My driving licence expired on my birthday on the 29th October. No immediate rush to renew, I thought, but then plans changed and suddenly we were due to embark on our Tak trip and it seemed sensible that I should have a valid licence for the journey.

So on the following Monday morning I presented myself at the licencing office with all required papers; or so I thought. One thing they need is proof of residence. This can be provided with a letter from immigration (which costs 200 baht and takes time to acquire) or a Tambien Baan, which is a little book showing that you own or are residing in a property. There is a yellow Tambien Baan for foreigners living in a house which they don’t own, and a blue Tambien Baan which a foreigner can have if he/she owns a condo. I have the latter, so presented that with a flourish. “No good”, said the lady at the door, “need letter from immigration”. I protested and was allowed to appeal to the boss in the main office. “No good”, said the boss, “need letter from immigration”.

No wind today, but called by the club anyway and ended up going for an SUP session with Craig which was a welcome bit of exercise, and the usual pleasure of being out on the sea.

Paddling complete, we packed up, and then a sunset threatened, so Craig was despatched back onto the water.

One of the great movies, and Apocalypse Now has been in my DVD collection for some time. Then Francis Ford Coppola did a new version, Apocalypse Now Redux, so I had to have that too.

During the filming of the movie, Coppola’s wife made a documentary of the production called “Hearts of Darkness”. This was hard to find and the best I could manage was a Torrent of a VHS copy.

Then, joy, I was browsing the new Boomerang DVD store in Central this week and they had a new DVD offering with the movie, Hearts of Darkness, and various other documentaries. Two discs full of goodness for less than 400 baht.

My Apocalypse Now collection is complete, until I get a Blu-ray player….

Having safely made it through Death Highway, we checked into a resort in Umphang. Clean enough cabins and really excellent food, which was just as well because Umphang does not seem to offer much in the way of restaurants.

Fish soup and toast for an early breakfast and off in a truck to launch an inflatable into the river.

Given that most men are slightly more picky than Jock; to encourage transactions with some of the less attractive ladies that ply their trade, this sign is to be erected at the start of Walking Street.

On the road between Mae Sot and Umphang there is a refugee camp housing more than 20,000 souls, refugees from the very nice people who administer Myanmar. It actually looks well constructed and it is not clear whether the heavy army presence in the area is intended to keep people in or out of the camp.

Umphang is a small town at the end of Death Highway with little to offer; but it does have a coffee shop (something I regard essential to maintain life), wherein can also be found a selection of souvenirs of varying quality from crap to very crap. One product is a sticker sporting the message “I survived the 1,219 corners of Death Highway”. Somewhat chancing fate to buy such a sticker in Umphang, because most likely you are planning to make the return journey to Mae Sot at some point and who knows what might happen…

Actually, probably nothing. The Death Highway is named not for the frequency of road accidents, but for the fact that various groups of insurgents were against the idea of building the road and vented their displeasure by slaughtering construction workers. One of the reasons why the road took more than ten years to build, the other being the fact that it stretches through 150 kilometres of mountainous scenery and must have been a substantial engineering and logistical challenge (“we seem to have lost the last batch of labourers, please send more”).

The scenery is beautiful and the road is well made, if a little twisty and littered with obstructions.

A truck full of furniture!

Or, in Thai, Loy Krathong. It’s the day when Thais stick incense sticks and candles on a little boat and launch it on the water.

This is our Krathong, attracting the attention of Tiki who attempted to eat the candle immediately after the photo was taken. It was fashioned by hand, using all natural materials, by she who must be obeyed over a period of several hours. Or, we bought it on the street and the key ingredient is Styrofoam.