A break from House/Pet Sitting in Asia to celebrate my BIG birthday!

We are often asked what we do in-between house/pet sits. Normally, we book a self catering place, through one of the many websites, Airbnb or Housetrip being our favourites. Alternatively, we may look to organise to stay with friends and family. This is a great way for us to catch up with people. This year however, as a big birthday loomed, we decided to take some timeout and headed for Asia.

Thailand and Malaysia are countries we know quite well from previous visits. Tom's brother lives in Kuala Lumpur, so we often "drop in" on our way "home" from the UK to Australia. Two of our best friends decided to join us on this adventure, their first time in Asia. A good excuse for us to re-visit our favourite places and show them around.

Prior to their arrival, we enjoyed a break on the island of Koh Tao. It was a new place for us and got to say we loved it. We arrived by ferry to be dropped off on a floating pontoon. Longtail boats came to collec our luggage and us and take us ashore.

Baggage reclaim consisted of everyone taking their luggage off the longtail boat. Customs was a hut on the beach and immigration another hut conveniently situated at the other end of the beach! I shall always fondly remember Tom dragging our suitcases (hey we travel with ALL our things in there!) through the sand, much to the astonished looks of the backpackers strolling by. I could not resist shouting in my best Scottish/Shrek impersonation "Awe right donkey" to Tom as the wheels on the cases left tracks along the sand.

Taxi from the beach to the hotel was a motorcycle and sidecar....lopsided due to our many bags plus Tom and I. What fun! We had a wonderful relaxing few days on this lovely little island.

With the arrival of our friends, we enjoyed 3 wonderful days in Bangkok. Our first stop, Scirroco on the 50th floor of the Trade Tower, over looking Bangkok. Very expensive but the most amazing views. A scene from Hangover 3 was film here.

We were recommended a restaurant on the river opposite one of the Palaces - a fantastic stop for our first dinner together. We grabbed a taxi, had a wonderful meal and had a seriously scary taxi ride back. Our driver put on some club music, Gangham style, started dancing waiving his hands in the air racing along at , what felt like,90 mph! He did not feel he needed to hold the wheel. Poor Tom in the front looked very pale. Our friends and I, a little bit tipsy in the back seat, joined in with some moves of our own. Funny thing was we all thought he was a youngster (he was hidden beneath a baseball cap) - turned out he was 76!!!

Our arrival coincided with Thai New Year (Songkran). After a morning visiting the amazing palaces, we headed for Siam Square for lunch. We had no idea that this was to be the epicentre for the celebrations. We watched from inside the comfort of the Hard Rock Cafe, as hundreds of people armed with water pistols took to the street for a water fight. It look so much fun, we just couldn't resist! After purchasing some super soakers, we hit the street. I do not think that I have laughed so much in a long time it was like being big kids....we got absolutely drenched! The Thai people seemed to appreciate these "older" westerners joining in on their celebrations. Tom & Bob were even interviewed on the local radio station by a roving reporter.

After a couple of hours of fun, we decided to head back to our hotel. No taxi was game to take us and who could blame them - we were dripping wet. We hailed a tut-tut and had the most entertaining 40 minute ride to our hotel. As we drove all along the roadside, there were small groups of people armed with buckets and hoses ready to throw at any open vehicle....as you can imagine we were a prime target! The tut-tut driver entered into the spirit, as he could see we were having such fun, and drove deliberately close and slowly by each hose or bucket thrower. By the time we exited the tut-tut the driver, too, was soaking wet, not to mention the water flowing out of side of the tut-tut!

We arrived back and had a quick shower and change, then headed off to one of our favourite restaurants in Bangkok- The "Cabbage and Condom". A restaurant set up to promote safe sex by the minister of health and education, it that has become something of an icon. A great place, not easy to fine but well worth the effort and great Thai food.

Our next day included a visit to a Thai massage parlour (a definite must do!). Relaxed and raring to go we headed back into the centre of the city for a pre-dinner drink and then onto a Lady Boy Cabaret. "Somehow" we managed to keep this fact a secret from our friends, they, having no idea (first time in Asia). We left it quite a while ( Bob amazed at the beuty of the "girl" dancers) before pointing out that all the performers were men. Bob, being from Yorkshire could only, express a "Neeeever, By heck!!" The look on their faces was priceless!

Unfortunately, our 3 days over we headed to the airpor,t bound for Koh Samui. I think it is fair to say we had an amazing time here and all agreed "we'll be back one day!"

Koh Samui was a lot more of a relaxed time. My birthday was made very special, as my husband had arranged for us to have a Thai cooking lesson and then, enjoy the meal. Unbeknown to me, there was also a group of Thai dancers who entertained as whilst we ate. A lovely memory that I will treasure always.

One of the other highlights of our trip had to going on one of the elephant trecks. We had the most beautiful elephant called Victoria Beckham. She was such a gentle giant. Her keeper asked us if we would like some photo's taken (we'd love some). He then proceeded to jump off Victoria and leave Tom in the "driving" seat.....OMG! Fortunately Victoria looked after us and didn't seem to mind having a novice driver. Such a wonderful amazing experience :-)

We were joined by a friend from Down Under, and we headed across to the island of Koh Tao. Again, this was a first time visit to the island for us. Enjoyed by a young crowd, it had lots of lovely beachside restaurants and bars. Renown for diving but great snorkeling too. We spent our time here explore the area by boat and snorkeling the various sites ....a visit to a neighbouring island of Koh Nangyuan allowed us to experience some of the best snorkeling we'd ever seen (with the exception of the Barrier Reef)..... and most of if right off the beach!

An amazing trip but all to soon it was time to leave, to head back to France and back to "work"......our next house/pet sit is a return to the Manor House in France. We visited last year and we are really looking forward to seeing, our now, great friends again :-)