Globalwanderings is the personal photoblog of Richard Cain showcasing some of the amazing places I have experienced while living and working throughout Asia and more recently, Europe. In 2009, me and my wife Jackie left Asia to renovate a farmhouse and live a new life in deepest Portugal. We are now renovating our second house and that story is told on a blog called The House on a Hill. We also run the podcasting site podcastsinenglish.com for learners and teachers of English as a foreign language.
Latest posts:
Roman Gold and Gaudi’s Palace
15 Jun 2025We’d seen a lot of what Galicia had to offer but for our latest trip we went just a little bit more east, into the region of Castile and Leon and more specifically the locale of Ponferrada. So far inland there were no beaches but we were after history and a bit of hiking in spectacular countryside. We were rewarded with both. We’d booked three nights in a cottage in a small hamlet just outside Ponferrada which was about 4.5…
Elephanta
26 Feb 2025The final day of India 2025! Another boat trip, this time to Elephanta Island and more caves. As usual I was up early and headed for the Gateway of India. As is also usual, there was no definitive information about the first ferry to Elephant. I got to the ticket office about 8:15 and the man there sold me a ticket and told me the first ferry left at 9 but could be earlier if there were enough people and…
Mumbai
22 Feb 2025 Got the bus from Murud up the coast to Alibag. Quite a pleasant trip, coastal scenery and a nice breeze coming in the window. At Alibag bus station I needed a few directions to the ferry company offices from where I got their bus to the ferry terminal at Mandwa and we were soon away on the open sea. The ferry trip was quite pleasant, followed most of the way by loads of gulls coming quite close,…
Island fortress
22 Feb 2025From Pune I was headed due west over the Western Ghats to the coastal fortress of Janjira and the ancient Princely State of the same name. However, there was no transport. Everything went via Mumbai, so I took a taxi. The reason there were no buses was probably because the land was fairly sparsely populated and we had to descend through one of the few valleys of the Western Ghats, the long chain of mountains running parallel to the west…
Pune
19 Feb 2025Sat 15th Feb 2025. Another first. I thought I was just getting a regular bus for the six hour trip to Pune. It certainly looked very ordinary inside – rather worn and mildly decrepit but it turned out to be electric! Pune is certainly a very large city of seven million people and like many large cities in India is currently building a Metro system. I didn’t go on it but here’s a photo taken near the hotel and the…
Random posts:
Surfin’ USA
25 Feb 1996This is the first leg of another of those trips down memory lane. Between February and April of 1996 I hopped from Hawaii to Las Vegas and then southwards through Mexico and Central America to Colombia. I’ve scanned the photos from my dusty albums and tried to match the photos with entries from my old diaries. Being from pre-digital days one thing I’ve noted is how few photos there are. Developing reels of film was expensive in those days. I…
Last leg – Panama and Colombia
7 May 1996Once I was across the river there were minibuses to Almirante. And from there, transfer to a speedboat to Bocas del Torro ($3). I walked to the end of town and found a really nice hotel. Doug told me there are only three places in town and this was the cheapest and best. I got a room for $16 with en suite hot shower (something new for me!). The decor was interesting: two walls were bamboo, one with a picture…
Morocco
6 May 2008I spent just over a week in Morocco. As time was of the essence I had to choose my destinations carefully. One was chosen for me – Rabat, as it was the reason for coming – a business trip. Having said that it’s a nice enough place and built in a similar fashion to most of the cities of French North Africa having a modern French town (la nouvelle ville) and an old Arab town (the medina). The French town…