Intro: Urbex Collective

Urbex, or rather known as Urban Exploration is a collective for the Urban Explorer in me. I didn’t understand nor do I know the terms until much later, when I was googling for abandoned places or dystopian looking places.

One might ask, why would I want to go to such weird places.

“Isn’t it dangerous?”

“What’s there to do there anyway”

"Why do you go overseas and do such weird things?"

"How is that enjoyable?"

I thought about it for a while before deciding to write on.

There is actually an unspoken beauty of places like these.

The strange air and oddity of a building left you wondering its stories.

As it lays there as if a person still alive, breathing but not moving at all. You sat there looking at them as if frozen in time eyes looking into oblivion.

You could also see how mother nature takes them in, as vines start wrapping itself around the pillars, the mosses come claiming its nest, and various creatures start making it their home.
From bats, birds, several sewer rats to stray cats and dogs.

Squatters and drunk addicts might see sanctuary when these places are way off the radar, or rather too creepy to hold another soul.

While they use our fear for their advantage.

Als,o the juxtaposition of nature vs urban exploration is somewhat a thin line. It is actually akin to hiking with some being physically taxing. Both require a bit of walking, trekking, going around and sometimes climbing. You also have to be extremely careful to not hurt yourself.

There are broken stairways, ledges and some places might even require you to crawl your way in.

Urban exploring also comes with a tinge of puzzle solving, as you might have to find a way to get into the entrance. And boy that peculiar sense of achievement when you made your way in. To even figure out the place, find your way to it is yet another challenge itself as these unspoke tales don't float around the streets much.

There are several urban explorers who branded the "haunted image" to "sell" themselves. Surviving the journey through the unexplained dimension put them on the ranks of virtual celebrities, or some gave them medals which engraved "balls of steel", literally and I respect that.

Though I am no fan of the haunted aspect, the last thing I would like to do is to disrespect. (Story for another time, I used to have the third eye for awhile.) And hence the fear of possibly offending any entity from the other side.

I actually love the "abandoned" aspect of these buildings, the grunge, how everything is left as it is just like a platter of food that's left there.

Then you can see how the building interacts with the test of time, as if how animals would come to eat the food, where pests like flies would come create their habitat, and how it all sinks into a new ecosystem and granted, a life of its own. So some places that I would feature might be an oddity itself, from plane graveyards, to abandon buildings or unique ones like 14 Tôn Thất Đạm, which is abandoned but life still goes on there. Yes, I'm talking about human lives.

This amazing aspect together with how it is thrown way off the beaten path (or rather, way off in a hidden path), makes the whole experience unique on its own and somewhat extraordinary.

Moving on to start my collection, I would love it if anyone needs a group/a community or a partner in crime. I'll be sure to play ball should our schedule align! Feel free to write in, should you need a friend or somebody to banter urban exploring with.

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Click here to check out the rest of my Urbex Collections