When darkness turns bright

I can only say, the determination and persistency of we four backpackers are really strong!! During the second day of work, surprisingly, we were like some sort of "get used to it" to our kiwi bud thinning job already. It's not that we're not tired anymore, it's not that our body doesn't ache anymore, it's not that we don't wish to go to toilet, neither do we like to eat the cold lunch. I couldn't really explain, but it's really like we already "accepted" the reality that this is our job and this is our working life here. Our neck and backbone is still pain, but the suffering feeling we had during the first day of work already faded away. Our speed of picking the bud already improved a lot, and we are quick to differentiate between the male and female tree.

Before - I can't reach T_T

After - Yeah, I made it!

Wong Fei Hung Style!

So tall with the 6-inch steel shoes!

The golden kiwi flower

Enjoying our cold lunch

The kiwi orchard

Taking photo with the golden kiwi flower after work. Yeah!

Woww, I'm so tall!

Although we met an evil boss and 奸人坚, but still the fortune angel is guarding us. We met a very good supervisor, 阿华哥 who supervise us. Ah Wah Gor is a very nice and patient uncle. He taught and guided us patiently the proper way to pick kiwi bud. Wah Gor is very funny and cute, he always nags us no chit chat or talking during working time, but yet he himself is a very talkative uncle and he loves to "Pat" gossips around us. Wah Gor will side us whenever we pick the buds wrongly, and he secretly helped us to keep the buds. Sometimes, when we accidentally picked the wrong bud, we're afraid of being scolded and we'll just keep the bud in our pocket (SShhhhhhh...... :p). Also, we secretly put back the kiwi tree branch when we accidentally break it, pretending that nothing happen, haha!

Wah Gor is from Ipoh and he has been here for 8 years. During this 8 years, he is facing the kiwi tree everyday. According to him, kiwi tree has to be taken care of for 365 days. From mid of October to November, we have to start bud thinning job on female tree to prevent the kiwi bud is overcrowded. On November, male flowers are picked just as they begin to burst and used to for artificial pollination. Besides male flower picking by people, the pollen of male flowers will also be transferred to the female kiwi flower by bees, to produce kiwi fruit. That's why Wah Gor said we can see a lot of bees around kiwi tree during that season. After male flower picking, there's summer pruning. The poorest quality cane and spur has to be removed to create a summer canopy that will have optimum fruit size.They want to maximize the potential for a fruitful cane development. Starting Februarty to March, fruit thinning work begins. Defective or over-crowded fruit is removed from vines, leaving room for the rest of the crop to grow either by hand or using clippers. From March to June, they start to pick and pack the kiwi fruit, to be distributed and exported. Winter pruning begins from July to September, where the vines are pruned back after the fruit is picked and the leaves have fallen from the vines. Then, the best canes are selected to produce the next seasons crop.

To grow a kiwi tree is really not easy. It requires a lot of tedious work everyday. This few days, the kiwi tree in the orchard we worked at is about 40 to 50 years old. It takes 8 years for a new kiwi tree to produce fruits, and the tree has to be taken care of very carefully. If the weather is too cold, a helicopter will be arranged to spiralled above the kiwi tree, to keep it warm. This is to prevent the tree for getting too cold, which will affect their fruit development. 

You can't only gain knowledge from books or internet. Be wary of what's happening around you, and learn something.

Today, I finally understand why kiwi fruit is so expensive.