Being an International Voyeur

I’m the one watching

Remember me? I’m the one who loves watching traffic cams and when I still had television, this was my favorite channel. DOT Channel 72 in New York.

But I ditched the cable TV months ago knowing my lay-off from work was going to hit at the beginning of October. Basic, no-premium-anything cable television in this city runs $50 a month and that’s a ridiculous waste of funds. So, guh-bye, Spectrum TV.

Fortunately, I found something even more fascinating: international webcams!

I started with one in Helsinki because bad weather is always more fun to watch than sunshine and light breezes.

But the camera is set far above the street and I find that I really like seeing people.

I want to watch them walking and interacting and taking photos of each other. Nothing like Venice, Italy for that! This webcam in the Dorsoduro has been really interesting especially several weeks ago during acqua alta when the water rose above the banks of the canal and was lapping at the doorways (and, yes, I was a disaster tourist during Superstorm Sandy as well, delighting in wandering a darkened Greenwich Village).

Another thing I absolutely love in this cam: not one single holiday decoration. Not one wreath, no twinkly lights, no decorated trees, no nativity scene. Nothing but a cobblestone street, some bridges, the canal, and the Grand Canal in the background. Traffic in this little canal gets brutal during the day and it’s amazing to see how the gondoliers and the motorboat pilots and the city boat pilots all maneuver around each other.

There’s also something kind of dear about seeing people pose each other on the bridges or by a gondola to take photos and then the way they huddle together to see the photo before strolling out of sight into the alley around the corner.

One of the most puzzling things I’ve run across is the webcam in St. Petersburg Russia and I encourage you to watch this one late at night (their night, I mean). This cam shows one of the entrances of the extremely busy Gostiny Dvor metro station which is on Saint Petersburg’s Nevsko-Vasileostrovskaya Line (for the next time you’re there; be sure to wave!).

During the day and evening, the sidewalk leading into this station is absolutely packed. It’s a big, busy city and this is one of the busiest metro stations in the system. But late at night, usually around 2 to 3 am, the horses start appearing. I have done all kinds of research, including asking Russians I know, and no one can explain why there are people riding horses on the sidewalk by one of St. Petersburg’s busiest metro stations in the middle of the night. It’s weird!

Some of them are clearly intoxicated but most are simply hanging out together with their horses. There are usually also a couple of buskers with guitars out there and some people drunkenly dancing around.

And speaking of watching intoxicated people staggering about and having a great time (usually), there are a couple of really fun cams in Thailand that I check in on from time to time. These are on the resort island of Ko Samui in the Surat Thani province and my favorite is of an alley of bars and clubs.

To the right of the screen, there is the Galaxy Club which appears to be a stripper bar with the ladies sitting around outside, smoking and reaching out to lure men into the club with varying degrees of success. After watching this one for a while I got to know the regulars, including armed police officers who stop by for a quick chat.

Over on the left side of the screen is Hush, an open dance club that sometimes sports a banner proclaiming it to be “Thailand’s Number One HipHop Bar”.

In addition to the tourists crowding the alley, there are also a number of young people holding up round signs advertising drinks specials. On some nights you can get shots of tequila for “only” 200 baht which is about $6.60 USD (Having done my heaviest drinking in a city where you could still get a beer and a shot for $2.50, I can’t imagine how the alcoholics manage there; but then I think the same thing here in New York where Happy Hour drinks run $10 and more).

Another favorite webcam is at Dam Square in Amsterdam. This one pans and zooms so you get to see the young people rolling joints or passing little pipes sitting at the base of the huge, very phallic statue in the square.

The few cams in New York City are sort of disappointing, however, and I don’t usually go to those.

The one in Times Square is kind of revolting because it pans and zooms almost exclusively on the garish screens and lighting. But then again, pretty much everything about Times Square is revolting. The cam overlooking the Brooklyn Bridge is sort of cool to watch for about three minutes as it recalls the good old days of watching local traffic cams, but really it’s too far from any people to be of much interest.

Finally, I do enjoy the cams in The Castro in San Francisco. I like that it’s still daytime there this time of year when it’s 5 pm here and full dark. There are three cams there in the Castro, but my favorite is at a turning point for the trolleys and includes a nice bit of what has to be Burning Man art. I wonder, though, during the early morning hours when people are leaving nearby bars and exchanging little packets of something if they realize that they’re on camera.

So if you’re a writer who, like me, spends most of their day at the computer writing, publishing, promoting, and reading, consider taking little breaks here and there to spy on what other people in the world are doing.

And let me know if you catch those horses in St. Petersburg!

© Remington Write 2019. All Rights Reserved

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