Kevin Milne explores the Ukraine - a destination not exactly at the top of most people's 'to visit' list, but one which won him over. "I left the country in love with its people, overawed by its colossal white frozen landscape, chilled by its -15C degrees days, and pleased that the bear I'd met didn't eat me," explains Milne.
Despite some recent health scares, Milne accepted the challenge of his Intrepid Journey. Rather than staying holed up at home on the couch, he decided to make the most of every chilly moment. "You'll be stunned, as I was, at the frozen beauty of Ukraine in mid-winter," says Milne. "The only ugly scene is when I disrobe and dunk myself, three times, in the icy Dnieper River on the religious feast-day of Advent," he explains - he cleared the activity with his cardiologist and was slightly disappointed to be given the all clear. "For this, my sins were forgiven. But the viewer may not forgive me not keeping my clothes on," he laughs.
Milne's trip also involved a stop off at Chernobyl, but it wasn't his proximity to radiation that disturbed him. "As I expected, the highlight of the journey was my day at Chernobyl. I found myself surprisingly close to the plant's wrecked Reactor No 4, covered by what is clearly an inadequate concrete sarcophagus.
"I wasn't emotionally affected by this ugly monument to scientific folly. But I was moved to tears when we visited the empty school in the abandoned city of Pripyat next to it," he says. "All the little chairs, the coat-hangers with their numbers just like our littlies' schools. The kids got out but it was largely too late. What of the lives of those who didn't die - and the lives of their children? So, so sad."
There were cultural highlights that helped balance out the bleak. "In the little western town of Kolymia, I thought it appropriate to make a Pavlova for our delightful hosts, given the Russian connection," Milne says. "Once I got the pronunciation right, emphasis on the pav not the lova, they jumped with excitement. 'Ah Anna Pavlova. We know. New Zealand created a national dish after her.' Australia was never mentioned," he laughs.
Travelling off the beaten track in the Ukraine is much like a step back into a Hans Christian Anderson fairytale, he says. "In the impoverished, snow-bound rural areas around the Carpethian Mountains, we were surrounded by a medieval, peasant way of life, of a type I've never witnessed elsewhere. Within it was a cultural wealth, a richness of spirit; I've never seen either. We literally waded through the snow and knocked on cottage doors in order to see life inside. The owners' generosity and hospitality didn't seem compromised by either our strangeness, the language barrier, or our constantly rolling camera."
Kevin Milne explores the Ukraine - a destination not exactly at the top of most people's 'to visit' list, but one which won him over. "I left the country in love with its people, overawed by its colossal white frozen landscape, chilled by its -15C degrees days, and pleased that the bear I'd met didn't eat me," explains Milne.
Despite some recent health scares, Milne accepted the challenge of his Intrepid Journey. Rather than staying holed up at home on the couch, he decided to make the most of every chilly moment. "You'll be stunned, as I was, at the frozen beauty of Ukraine in mid-winter," says Milne. "The only ugly scene is when I disrobe and dunk myself, three times, in the icy Dnieper River on the religious feast-day of Advent," he explains - he cleared the activity with his cardiologist and was slightly disappointed to be given the all clear. "For this, my sins were forgiven. But the viewer may not forgive me not keeping my clothes on," he laughs.
Milne's trip also involved a stop off at Chernobyl, but it wasn't his proximity to radiation that disturbed him. "As I expected, the highlight of the journey was my day at Chernobyl. I found myself surprisingly close to the plant's wrecked Reactor No 4, covered by what is clearly an inadequate concrete sarcophagus.
"I wasn't emotionally affected by this ugly monument to scientific folly. But I was moved to tears when we visited the empty school in the abandoned city of Pripyat next to it," he says. "All the little chairs, the coat-hangers with their numbers just like our littlies' schools. The kids got out but it was largely too late. What of the lives of those who didn't die - and the lives of their children? So, so sad."
There were cultural highlights that helped balance out the bleak. "In the little western town of Kolymia, I thought it appropriate to make a Pavlova for our delightful hosts, given the Russian connection," Milne says. "Once I got the pronunciation right, emphasis on the pav not the lova, they jumped with excitement. 'Ah Anna Pavlova. We know. New Zealand created a national dish after her.' Australia was never mentioned," he laughs.
Travelling off the beaten track in the Ukraine is much like a step back into a Hans Christian Anderson fairytale, he says. "In the impoverished, snow-bound rural areas around the Carpethian Mountains, we were surrounded by a medieval, peasant way of life, of a type I've never witnessed elsewhere. Within it was a cultural wealth, a richness of spirit; I've never seen either. We literally waded through the snow and knocked on cottage doors in order to see life inside. The owners' generosity and hospitality didn't seem compromised by either our strangeness, the language barrier, or our constantly rolling camera."
Watch Kevin Milne's two weeks in the snow-clad Ukraine on tonight's first episode of Intrepid Journeys at 7.30pm on TV ONE.
http://www.throng.co.nz/intrepid-journeys/intrepid-journeys-season-premiere
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