Redefining normal

I've lived here in Phuket for so long now that all the things that surprise and delight tourists have ceased to do that for me. Which is sad, because there's a lot here that really should surprise, delight and shock me still.

Like tree pruning.

I remember in Canada watching the tree pruners come to my Grandma's house, with a big truck and crane-type ladder and safety ropes and hard hats and lots of big tools and equipment.

Our tree pruner arrived last weekend on his motorbike, holding a hand saw and a rope.

He promptly shimmied up the tree. This is a tree that does not begin branching out for several meters; up until about the height of our house second floor, this tree is pure trunk. In Thai, it's called a kraton tree - don't know what you'd call it in English.

He climbed that thing with his bare hands and feet, with the rope in his teeth.

The rope was used to hoist the handsaw up to the guy, who was now at a level nearly beyond sight. I was on the second floor balcony looking up at him. Way up.

Perched on a branch he began sawing away at the branches around him, above him, beside him, even at the branch on which he was crouched.

Big, heavy branches dropped down rapidly. Some of them he tried to direct for a better landing by holding onto the branch at the moment the saw made the final cut, then somehow managed to hang on to the falling branch (the saw still in the other hand; I think only his legs were keeping him on the tree at that point), move it a metre or so to the left or right and let it drop.

He spent a good couple of hours at this, working his way down the tree. By the time he was done the entire yard under the tree was piled up with a tangle of branches about 5-6 feet high.

If tree pruning were an Olympic sport, the Thais would win it hands down. It was an impressive feat of athleticism and daring that makes marathon running look like a walk in the park.

Throughout the entire procedure, the mantra running through my head was, "Please don't kill yourself. Please don't drop and die on my lawn. Please don't kill yourself."

For all this the tree pruner earned 1500 baht (about $47). I thought it was a hell of a deal for a job that really, truly risked life and limb, but my husband thought it was expensive...

I regret not bringing out the vidcam for it. It's gotta be seen to be believed!

(Thanks to SD for the suggestion to make this a blog post, after I bitched that I had nothing to write about...)