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:
Jamnagar
20 Feb 2026I had been looking back through my India diary from 1994. All the bus trips seemed to be on ancient, packed, uncomfortable, rough old buses, the journeys lasted forever and it was boiling hot. The buses still looked pretty old but the modern journeys were actually quite comfortable, organised (everyone had a seat number) and the highways fairly pot hole free. I was slightly concerned that my next journey – a seven hour trip to Jamnagar only cost 262Rs (less…
Bhuj and about
16 Feb 2026Interestingly Damraj from the Desert Riders asked why I was going to Bhuj and it seems I had similar questions when going to the same place in 1994. However my diary at the time said it was a pretty good place, full of interesting people and buildings. I was fascinated to see how much had changed in 30 years. But first, I had to get there. Dhamraj had kindly made arrangements for me to be picked up by the side…
I ran
14 Feb 2026Apologies for the naff title of the page but it details the next few days which involved quite a bit of travelling. The first, a day trip to the world Heritage site of Champaner, then the following day north to the ancient capital of Patan and the Rani Ka Vav stepwell and Modhera Sun Temple and then my two days at the Little Ran of Kutch with the Desert Courses. 9th February For today, I had decided to go to…
Random posts:
Sahel
28 Mar 2005The Arabic name ‘Sahel’ means coast or margin. In the case of the sub-Saharan Sahel it is the margin of the desert, but in Tunisia it is the little bulge in its east coast. Ranging back from the east coast these fertile plains have long been the heartland of the country’s agriculture and an important power base – both Habib Bouguiba and Ben Ali come from this region, and it contains Sfax, the country’s most prosperous city. As far as…
Kalaw
26 Dec 2002I got on the bus from Yangon to Mandalay as planned and found myself sat next to a mad Italian vet called Carla who happened to know a mutual friend in Hanoi. She was good company but talked a lot. The other foreigners on board were an Israeli girl called Udit, who I described in my diary as being very thoughtful and introspective and an American, Jennifer, who was quite independent and interesting. They had been to a Buddhist monastery…
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…