Radium rubber factory, Maastricht, Netherlands (part one)

alternative way to the factory

Visited by skkye 5-6.4.2012. I saw this smokestack from the bus window and get excited immediately because of its ominous name. When we were photographing in the park nearby I wanted as well to go there and see what there was.

First day we just explored the yard and the shed. When we was in the shed taking photos some man rushed in and scared us. But then he explained that he had just left his bike "here somewhere". A bit odd place to store a bike but we concluded that maybe he didn't have a lock in his bike so this was a more safe place to keep it.

Second day I came back alone and had decided to go in. In the picture number 8 you can see the passage I had planned to use. But then I noticed that somebody had twisted a hole in the metal rail. I thought that nobody does that without a meaning and squashed into hole. There was a route inside a hedge and then an other twisted hole from which I got outside. The rest was easy, there was stairs and door open to the factory.

I was quite nervous to go alone to the abandoned factory abroad but curiousness was stronger. So I took photos and watched the graffities in dutch. Then I heard footsteps and freezed in place. Some dried up man was coming towards me. For a moment I was about to run away but then I thought that would be stupid. So I tried to look fearless but kind and shouted "Hi, do you speak english? I'm sorry to disturb you". He didn't notice me at all, just walk forward. That was very frightening, because even if he would have been deaf, he should have seen me. (And he wasn't deaf, because later I found his sleeping place and figured out that I had woken him up being noisy.) He was just so introverted that it was almost inhumane. And then he turned left and disappered in the stairs. I was like "is he going out or getting a weapon and returning to kill me?". But then I decided that who fears doesn't play or something and went on exploring.

(To be continued in the next post)