With the visit to Pripyat over, our tour of the exclusion zone was slowly drawing to a close. We stopped at the 10km exclusion zone checkpoint, where a guard ran a Geiger counter along the side of the bus and gave us a thumbs up to proceed back to the city of Chernobyl. Before heading back to Chornobylinterinform, we stopped at a ship “graveyard”, memorial park, and small enclosure that contained vehicles used by the liquidators during the cleanup effort.
These ships were abandoned after the Chernobyl disaster due to their high levels of radiation.
Firetrucks and armored personnel carriers used by the liquidators
Memorial erected on the 10th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster
We arrived back at Chornobylinterinform in the late afternoon, and after dutifully standing in line to wash our hands (with our guide mumbling something about particles and parts per million, or whatever) we were served a delicious four course “clean” (meaning, all the food was apparently brought in from outside the zone) meal. I was completely puzzled by one of the beverages, a bright pink concoction with the consistency of jello that hadn’t quite solidified. We dined with an Englishman who had recently returned from North Korea, which, he claimed, was one of the best countries he has visited. I was totally jealous, considering I’ve been wanting to go to North Korea for the past four years. Maybe next year?
Before leaving Chornobylinterinform, we took turns posing for photos on this machine that apparently checks for radiation, or something. Like I said in a previous entry, the health and safety briefing was lacking.
Ryan, myself, and Laura
Kittens outside Chornobylinterinform
Ryan and Laura playing with the radioactive kittens. Uh, no, you can’t take them home…and while Purell hand sanitizer kills 99.999999% of germs, I don’t think that applies to radiation.
When we reached the 30km, and final, checkpoint, a guard ran a Geiger counter along the side of the bus, once again declared it clean, and ordered us off the bus. We were led into a building containing a row of machines that check zone visitors for possible contamination. I stepped onto the machine, placed my hands on the side, and stared at the four buttons in front of me, silently praying that the green one marked “chisto” (“clean”), and not either of the two red buttons, would light up. After a few agonizing seconds, the green button declared that I was clean, the steel bar unlocked, and I was free to leave the zone.
Chisto!
Several in our group stood there on the machines, waiting for instructions of some sort, until the guard supervising the process grinned at them, gave a thumbs up sign, and urged them on using the only English he knew, “OK, OK!” Our entire group passed, which was comforting, because I don’t think anyone was really looking forward to the decontamination showers. Rather, we just wanted to get back on the bus as quickly as possible, as the skies had darkened overhead, signaling that a torrential downpour was well on its way.
Read more about the tour:
1. Dispatches from Chernobyl, Part I: Dude, where’s your Geiger counter?
2. Dispatches from Chernobyl, Part II: Liquidators Memorial / Kopachi / Catfish / Reactor 4
3. Dispatches from Chernobyl, Part III: The ghosts of Pripyat
Related posts:
- Dispatches from Chernobyl, Part I: Dude, where’s your Geiger counter? “Are you ready to go to the ghost city of Pripyat and die a painless death from radiation?” These were, more or less, the first words that greeted us on a beautiful July 4th morning. Most Americans spend their Independence Day holiday grilling burgers and dogs, drinking beer, eating CostCo...
- Dispatches from Chernobyl, Part II: Liquidators Memorial / Kopachi / Catfish / Reactor 4 In the city of Chernobyl there stands a simple memorial to the liquidators who rushed to reactor number four in the immediate aftermath of the explosion. “To those who saved the world.” The firefighters who initially responded to the disaster on the morning of April 26, 1986 were unaware that...
- Dispatches from Chernobyl, Part III: The ghosts of Pripyat “Stay off the moss. Very radioactive.” We were standing on another bridge outside the city of Pripyat, this time surveying the lush green landscape below, hoping to catch a glimpse of the rampaging packs of wild boar that were apparently proliferating throughout the exclusion zone – or so our guide...
From El Capitan:
You are the luckiest person on the face of the earth.
Ukraine. Chernobyl.
Thanks for sharing it with us.
From Diane:
Fabulous travel journal and photos! I’m always intensely interested in extreme places – usually that means a slum market in Africa or the Empty Quarter in Saudi Arabia. It just doesn’t get more extreme than Chernobyl!
Thanks very much for the tour!
From Kayne Karnbach:
Thanks for the photos and for sharing your increadible experience!
From Aidan R.:
Thanks for posting this great write up! I imagine you’ve seen the visit to chernobyl on vbs.tv? Check it out. North Korea is also on my list having went to East Germany when I was just a kid!
From Semen:
Good photos. And truly story. I work in zone and recomend you web-site about unique exclution zone.
http://www.chornobyl.in.ua/index-en.htm
From Louis:
I love your photos and I also loved Ryan!! haha! LOL…just joking…Thanks for sharing your photos!
From Matt:
Great story!
And, as a Scranton resident, bravo on the Blue Shirt!
From howard:
The “radio active kittens” just killed me. I doubt they’re radioactive, but I bet they’re lonely and hungry. So sad. Tragic.
From АннА:
Чернобыль- Несчастье Украины. Очень жаль…
From steve:
interesting place but i would like to know how the ex residents feel about you going there.
From Lindsay:
Not sure, but you can go on tours of Pripyat led by former residents: http://pripyat.com/
From Nia:
Wah mengerikan kalo masa depan kita pake tenaga nuklir bisa bisa bencana buatan tangan manusia sendiri,lihatlah chernobyl sampai sekarang kotanya mati dan banyak anak anak menjadi korban dengan mengidap kanker,apakah dengan mengorbankan nasib manusia kita bisa berjaya di masa depan? klik info ini ya man teman dan klik juga di mbah google potret2 orang2 yang kena dampak chernobyl,mengerikan
http://www.inilah.com/read/detail/1322862/tragedi-chernobyl-bencana-nuklir-terbesar-dunia