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:
Pune
17 Feb 2025Another 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! More photos from Pune here
Exploring Aurangabad
14 Feb 2025Yes, another early start but today I was going to take it a bit easier and hire a scooter to see the sights around Aurangabad. I did a bit of research and there was a scooter rental round the corner from the hotel, so all good. As it happened, despite a polished website, Bluebird Rentals was basically a young lad with his parents operating from their house. However, top quality service and I got a nifty little Honda for 500Rs…
Ellora
13 Feb 2025Yes, another early start! The caves were supposed to open at 6am when it was pitch black but when I arrived at the gate at 7, there were only a few people around, so I immediately headed for the showstopper of the site: Cave 16, Kailasa. So Kailasa really is the centrepiece of the site, in stature and position as it really dominates the place. It’s not actually a cave as they have removed a huge chunk of the rock face:…
Indomitable fortress and a pilgrimage
12 Feb 2025After exploring the Ajanta caves in the morning, I took a couple of buses and was dropped off at my next destination: Hotel Kailas, Ellora (2,800Rs). The hotel is very handily placed right outside the gate to the Ellora caves but I wasn’t going to squeeze in two World Heritage Sites in one day, I chilled in the afternoon after a very tasty okra curry (bhindi masala) because I was up first thing in the morning again, for two slightly…
Ajanta Caves
11 Feb 2025Time for takeoff India 2025, Maharashtra Tour. First stop The World Heritage site, Ajanta caves. But how to get there? Well a few firsts first. First time I’d been to Munich (admittedly just the airport), then first time on the huge Airbus double decker, A380 and first time Premium Economy (even though I’d flown Business class a few times!). So I arrived in New Delhi at 1am, a few hours kip before the last legs, a 4am flight to Aurangabad…
Random posts:
Welcome to Portugal!
3 May 2009We went to Portugal for three weeks in May 09. Our hols kicked off in Lisbon where we stayed with our friends Jo and Nigel. We enjoyed several days of warm spring sunshine and the highlights included a day at the beach and some tram rides up and down Lisbon’s famous hills. Here’s the view from the plane flying over the river Tajo (Tagus) and coming in to land. As well as the distinctive yellow trams, this is a funicular…
Dana but not Dana
22 Aug 2008We had friends visiting us in August 2008 so we took the opportunity of visiting one of the top natural attractions of Jordan, Dana Nature Reserve. Basically, millions of years ago the surface of the Earth ruptured round these parts creating a huge rift valley. The land on the west went down and the land on the east went up. On the west you’ve got the Dead Sea valley and the lowest place on Earth. On the East you’ve got…
The Far North
13 May 2007I lived in Hanoi for two years and loved heading off into the mountains to explore the rugged countryside and photograph the many different hill tribes that inhabited the completely undeveloped and wild regions of the north. In fact I even designed a website of my travels with the unimaginative name of “Ethnic Minorities of Northern Vietnam”. However, I had never explored the areas of far northern Thailand which was even more famous for its colourful local people. I knew…