Dubai sets record for longest gold chain

Dubai can now boast of having set the record for the longest gold chain – over five kms in length connected by over four million tiny segments linked everyday for ten hours by 100 craftsmen over 45 days. Dubai,5January 2015: Dubai is no stranger to setting records. Largest, most magnificient, tallest, biggest, – we’ve had these superlatives in the past, for among others, cakes, grafitti scrolls, buildings, metro links, sky dives, and fireworks displays. Dubai can now boast of having set the record for the longest gold chain – over five kms in length connected by over four million tiny segments linked everyday for ten hours by 100 craftsmen over 45 days. It’s being called the Dubai Celebration chain. KT Photo: Shihab In the words of a tout peddling “designer handbags” opposite the display area near the Gold Centre in Deira, “There’s more traffic today because of the DSF gold chain rush.” Jewellery shops with Kareena Kapoor hoardings were lit up with fairy lights. Disney figures walked around the red carpeted entrance of a gold shop, inviting in shoppers. RTA bus drivers on their break had sauntered down to the venue to watch the spectacle. But the most crowded was the tourists making the most of the DSF deals had crowded around the chain, taking pictures. Visiting from Sharjah, businessman Sharfudeen Addu Samath, his wife Habiba Nisha Sharfudeen, and their son, had spent the entire day waiting for the chain to be unveiled. “We were here in the morning, around 9 am, but after we finished shopping, people told us of this event, so we waited to see the chain as we were curious.” His wife said she had never before seen anything like it, and no, she couldn’t imagine anyone putting it around their necks – “it’s a gold chain that no one can wear without falling down,” she laughed. Another bystander, Dubai resident for 12 years, Guru Padadas, an employee of a diamond shop in the gold souk area had sneaked out of office to watch the unveiling, “It’s real gold,” he told Khaleej Times. “Awesome.. never seen anything like it!” Interestingly, the ratio of men to women at the site was apparent. Very few women, many more men seemed interested in the expensive yellow rope. There were more women at the gold souk, away from the unvieling, making the most of the DSF deals in the shops. - Khaleejtimes.com