Record shortly afterward.
“I felt I was enchanted,” Yingluck told reporters afterward. “I felt
calm and relaxed watching them. I felt really relaxed.”
Chayanan said the therapists who participated were given a video from
the Ministry of Public Health to practice with. They are part of an army
that the Health Ministry estimates numbers 50,000 nationwide and an
industry that generates at least 13 billion baht ($415 million)
annually.
Health Minister Wittaya Buranasiri has said he wants to see the industry
bring in even more revenue. The National News Bureau of Thailand
reported last week that the government “is aiming to make Thailand the
world’s ultimate destination for massage, with plans to improve the
quality of the workers, offer more massage classes to the public and set
up a massage center in every hospital.”
