# Chernobyl & Pripyat April 2009 PICTURE HEAVY



## Dystopia (Apr 14, 2009)

I had seen documentaries on this place and had a morbid fascination with it (as with many things) for some time. I wanted to go so badly largely because of my fixation with apocalyptic things and the curiosity I have about humanity destroying itself...would hate it to happen for real but it doesn't kill the wow factor any less and Chernobyl is the closest thing without a real apocalypse ruining your day.  I also wanted to see the closest thing to my childhood fantasy of a world that was just deserted by humans. 

It's impossible to see the scale of what happened after the incident at Chernobyl and not be affected in some way. For me, I am a big believer in using technology to improve ourselves and our lives in any way that we can...however Chernobyl gave me a reminder of how things can go so wrong so easily if humanity isn't careful. 

I visited here with Wildpeaks, Randomnut and his friend Jim and two people from US I've chatted to for ages and who wanted to see this place as much as I did. I am going to follow Randomnut's wise idea of posting a few posts one one thread to show the different things we found. 

The hotel was nice and the soup and pancakes were to die for! I have been told by previous visitors that the food is unpleasant in Chernobyl but other than the fact that we were traumatised by cabbage for *every* starter, I found it really nice. There again, I'm not a fussy eater in the slightest. The hotel in Chernobyl was nice and the rooms rather spacious. The showers took up and entire small room and looked like decontamination places...probably were. 

This was the best holiday I have ever had and my first one abroad on my own (not been since a kid with parents). I was with some wonderful people and it's the first holiday abroad where I preferred the company of the people there to the local strays. However, old habits die hard and I made some fuzzy friends out there.

I called him/her Fallout and I so wanted to steal him/her because s/he was so soft and friendly.






Street dogs. They were all over the Ukraine and many were nervous and would only be around you until your supply of crackers ran out. I did get to pet a couple of them though. 





This was our hotel:





This was the warning that greeted every person in their room:





These people provided our food. You get LOTS of food there. Our guide worked for these people:





The real Carnival of Rust. Our guide said that it opened for the children to play a day or so before the disaster.










Once there stood a village. It has long since been buried and the only markers of its final resting place are warning signs for radiation.





From here, Pripyat looked like any other skyline. However, the only reason we could stand here was due to the fact that the river had been blocked off in an attempt to stop the contaminated water flowing to populated areas.





An empty road though sometimes you could see the odd vehicle.





To see the rest, go here: http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r92/Dystopian_Wanderer/Chernobyl and Pripyat 2009/


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## Dystopia (Apr 14, 2009)

*Pripyat Apartments.*

There were two types of apartment in Pripyat-those for the wealther people and those for poorer people. Now however, little distinguishes them but their exteriors and they are mostly empty.

28th April.




















I didn't know what the deal with the padded door was.






























It was probably a furniture fixture but it reminded us of Satanism. 















To see the rest of the apartments, go here: http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/...byl and Pripyat 2009/Pripyat Apartments 2009/


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## Neosea (Apr 14, 2009)

Well done. Glad you had a look-see and enjoyed yourself.


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## Dystopia (Apr 14, 2009)

*Pripyat Hospital.*

This is Pripyat Hospital. The guide told us that it was like a horror movie inside there. To me, it was just like any other abandoned hospital but the haunting thing was the knowledge of what went on there. 
























































To see the rest, go here: http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/...nobyl and Pripyat 2009/Pripyat Hospital 2009/


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## Dystopia (Apr 14, 2009)

*Pripyat Kindergarten*

Pripyat Kindergarten was by far the saddest location that we visited. I found all of the abandoned toys fascinating but also quite disturbing. We all know that toys aren't real but to a child, they can be a best friend and a special playmate. I looked at the discarded playthings both here and in other parts of Pripyat and wondered how many of them were someone's good make-believe friend that had to be left behind. The children will have long grown up since then but I couldn't help but wonder how many toys were actually missed by the children. I was told that many of the surviving children went on to develop lots of related problems.


























Was curious to find what looks like the painting of a nuclear blast in Pripyat. 





I thought that this doll was the creepiest-she looked like a ghost.




















To see the rest, go here: http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/...l and Pripyat 2009/Pripyat Kindergarten 2009/


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## Seahorse (Apr 14, 2009)

Dystopia said:


>



This is my favourite spot to snipe from in COD.


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## Dystopia (Apr 14, 2009)

*Pripyat Palace of Culture*

Pripyat looked like it would have been a wonderful, thriving place to live. The guide took us to this leisure centre. For any of you like myself that have watched many Chernobyl documentaries, you will probably recognise the pool. 














































To see the rest, go here: http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/... Pripyat 2009/Pripyat Palace of Culture 2009/


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## Dystopia (Apr 14, 2009)

*Pripyat Police Station.*

If you were bad in Pripyat, you'd have ended up here. There were loads of documents upstairs in Russian but my pitiful vocabularly wouldn't have been able to cover it. 






A cell had a shelf to sleep on and one of those horrible Ukranian toilets that you have to squat over...take it from me, they're not as nice as a proper bowl to sit on. 



































To see the rest, go here: http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/...and Pripyat 2009/Pripyat Police Station 2009/


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## Dystopia (Apr 14, 2009)

*Pripyat School.*

A school for older children. For some reason, there was an entire carpet of gasmasks in this place. I personally think that gasmasks have a creepy beauty to them but whilst I have plenty of photos of the gasmask carpet, I'll not post too many, as other people have taken that picture a lot better than I have. The school still had displays on the walls in places.

Gasmasks! 





Interesting biology display of fish innards.








































To se the rest, go here: http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/...ernobyl and Pripyat 2009/Pripyat School 2009/


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## Dystopia (Apr 14, 2009)

*Pripyat Sports Stadium.*

A sports stadium that would now be too overgrown for sport. The final lot of pics. 


























Cheering on the team! 















To see the rest, go here: http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/... and Pripyat 2009/Pripyat Sport Stadium 2009/


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## Flamingjo (Apr 14, 2009)

Nice pics! I share your fascination with mankind's destruction of itself, so I found them really interesting, and sad at the same time. I would love to visit these places for myself one day.


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## Dystopia (Apr 14, 2009)

Flamingjo said:


> Nice pics! I share your fascination with mankind's destruction of itself, so I found them really interesting, and sad at the same time. I would love to visit these places for myself one day.


I recommend this place to anyone. Whether you have a thing for abandonments or not, it's worth seeing.


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## clebby (Apr 14, 2009)

awesome, fantastic photos 

you've made me want to go even more now!


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## BigLoada (Apr 14, 2009)

Fantastic report! Really good to see all your pics. But the pic of the gas mask carpet is gonna give me nightmares


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## daddybear (Apr 14, 2009)

very thought provoking images there!its a sad fact of life how the human race can wreak so much havoc in one place


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## the-grotto (Apr 15, 2009)

Great pictures, have really got into this, I find it fascinating, and would love to go, but I'd be a bit unsure about the existing levels of radiation  However, this obviously not being something you'd go to Thomas Cook for, I'd be interested in how you go about planning a trip like this.


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## Dystopia (Apr 15, 2009)

the-grotto said:


> Great pictures, have really got into this, I find it fascinating, and would love to go, but I'd be a bit unsure about the existing levels of radiation  However, this obviously not being something you'd go to Thomas Cook for, I'd be interested in how you go about planning a trip like this.


I didn't organise it but I know that Pripyat.com do trips out there. Pripyat has its own website and you can contact guides through there. Other than that, I'm clueless and just booked the plane out to Kiev. Heck there are even boards with the site address hanging off a few balconies in the zone!


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## UrbanX (Apr 15, 2009)

Absolutely awesome. Report of a lifrtime! 
Can I ask which tour you went with? I've heard some of them rush you round,and miss some of the 'must-see's' out, but you seem to have done the full monty. 
So jealous!


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## Dystopia (Apr 15, 2009)

UrbanX said:


> Absolutely awesome. Report of a lifrtime!
> Can I ask which tour you went with? I've heard some of them rush you round,and miss some of the 'must-see's' out, but you seem to have done the full monty.
> So jealous!


As I didn't organise it, I'm not entirely sure. All I know is that the man who took us around worked at the Chernobyl Interform whose sign I've photographed. Our guide said that tour guiding was only 30% of his work and he seemed to relax a lot more when he knew we were only interested in taking pictures.


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## LittleMadam (Apr 20, 2009)

WOW - big respect for going over there. Sounds like your dream became a reality that went prefectly.

The childrens toys are sad, and I do not like the gas masks on the floor but a totally ACE report!!!

You going back again?


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## The Pirate (Apr 21, 2009)

Awsome i`ve GOt to get there !!

Great report


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## Dystopia (Apr 22, 2009)

LittleMadam said:


> WOW - big respect for going over there. Sounds like your dream became a reality that went prefectly.
> 
> The childrens toys are sad, and I do not like the gas masks on the floor but a totally ACE report!!!
> 
> You going back again?


I personally think that gasmasks have a creepy beauty about them. As for going back. I sure hope that I am some day in the not too distant future!


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## richard (Apr 23, 2009)

Nice pictures looks all so eary


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## Richard Davies (Apr 23, 2009)

I've seen prictures of the floor of gasmasks before, but these ones are still creepy, as are the abandoned dolls.

One of those banners is in Estonian, which is some distance away, I guess there was a mix & match of ethnic groups at big projects like this.


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