My friend Saijung and some cohorts cutting down a coconut palm

When I was still up around Udonthanie , Thailand my good friend Saijung Kaipo invited me to go along with him while he and some friends cut down a large coconut palm. The tree had to be taken down because they were getting ready to build a house on the spot.

Saijung tied a rope around his waist, stuck a jungle knife in his belt then shinnied up the tree like a monkey – that was pretty impressive to me considering he and I are about the same age, hells bells I couldn’t climb a tree like that! Especially if I had been drinking as much Lokao whisky as Saijung had.

Anyway, he got to the top, lopped off all of the branches and most of the coconuts, tied off the rope and slid back down the trunk – all in about 5 mins.

We all had a great feast on young coconut and the sweet juice then Saijung and his friends began cutting down the tree using the most interesting looking Axe I have ever seen. This Axe had a tubular head and a long hard wood counter weight (See picture).

These guys chopped on the palm for a while then broke out the dullest crosscut saw I have ever seen and finished cutting down the tree. As the tree neared being cut down, several of the local men grabbed the rope and gave it a good pull to insure that the tree fell in the desired direction.

It was fun and pretty cool to watch this Asia tree cutting process; you learn something new everyday.

Tomahawk – scouts out!