Unfortunately "Ghost Town", the "motorcycling through the radioactive desolation of Chernobyl" photo-essay, turns out to be largely a fake.

"I am based in Kyiv and writing a book about Chornobyl for the Joseph Henry Press. Several sources have sent me links to the "Ghost Town" photo essay included in the last e-POSHTA mailing. Though it was full of factual errors, I did find the notion of lone young woman riding her motorcycle through the evacuated Zone of Alienation to be intriguing and asked about it when I visited there two days ago.
"I am sorry to report that much of Elena's story is not true. She did not travel around the zone by herself on a motorcycle. Motorcycles are banned in the zone, as is wandering around alone, without an escort from the zone administration. She made one trip there with her husband and a friend. They traveled in a Chornobyl car that picked them up in Kyiv.
"She did, however, bring a motorcycle helmet..."

There's another post farther down the thread that goes into more detail:

"One of the pictures on her original site was inside a kindergarden. It's a picture of a baby's crib, with a photo of Lenin, a child's gas mask, and some toys. These photos were 'staged' by Elena's husband. He found the photo of Lenin elsewhere, put it in the cott and placed a gas mask alongside then took a photo of it."

I'll retreat back to the safety of my cyberpunk novels now, where at least I know in advance that it's mostly made-up :)

Mood: disappointed
Music: Sigur Rós -- some track without a name