$10 Bangkok Entertainment.

I competed against Mr Neil in an axe throwing competition in Bangkok, Thailand.



This place is located at the Artbox Bangkok night market which is in Chuvit Garden (Formally the famous Sukhumvit Square, before it was demolished in 2003), half way between Asoke and Nana BTS stations.

The axe throwing business has a larger venue up in Lad Prao with better facilities and larger axes but we went to this small venue in Sukhumvit as we couldn't be bothered dealing with the rush-hour traffic jam or being packed like sardines into an MRT train.

BEAUTIFUL Sri Lanka. Best view of SIGIRIYA ROCK is from Pidurangala Rock. 🇱🇰

Another early morning where I tried to beat the sun and the other travellers in an attempt to enjoy eating my breakfast in peace with a magnificent view, this time of Sigiriya Rock.

I had planned to reach the top of Pidurangala Rock for sunrise but couldn't drag myself out of bed until an hour after my alarm rang. This ended up being a good thing as many people, who had been up to watch the sunrise, passed me in the opposite direction as I hiked up. By the time I got to the top there were almost no people there.



On the way back to my hotel I got an unexpected tuk-tuk driving lesson. Never a boring moment in Sri Lanka.

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My Jeep GOT STUCK! Elephant Safari at Minneriya National Park, Sri Lanka. 🇱🇰

Out of all the Jeeps in all of Sri Lanka, it had to be my Jeep that got stuck in a stream. Despite this hiccup I did enjoy a nice couple of hours in Minneriya National Park where hundreds of wild elephants live.

Minneriya National Park is located in Habarana and is very close to Sigiriya. It would also easily be accessible from Dambulla or Polonnaruwa.



I went for the 2 hours before sunset, and as you can see from the video there were a lot of Jeeps at that time. You could try to go earlier but then you're in the baking sun for 2 hours.

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Breakfast in an ANCIENT fortress ruins. SIGIRIYA ROCK, Sri Lanka. 🇱🇰

Just like the cinema, a visit to an ancient fortress is even better if you bring some food with you.

I started the hike up to the top of Sigiriya Rock early in an attempt to beat the crowds but there were still plenty of other white faces there. At the summit I did manage to find a quiet spot to enjoy an incredible view and some peaceful tranquillity with my breakfast. That was until a stray dog decided to join me.



I stayed at Hotel Sigiriya which has a perfect view of Sigiriya Rock from its swimming pool.

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I took the DANGEROUS route. Hiking WORLD'S END trail in Horton Plains National Park, Sri Lanka. 🇱🇰

Sri Lanka has some beautiful countryside and amazing hiking trails. One of the most famous is World's End in the Horton Plains National Park which also features a scenic waterfall called Baker's Falls.

Unfortunately, because it's so well known, there were bound to be many other people hiking that day so I aimed to start the trail at 6am when the park first opened. I wanted to be the first to the main viewpoint which features a 870m drop.



At "Mini World's End', a smaller drop on the way to World's End there's a sign saying "DANGER" with a forward arrow and another saying "World's End" with a right arrow. I was curious so I took the path marked "DANGER". Where did it lead me?.

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My $54 SRI LANKA Hotel Room is AWESOME. (Ohiya village near Horton Plains National Park). 🇱🇰

What does $54 get you in your country? In my country it certainly doesn't get you a nice hotel room with an incredible view and with dinner and breakfast included.

In the beautiful village of Ohiya, close to the Horton Plains National Park, I stayed in this lovely Eco Lodge. It was the perfect location with beautiful views of the tea estates in the valley and close enough to the park entrance that I could easily hike World's End when the park opened at 6am.



It was a few kilometres of steep terrain from the train station but with nice weather and beautiful views it was certainly worth walking there rather than taking a tuk tuk.

The hotel: Hill Safari Eco Lodge, Ohiya, Sri Lanka

My room was "Luxury Room - Upper".

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Railway Line Hiking in Sri Lanka (TRAIN COMING!!!)

Despite being prohibited, walking along the railway tracks is quite normal in Sri Lanka. You see locals doing it all the time. It's safe as long as you have a good idea when the trains are coming.



I was taking a train from Colombo to Ohiya and thought it would be nice to get off the train 1 stop early at Pattipola and hike along the tracks to my destination station. I really should have taken my own advice about knowing when the trains were due though........

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Chatting with SRI LANKAN Locals at Galle Fort Beach. (Cheap Day Trip by Train from Colombo,) 🇱🇰

I escaped the big city by jumping on a train to Galle. With a 2nd class ticket costing 240 rupees ($1.37 USD / £1.06 GBP) and the ride only lasting 2 hours, it made for an easy and cheap day trip from Colombo.



Galle Fort was initially developed by the Portuguese but it was the Dutch who built it up in the 1700's. Despite being a world heritage site, nothing is closed off, so it was possible to along the walls while taking in the nice sea breeze. And after getting all hot, a nice dip in the ocean, which is where I met some local Sri Lankans for a fun chat.

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FRIENDLY Locals, CHEAP Food. Exploring Colombo, Sri Lanka. VLOG

I had a free day in Colombo, Sri Lanka before going to explore the rest of the country. My travel itinerary was well planned, except for what to do in Colombo. No problem, there's always something to do (and eat) in big city and Colombo was no exception.



$0.85 for a large selection of Sri Lankan Achcharu and $0.17 for a Cinnamon Drink. That's what you call value for money. You can eat in Colombo until you're full without your wallet being empty.

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Avoid this SCAM in Sri Lanka

Every day in Sri Lanka I was approached by random strangers trying to convince me to go places. I happened to be recording a vlog when one of them approached me and the followed me through the streets in a desperate attempt to get me to go to some fake Tsunami Temple. Having watched the video back and doing a bit of research afterwards I can explain what the scam is. Watch the video to find out.



Unfortunately these scammers give the good citizens of Sri Lanka a bad name. Most people that you talk to in a genuine interaction are friendly and helpful. The presence of scammers targeting tourists shouldn't stop you from talking to the locals. Just have a lot of common sense and know that if something doesn't seem right then it isn't.

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Scottish Hotel in Sri Lanka. What's on the menu?

Video Blog. Follow me as I stay in a Scottish hotel in Sri Lanka.



After spending 6 hours in my wee pod at the Capsule Hotel it was time to check in to a real hotel. Having not visited Scotland for a couple of years I decided to stay in a Scottish-themed hotel called The Steuart, a good Scottish name.

How was it? Were there any deep-fried Mars Bars on the in-room dining menu? Was there Irn Bru in the minibar? Or was it not authentic at all? Watch and find out.

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The Steuart by Citrus: 01, 45 Hospital Ln, Colombo 00100, Sri Lanka

Google maps link

Booking website

$19 Capsule Hotel in Sri Lanka

I'm making the switch from blogging to vlogging, so let's get started:



I recently stayed in a Japanese style Capsule Hotel in Colombo, Sri Lanka. I was inspired by watching a video from Harald Baldr a week earlier, where he stayed in a capsule in Vietnam. As I arrived in the early hours of the morning it seemed like a good opportunity to not waste money on a hotel room and have a cool experience at the same time.

So how was the experience? Watch the video to find out.

More vlogs are coming from me soon, so go to my YouTube Channel and subscribe if you want to see more.

The Capsule Hotel: 380 Galle Road, Colombo 3, Sri Lanka

Google maps link

Booking website

Koh Lanta - Trip Report

I decided to spend Xmas 2017 with my girlfriend in Koh Lanta; one of the few beautiful Thai islands that has yet to be overrun by loud, elephant-pants-wearing trashpackers drinking out of buckets or massive groups of manner-less Chinese tourists.

Getting there from Sri Lanka (trip report) involved being transported in every form of vehicle, but in Koh Lanta I had one of my own; a wee Honda Click scooter for zipping around the island.

View this post on Instagram

A plane, a taxi, a plane, a coach, a ferry and a tuk-tuk later, I'm in Koh Lanta, now traveling by scooter. 🛵🇹🇭🙏

A post shared by Dale Philip (@daleroxxu) on December 2017

This is where I made a rare travel blunder, embarrassingly in the country that I know best.

Sri Lanka - Trip Report

I travelled to Sri Lanka solo, just as I have on many of my previous adventures.

This time it wasn't the original plan but my girlfriend happened to crash her car on the way to the airport. Very unfortuante for her, but for me - I got to sit next an empty middle seat on the plane. Every cloud has a silver lining.

It was 1am and I had arrived in the land of the vertical bank note.

Currently in Sri Lanka; land of the vertical banknote. #SriLanka

A post shared by Dale Philip (@daleroxxu) on Dec 15, 2017 at 4:39am PST

My first destination was the incredibly scenic town of Ella. The 7-hour taxi ride there from Colombo airport was a little costly by Sri Lankan standards at 13,000LKR ($81.50, 61.50 GBP). The trains in Sri Lanka are so cheap that they're practically free. It's just unfortunate that the first train would have got me to Ella at sunset rather than sunrise. Time is more important than money when you're on a short trip so I didn't want to waste a whole day, unlike my girlfriend who was wasting the day in a police station thousands of miles away.

Copenhagen, Denmark - Trip Report and Vlog

Why would anyone leave Scotland in the winter, only to travel to an even colder country?

Well, £25 each way flights and the promise of the best pastries and bacon in the world was good enough reason for my brother and I to book a trip to Denmark.



For this trip report I made a vlog. I've considered doing this in the past but it seemed like too much hassle to do it well. Technology is getting better though and I was able to film, edit and upload this vlog in Ultra HD using just my phone (a Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge).

Milan, Italy - Trip Report

I arrived in Milan around 8am after a long overnight flight from Hong Kong. Having had the luxury of a comfortable night's sleep, thanks to the unforgettable experience of travelling in first class, I was ready to spend the day exploring rather than recovering.

This was my first trip to Italy and I had scheduled it so that I could experience the ‘Derby della Madonnina’ - the famous derby match between AC Milan and Inter.

I had yet another stay with AirBnb, booking a beautiful apartment in a residential area, right beside a metro station, for about a third the price of a decent hotel room in the city.

Just checked in to my Airbnb apartment in Milan. #Milan #Italy

A post shared by Dale Philip (@daleroxxu) on Nov 15, 2016 at 11:38pm PST

Before booking I contacted the host and told her I could only book if I could check in at 8am. In this scenario the host has to block out the previous night on the booking system, so they're not always keen to do this. Thankfully, as I was booking for a whole week, the host agreed to my request.

**** £30 / $38 free credit for new Airbnb members ****

After settling into my wonderful new home I went out exploring. It was the coldest weather I'd experienced in close to 3 years at around 10 degrees C, but still bearable wearing a hoodie - the only warm item of clothing in my whole suitcase.

My £10,315 First Class Cathay Pacific Flight (that cost me £30).

Four years ago I got into the hobby of collecting airline miles. I previously hadn't even bothered to sign up for any airline's frequent flyer clubs, in the mistaken belief that I would need to do a crazy amount of travel to get anything worthwhile out of them.

Since I started reading blogs such as Head For Points and the Flyer Talk forums I've since collected hundreds of thousands of miles, but very few of them came from actually flying. Most were from churning credit card signup bonuses (what would be called "bonus whoring" in the online poker world) and various other offers that have come up from time to time.

I've previously written about some of the excellent miles redemptions that I've made for Business Class flights in the last couple of years:

Bangkok to Istanbul with Malaysia Airlines @ 65,000 Avios + £14.10 GBP
Istanbul to Bangkok with Royal Jordanian @ 65,000 Avios + £101 GBP
Bangkok to Hanoi with Qatar Airways @ 18,000 Avios + £98 GBP
Bangkok to Osaka with Japan Airlines @ 20,000 Avios + £26.90
Osaka to Hong Kong with Cathay Pacific @ 20,000 Avios points + £26.90 GBP

This was my first time making a redemption in First Class, travelling from Hong Kong to Milan with Cathay Pacific for the bargain price of 120,000 Avios + £30 GBP.

Flight to Milan, man. #HongKong #CathayPacific

A post shared by Dale Philip (@daleroxxu) on Nov 15, 2016 at 8:24am PST

Sure, 120,000 is a lot of miles to use up on one flight. I could certainly have used them more frugally, but the opportunity to fly First Class for the first time in my life, to do it with a top airline like Cathay and pay only 30 quid in taxes, it was too good an opportunity to pass up.

Hong Kong - Trip Report

After a week of eating everything in Osaka, I travelled to Hong Kong with the intention of doing plenty of hiking to burn off those excess calories.

I'd visited Hong Kong several times before but was unable to take advantage of its excellent hiking trails as it was always raining. I hoped for better luck with the weather on this visit.

Just as I did between Bangkok and Osaka, I was able to book an excellent value miles redemption ticket between Osaka and Hong Kong. I travelled business class with Cathay Pacific, KIX-HKG direct, for just 20,000 Avios points + £26.90 GBP ($33.79 USD). The cash price of the same ticket was a ludicrous £1877 GBP ($2357 USD).

It was only a 4 hour and 25 minute flight but, just like my flight from Bangkok to Osaka, the airline uses a long haul aircraft for the route. This makes a big difference in terms of comfort as you get a fully flat bed in business class rather than just a wider seat.

This was a 10am flight so certainly no need for a sleep. I just lay back and watched The Secret Life of Pets.

The Secret Life of Pets

A photo posted by Dale Philip (@daleroxxu) on Nov 8, 2016 at 8:44pm PST

Osaka - Trip Report

The wonderful thing about travel is the experience of something different than what you're used to. And for a European it doesn't get any more different than Japan. When you're in Japan, you know that you're 5,000 miles away from home.

However, one thing that’s Japanese that I am used to is their food. I seek out Japanese restaurants no matter where I am in the world. It was four years since my last trip to Japan so another visit was well overdue. I’d been hearing that the food capital of Japan was Osaka, so, of course, I booked a flight there.

I used some of my Avios (British Airways) miles to book a business class flight with Japan Airlines direct from Bangkok to Osaka for 20,000 Avios + £26.90 ($34.10 USD / €32.08 EUR) in cash. An excellent value redemption considering the cash price of the same ticket was £963 ($1221 USD / €1148 EUR).

It was a 5 hour flight but fortunately Japan Airlines use a long haul aircraft for the route. Long haul is usually defined by most airlines to be over 7 hours. The benefit of flying in a long haul aircraft is that you get a flat bed in business class rather than just a big seat. And with a 23:25 takeoff I needed it.

I got a solid 3 and a half hours sleep in. The cabin crew asked me before lights out if I wanted to be woken up for breakfast or left to sleep. Of course I value food higher than sleep so I wasn’t going to miss my first Japanese breakfast of the trip.

With the 2 hour time difference the flight landed at 6:25. Early morning arrivals are good in that you get a whole day at your destination. In fact, more than a full day for me because I generally don’t get out of bed before midday. But they are bad in that it’s usually way too early to check into a hotel.

Living in Thailand - 2016 Update

Two years ago I published a blog about living in Thailand. Since then I’ve written lots about my travels overseas to other countries, however an update on the place that I spend most of my time is well overdue.

The weather, the food and the girls are still hot. The only thing that’s changed recently is the cost of living, for me as a Brit at least. Our currency, Pounds Sterling, is now worth about 25% less against the Thai Baht than it was earlier in the year before the damn Brexit vote.