Abandonment Issues

Hell YEAH! Another Bucket List item is now complete :) That being "Visit an Abandonment and take photos". Ever since I stumbled across Michael John Grist's blog about Urban Exploration in Japan I have been fascinated by the thought of wandering around in the dark with my heart in my throat. Sounds funny I know. I used to stare longingly out the train window as I went past some dark and scary abandoned factories near South Kensington Station - they looked perfect. I was working up the courage to visit these long coveted scum-holes when I noticed they started to clean them up for re-use. Shattered. I left it for a while and only started thinking about abandonments again 2 weeks ago. This is when Jim chose to mention the location of an abandonment he knew to me. The timing was perfect. Join Jim, Josh and I on an adventure to the darker side of life....

Our intention of course was simply to explore and leave everything un-disturbed- such is the code of the Urban Explorers. Jim said to watch out for homeless people here, so I crept close up behind Josh to use him as a skinny human shield in case we encountered any hobo-trouble. Soon after we entered the first section, we saw the signs of homelessness. It wasn't until I took a photo that the flash illuminated everything in the area and we could really ee what we were dealing with..

Jim lead the way with only a flashlight to guide us. He seemed confident, having been here before. Naturally, we headed for higher ground...

The views from the rooftop were just amazing. We stayed up there for a while chatting but eventually climbed back down to do some more exploring in the scary part... where we found an empty bag...

Nothing to loot here - it had already been looted. We then did a walk of the perimeter to check out some of the other buildings on site. Some of the graffiti out here was really cool....

I love this blue graffiti. I didn't realise how cool it was until later - I new wish i got a photo at a better angle! We made our way into another building - apparently the one with all the machinery. I kept thinking that someone with a really good camera could get some super amazing pictures here...

How cool is that? Jim then suggested we check out the "Crack Den" house in the corner of the property. We approached it very quietly and shone torches in through the bars to see if anyone was around. Not a soul. I don't know what I would do if there was someone.... run? Probably run. Anyway it was all clear so we went in...

It was a pretty dirty and depressing place, but somehow Jim was compelled to sit on the mattress...

It looked wet, but it was actually dry. It was clear that we were in a place of great magic here...

Not sure what all this was... it looked very interesting though! Maybe the "real world" was below this - like on the matrix with all of those pods for the people. These are some connections to the slumbering drones. Anyway, after wandering around for a while, we jumped the fence back into civilization and i somehow ended up with rocks in my shoes from the landing....

 

So, my verdict? Urban exploration is amazing. I think next time I won't drink before-hand, and I will wear better shoes/clothing for exploring. In the dark you can't see the uneven ground so all of the loose stones and rubbish create quite the treacherous path for a dizzy dame such as myself. I'll certainly be keeping my eyes open for more cool places to explore :) If you know of any, I'd love to hear about it!