Video clips

A random selection of things I've seen and found interesting ...and managed to get the camera out of the pocket in time to make a wee film....

I'm relatively new to uploading video and I haven't yet properly figured it all out. If you have really fast internet connection you can just click on the pictures to play the videos, otherwise you should be able to download and save the films by right clicking on the pictures and choosing 'Save link as'. I very rarely have a fast internet connection, so I've made the clips short and with low resolution so downloading won't take too long.

Goldfish at Nong Khai	Making wee videos of goldfish is easy - shooting fish in a barrel. It's especially easy when somebody is feeding them so they stay in the same place.	Goldfish feeding frenzy	And here's another lot.These ones were in a pond at Batu Caves in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and as you can see, it was feeding time again.
Thai rock concert	This was a free concert on the beach promenade in Songkhla, south Thailand. I think it was some kind of promotion, but as everything was in Thai, I don't know what was being promoted. It was a good concert and we hung around for a while.	Barge loading on the Mekong River	This part of the Mekong forms the border between Thailand and Laos. This pier is on the Thai side in a town called Nong Khai. You can see a barge being loaded with gear ready to be sent across the river to Laos.
Long-tail boats	This is from Hat Noparat Thara in Thailand. The boats were coming back to harbour after a days fishing, ferrying tourists about, or whatever else the boatmen do. The tide goes way out on this beach but the river runs across the sand flats and is still deep enough for the boats.	Monitor lizard	I saw this big guy in Kandy Lake, Sri Lanka. The lake's in the centre of town and has lot's of interesting birds and fish, but I didn't expect to see such a big monitor lizard. It doesn't seem to be too bothered that people are watching it.
Sri Lankan fire eaters	At the Kandy cultural centre, they do a show for tourists every evening, presenting all the different traditional dances and performances from around the island. I went to the same place about 15 years ago and saw a similar show which I thought was pretty naff. I didn't think there was much improvement on this occasion, but the fire eaters were entertaining.	Sri Lankan mask dance	Here's another performance from the Kandy cultural centre. The masks are for scaring away evil spirits. You can sometimes see them on houses and gates. This guy doesn't look very scary but a few of his moves are quite impressive (still don't know if it was worth five bucks to get in though...)
Bird bath	This is a short one.... these pigeons were making the most of a leaking pipe to grab a bit of refreshment on a hot summers day in Amsterdam.	Norwegian choir	A Norwegian choir in Latvia. This was a practice run for the Riga summer music festival. There was a big stage set up in Dom Square in Riga old town, where all the acts could rehearse in front of crowds. It was a nice place to sit with a beer and listen. We spent most of the afternoon there.
Tomik gets a bath	Oxana shot this one. Tomik is a Van cat which means that, unlike other cats, he loves water. He also has one green eye and one blue, like other Van cats, but I don't think you can see that in the video. If you understand Russian and you listen carefully you'll hear Oxana's granny swearing - she does that a lot.	Armenian gulls	These guys are all over the site now. I first took a picture with my mobile phone, then on the next visit I made this short film. I also took a load of photos with my Canon Powershot camera and created a whole Armenian Gull page.
Berlin brass band 1	These guys were blasting it out on Kurfurstendamm on a cold rainy Saturday afternoon. We were there to check out the Kaiser Wilhelm Gedachtniskirche, which is a sight to see (check out the photos), but when we heard the band, we thought, hey, the church can wait and headed in the direction of the funky horns....	Berlin brass band 2	....and lucky we did think that, because the guys only played two more numbers before packing up -it really was freezing. This was their last one and it was great. Just wish we had been able to listen to more of their stuff. And, you know what, the church was still there when we went back rto see it.
Belly dancing	We saw this woman doing her stuff in a riverside restaurant in Yerevan, Armenia and at that moment I realised that sometimes a photo just isn't enough. So, this was the inspiration to do a movie page. You also get great music with this one.	Lucky stones	Near the entrance to Geghard Monastery in Armenia, there are some shallow square depressions cut into a rock face and it's good luck if you can throw a stone into one of the holes and it stays there. You can see some kids doing that in this clip.
Yerevan metro	Lucy and Sveta head back from a big day out in Yerevan. Here they are descending into Republic Square metro station. Riveting stuff.	Harbour lightshow	This is Hong Kong harbour. At night you can go on a boat trip around the harbour and around eight o'clock, all the buildings along the shore light up in different colours. There are a lot of other ferries, lit up too, doing the same trip and crossing paths.
Hong Kong dredger	This is a good one. Watch ther dredger scooping up mud and dumping it into the barge. There are some great squeaky mahine sounds on this one and you'll see a couple of wee tug-boats as well.	The wedding dress	We watched these lovely models showing off wedding dresses in Kunming city centre. The clip shows the gold dress on the right being modelled and it's very gracefully done. Good to watch.
Circle dancing	Strolling back from the night market in Kunming, we came across these guys having fun in the main square. A woman in traditional hill-peoples' costume had a big sound system banging out and she really had the crowd going.	Digger in Hong Kong harbour	I made the above-right clip of the Hong Kong dredger in September 2007. In this clip you can see what was happening in the same place by January 2008. Amazing.
Penguins	These guys (and the sharks and the sunfish) live at the Lisbon oceanarium. There are four different climactic zones and the penguins, of course, live in the antarctic zone.	Dancing sharks	I'm not sure what kind these are but they're stripey which makes me think they're maybe tiger sharks. But then, maybe they're not. They are not really dancing; it just looks like they are.
Sunfish	This was a HUGE fish! You'll see just how big it was when the wee boy puts his hand up against the glass. It swims really slowly. I guess when you're that big, you don't need to swim fast.	Musical fountain	Independence Square, Yerevan, Armenia. They spent months building this fountain and it was well woth it. The result is trully magnificent. Now you can just take a few beers down to the square on a summer's evening for a cheap night out.