THE JOURNAL & TOPICS NEWSPAPERS | THURSDAY, MAY 8, 2008

---

Hello, Up There!

"Who shrunk my husband?"

That's what Carmen Hetrea of Arlington Hts. asked when she saw a picture of her husband, Marius, standing next to the tallest, or second tallest, man in the world, Bao Xishun.

Marius met the Mongolian native while on a business trip to China. Carmen explained her husband works for a company in Des Plaines as an electronic engineer. On a trip to Beijing, the 5-foot, 8-inch Marius shared a flight with Bao. "They had three seats and he stretched his legs across the three seats sideways," Carmen explained.

When the plane landed, many passengers lined up to have pictures taken with Bao. When Marius returned home to Arlington Hts., Carmen, who works at Encyclopedia Britannica, circulated the picture through the office and discovered Bao's identity.

At 7-feet, 6-inches in height, Bao is one of the tallest men in the world, Carmen said. She explained her research found a man in the Ukraine who may be one inch taller.

"It's all a matter of perspective," she said of the picture of the two men. "(Marius looks) like a child that aged prematurely."