All in a day's work..

I've always wondered how mangoes are harvested, along with the other fruits like durians, guavas , pears and apples. The only vague idea I had was from the scenes of television programmes when they have short footages of couples or groups having a gathering in an orchard, which wasn't really helpful. Documentaries of fruit harvesting are rare, since they focus predominantly on the animal kingdom. There were visits to a local mushrooms farm, an Australian strawberry orchard, and of course rubber and oil palm plantations situated in our northern neighbouring country. A typhoon in Taiwan ruined our plans to harvest pomelos. We were promised that we could bring back whatever we harvested and it would be very interesting to see how the four of us lugged the pomelos back to Taipei, and then to Singapore.

Anyway, there's this mango tree planted in my mother's office and I was given a chance to watch first hand how the mangoes were protected from the birds, so that they can be eaten by ME!

The forklift making it's way to the tree, acting as a stepping board so that the harvester (in blue) can work his magic.

Showing his choice of weapon, a pillow case hanged around a loop at the end of a long metal pole. Does he remind you of a character in Journey to the West?

Taking aim and going in for the kill..I told you it wasn't as easy as it looks..
I didn't break a sweat :P

2 baskets of mangoes. 1 to share the harvest!
And the other to survive winter!

The-Biggest-Mango-Contest..
Meet Ace of Spade, Ace of Hearts, Ace of Diamonds, Ace of Clubs.
And my trump card squeezing in for a photo!

If you thought my hand was big enough, wait till you meet the winner,
the Ace of Clubs!

Ace of Clubs intimidating the hell out of my trump card..
it got so freaked out that it couldn't stand upright anymore.

It wasn't a long process since there was only a tree, I would love to work in an orchard some day, plucking whatever fruits i see along the way. Towards the end, I was given a chance to pluck those that weren't as challenging and man, it wasn't as easy as I had thought it to be. You have to place the hanging fruit into the loop, and give it a sharp twist to break the hold. I did managed to pluck two and they were quite large. Both my feet were on the ground and all I managed was two. It was a little disappointing but it was an enriching experience. Maybe the next harvesting I can go onto the tree and try my luck from there. Anyway there was no other camera man so I can't post any photos of myself destroying the tree. For now, I'm still waiting for the mangoes to ripe so that I can start eating it as an appetizer, add it to my rojak, and eat it as a fruit for desert.

You know..It only hit me much later on that mangoes should be held on quite tightly by the tree, or a strong gust of wind would have send those mangoes crashing on to the ground. Am i slow or what.