TBM's adventures in Chernobyl and Pripyat, Part 4 June 2013
Forgot to put up a part 4 here!
The final part of my expedition.
As I'm sure you would too, I was ecstatic when our guide walks us down the road, not saying a word about where we're going until he stops: 'This is the hospital.' Woo! But there was a catch; the government use one of the buildings next door as a laundry store, so we had to be pretty stealthy going round here. Now given the amount of broken glass, that's pretty fucking hard! He said not to linger around the windows at the back, as if they spot anyone inside they'll call the police and then that's his job on the rocks! To be honest, the hospital is one of the buildings I could have done a far better job of covering; I wasted a load of time looking for the mortuary, leaving the other 2 behind and running up and down the corridors much to their annoyance! Be under no illusion here, I'm not obsessed with them, but for every hospital I've been to they've been elusive or sealed! Our guide only gave us 30-40 minutes inside; there are 5 floors plus the basement (which has the firefighters' dangerously contaminated clothing there so no way would I go there!) so no way in hell would you be able to see it all in that time. Now it was only after seeing another report afterwards that it was a seperate outbuilding round the back! :mad
If I ever go back here, without a shadow of a doubt I will be back to see more of this; this is a hospital that an explorer's dreams are made of! Though heavily decayed, how can you argue with beds in every room, medicine lying about, operating theatres and some of the most amazing natural decay you'll ever see?
Re: TBM's adventures in Chernobyl and Pripyat, Part 4 June 2013
After the hospital, we did a few mini-bimbles around some of the inaccessible buildings. First off was the school, which collapsed this April.
Council offices
The next stop was the Prometheus cinema/mini-concert venue(?). Loved this place, except for the fact I forgot 2 fundamental things: my torch and a tripod. I did get one reasonably decent photo of the main screen, but I got to the projection room but couldn't find anything to rest my camera on! My on-camera flash is broken, so I couldn't get a photo! Boo!
Will upload the last part of this set shortly. Watch this space.
Love TBM x
Re: TBM's adventures in Chernobyl and Pripyat, Part 4 June 2013
The final part! On our way to the amusement park, we stopped by at the theatre which had the communist posters and iconography. No access to the auditorium as it was too exposed.
And just behind, the city sports centre.
So there we have it, my biggest rite of passage passed. What would I rate of the experience overall? To be honest, it was pretty expensive with there being 3 of us, and realistically I should have stayed a couple of extra days in Kyiv as it would have cost us peanuts to do so but it was definitely worth it. Did it all in 3 days (left Monday, got back Wednesday), but it was a truly magnificent experience that I will never, ever EVER forget. Would I go back? If I could get a couple more along and spend more time in Kyiv or perhaps, Ukraine, then definitely. We saw virtually all the good bits of Pripyat (certainly all we'd planned to see), but if I go back I'd be sure to do a better job of documenting both the hospital and cinema. I'd do the police station too, that'd be a good one to see.
Forgive me as I should have done this earlier, but first and foremost I'd like to thank my guide (who shall remain nameless) for being an absolute diamond and letting us round all the buildings and places we wanted to see. Secondly I'd like to thank Dylan from Lupine Travel for organising this all for us, but not for not sorting our night in Kyiv properly (LOL! Thankfully we did actually get a room thanks to this proper hot girl from a hostel a couple of floors down)! Finally I'd like to thank both UrbanX and Ric Wright for their excellent advice and help with being in the zone beforehand.
Love as always,
TBM x
Re: TBM's adventures in Chernobyl and Pripyat, Part 4 June 2013
Amazing set and sounds like you had an epic tour. You should do Famagusta next!
Re: TBM's adventures in Chernobyl and Pripyat, Part 4 June 2013
Quote:
Originally Posted by
x-pack
Amazing set and sounds like you had an epic tour. You should do Famagusta next!
Thanks, but I've never heard of that!
Re: TBM's adventures in Chernobyl and Pripyat, Part 4 June 2013
Check it out. It's a bit like the holy grail of explores. The location is actually Varosha in the city of Famagusta. The history reads something like, in 1974 the Turkish army invaded and took over Famugusta. The Cypriot people were evacuated and immediately after capture the town of Varosha was sealed off. It remains that way today. No locals, tourists or journalists are allowed in and the perimeter is heavily guarded. It has been described as a ghost town as people literally abandoned everything. Up until recently there were even 'new' cars still the dealerships. Unfortunately it's been heavily looted so the guards are obviously not doing their job very well.
Re: TBM's adventures in Chernobyl and Pripyat, Part 4 June 2013
You should've waited for Ric's trip man, he sorts out the best guides who just let you off at 8am and tell you to be back at 4! Means you can plan everything around the GPS map and see the stuff off the beaten track that's hiding!
Re: TBM's adventures in Chernobyl and Pripyat, Part 4 June 2013
Quote:
Originally Posted by
GeoVDUB
You should've waited for Ric's trip man, he sorts out the best guides who just let you off at 8am and tell you to be back at 4! Means you can plan everything around the GPS map and see the stuff off the beaten track that's hiding!
Unfortunately I don't stand a chance of doing that, it's in October which is when I'm at Uni.