ONLY IN DUBAI. ONLY.

The Dubai Shopping Festival is on again and as usual this morning the papers here had a list of world records that have been set over the years.

The biggest human UAE flag, the world's biggest pair of chopsticks, a giant-sized mattress and the most eggs held in a human hand are just a few of the crazy challenges which have been attempted.

Here is a list of some of the records.

Enjoy

Vish

Longest line of footprints: Youngsters from primary schools across the city painted their footprint on a sheet of A4 paper and the footprints made their way around the winding footpaths of Safa Park. Not broken. Probably because children have better things to do.

Largest mattress and bed: You would never fall out of it but you may have trouble finding sheets to fit it. It was 14m long, 12m wide and stoods 2.1m tall.

Longest game of Chinese Whispers: Desperately trying to get children of all ages to stand still in a straight line and whisper a sentence to each other was painfully-impossible. But they managed it – just. A lot of fun but the world record was never broken. However, a new Dubai record was with more than 2,000 people taking part. They don’t however, say what sentence they began with and what it turned into at the end.

Largest wallet: It measured more than 6metres wide but like someone said the true value of a wallet is what’s inside and this one had nothing.

Biggest inflatable: It stood 25 metres tall and 14 metres wide, measured 2,079 cubic metres and cost almost Dh92,000 to make. Designed and manufactured by a UK-based company, the giant Vitamin C bottle floated above Safa Park while the poor and hungry wondered what they had done to deserve this treat.

Biggest pillow fight: Despite more than 2,000 people turning out in force and bashing each other with pillows, the record for the world's largest pillow fight was not broken due to a lack of participants. It was hoped the fight would attract more than 4,500 people in order to break the current record. Everyone went crazy to the rather appropriate tune of Faithless' Mass Destruction. The municipality labourers who had to clean up the mess weren’t amused though.

The largest Madkhan (incense burner): It weighed in at 1,000 kilos and contributed quite a bit towards global warming.

Biggest shopping bag: Measured 180cm high and 120cm wide. How appropriate for Dubai.

Most candles on a cake: 18 Al Bustan Rotana Hotel chefs took just seven minutes to light 2,100 candles on a seven meter-long cake which took 120 man hours to make and weighed 483.5 kilos. The previous record was established in Poland with 900 candles.

Most photos of a single concept: Kodak presented a collection of 10,610 photographs of a single concept with a target of 9,534 as the previous record. The collection featured families and closed with a photograph of the Dubai royal family.

Largest collection of miniature model cars: Suhail Al Zarooni, a 31-year-old UAE businessman broke his own record for having the most collectable cars. "I hold the largest collection of 2,000 miniature model cars dating back to 1886. I must have spent about Dh2m on it," he said.

Largest human flag: More than 16,200 gathered at Creek Park wearing the appropriate coloured caps and T-shirts to create the world's largest human national flag to form the National flag of UAE. Head counts were taken and aerial images registered the feat.The previous record for the world's largest human flag comprised 10,371 people who formed the German flag in the south grandstand at the Scotland vs Germany European Championships qualifying football match in the Westfalenstadion, Dortmund, Germany on September 10, 2003.

Most people with same name: Between 1,500 and 2,000 Mohammeds assembled, from babies and toddlers to grandfathers with their original birth certificate to prove their name. The previous record for a same-name gathering was created by 375 Marias in Spain in 2003. Talk of John Doe's

Largest shopping trolley: It took 15 people who worked for five days to build the world's largest shopping trolley, measuring 639cm in length, 250cm in breadth and 900cms high. The two-ton trolley was made of 1,800 kilos of steel rods and was fully functional complete with four three-ton pick-up truck tyres. It wasn’t mentioned if it was filled up.

World's largest ribbon: Measuring 29 metres and made up of 105,000 carnations, the large pink ribbon held centre stage in Zabeel Park. Organised by Dubai Healthcare city to raise awareness for Breast Cancer and was followed by a walkathon to raise funds for research to beat the disease.

World's largest Yolah dance: More than 221 men of different ages and desert tribes gathered at Global Village to perform the traditional Yolah dance. After more than 5 minutes of rifle spinning and rhythmic stepping, the group successfully established a new world record for the world's largest Yolah dance ever.

World's largest Kandoora (local dress): A local garment maker and his fabric cutter collaborated to produce the giant piece of clothing, which measured a massive 82 feet 1 inch in length, in just 12 days. Kandooras are typically less than 2 metres long.

World's longest chopsticks: Marco Polo Hotels of Dubai unveiled a 22ft pair of chopsticks.

Tallest Croquembouche: a traditional French cake - made by the Dubai World Trade Centre with 185,000 Choux buns and caramel. The cake was prepared in a record-breaking two days with the help of 21 chefs.

Records are meant to be broken: Other records held by Dubai

World's longest cake

Largest apple pie

Largest baba-ghanoosh (an Arab dish made of chickpeas and aubergine),

Largest chocolate bar

Largest calendar

Largest basket

Largest paper clip

Largest photo mosaic of babies

Largest newspaper ball

Fastest Pizza Eating

Largest Charity Box

Largest Can Mosaic Display

Biggest prayer mat

Longest sofa