So I went to Ukraine... During the war.

for security reasons I decided to keep this trip entirely confidential and did not post anything publicly until I was safely out of the country [Applause] there are three things I hate more than anything else in this world mosquitoes waiting in long lines and being cold [Applause] I usually end up getting stuck with one of them no matter where I go so little context originally I was not planning on going to Ukraine let alone anytime soon let alone during a war but I was given an offer long story short my friend Max that I met at Abu Dhabi last year is a talent manager he's a fan of geography now and then one day he hit me up and said hey barbs how would you like to go to Ukraine for the Ukraine episode and I was like what the and then he was like yeah I have connections and then I was like okay and then my mom was like um I don't care yeah she's seen me go to a lot of crazy places so at this point she's kind of dead inside which works great for me and it was interesting because this trip was gonna happen almost at the one year anniversary from when the war started so I had to work with a short period of time when it seemed to be relatively calmer so the company Max got me in contact with was visit Ukraine dot today if you have any questions about visiting Ukraine or just any questions in general hit them up they have all the information on their website and you can even talk to some of them as well they basically sponsored this trip because they wanted to help me out with the Ukraine episode which is awesome thank you so much uh visit Ukraine dot today but yeah in any case basically even during war times Ukraine is still trying to kind of Salvage and maintain whatever little tourism industry they still have however if anybody decides to come and visit they do let the people know that their trip will come with a degree of precaution you could get bombed if there is any imminent danger they do let the people know with air raid sirens that you can hear outside your window or there's an app that notifies them about anything that's going on that they need to be careful about whether it's short range ballistics on the east side or if it's military exercises going on in Belarus it's so crazy like they even like notified me in my paperwork if there is a bombing you will have to go to the bomb shelter I believe the law states that any commercial or residential property that is over 600 square meters is required by law to have an underground shelter built under it so most businesses and hotels and apartment complexes have an underground shelter it's pretty interesting how they have their system you know second getting into Ukraine is a little different because since the war started in 2022 all air travel into Ukraine has been suspended so the only way to get into Ukraine is via land Crossing so this is how I got in basically I would have to fly all the way to Warsaw Poland where I would meet up with my go-to poll Conrad who was in the Poland episode we would go go to Krakow the culture capital of Poland and then from there I would go on my Merry way on a bus ride all the way to medika the town on the border with Ukraine where I would have to Cross by foot to the Ukrainian side and I would meet up with my contact so yeah so with all of that in check I packed up as much as I could and it was off to Poland oh snow is so weird I haven't seen this in so long alright so I'm here in Krakow with my go to pole Mr Conrad you may remember this thing from the Poland episode the barbecue next to the town Gates how has your life been since the Poland episode it's been good looking forward to the next Zelda game because it's pretty much in the setting like this serious squirrels just do this in Poland okay well as beautiful as Krakow was and as much as I loved it this video is not about Poland or krakov it's about Ukraine so with my last minute preparations I had to get ready prepare for the cold do some last minute research drink my coffee and head out [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] la la la la la [Music] so this is the path to the Border just gonna follow these people kind of surreal you know just people with suitcases just uh you know walking into a war zone foreign [Music] just across the border I am now in Ukraine I don't even know what to think wow so this is my Ukraine go-to guy Jan how you doing great great nice to meet you so Crossing into the west side of Ukraine was pretty interesting as this area has seen relatively less conflict the first thing you'll notice are the huge patches of mistletoe on the trees technically considered a parasite but I honestly thought it was kind of charming as we drove on Jan immediately had to let me know some ground rules uh military checkpoints police checkpoints a lot of militaries all around and a lot of police all around so okay uh it's forbidden to take any pictures of military vehicles okay finally we arrived in leviv the culture capital of Ukraine everywhere you go you see historic buildings murals on walls that honor the Ukrainian culture and people there's a deep story behind this place as it was a part of many different shifting Empires and hands of sovereignty throughout the centuries well this has to be the coolest looking dead-end alley I've ever seen in my life if you looked a little closer though like many other cities in Ukraine there is a sort of ambiance of tension windows are boarded up with plywood or sometimes they are even blockaded by sandbags to conserve electricity many businesses and commercial property use generators as some of the power plants have been hit and attacked this is a very common sight and if I'm going to be honest quite frankly witnessing all of this was a little eerie but also exhilarating at the same time because it showed a society that was trying to still function amidst the chaos in any case I would be staying at the Best Western Hotel in leviv which is honestly one of the most badass hotels in the entire world because they literally opened up in the summer during the war the staff is super friendly and the hotel not only has an amazing atmosphere but it definitely caught my eye because this hotel had one thing that really spoke to my character Maps everywhere you go in this hotel you will see maps of various cities and regions across the world obviously as the geography guy I was completely in my element within this place hey they even had a map of my home city which felt pretty welcoming not gonna lie this is the hotel room it's it's pretty good it's got a shower I messed things up yeah it's pretty good TV Wi-Fi electricity everything you need it's great check it they gave me a fruit platter and a card just welcoming me oh what oh these these ukrainians now here's the cool thing the hotel actually has a restaurant underneath them which doubles as a bomb shelter they said they would treat me to a meal and all they asked was that I reviewed it but before the meal they had to give me a few drinks and this is where the story gets a little interesting so here it is the zombie drink hmm I like it I like it they use my favorite rum Kraken then they prepared a second drink the Autumn kiss let's do this in Ukraine okay I'm not gonna lie after this I kind of forgot to put on my lav mic so the audio is gonna be a little choppy bear with me so the restaurant here wants to treat me to dinner I don't know what's gonna happen let's find out also not gonna lie those two drinks kind of Hit me hard and I am feeling a little loopy I am in no position to review food right now but I'm gonna do it and look at this water they gave me this is butter basil butter this is Ukraine man only ukrainians do this this is incredibly Ukrainian solo pig fat with herbs and just um I love greasy fatty salty foods this right up my alley sorrow so you cannot get more Ukrainian than borsche borsch is distinctly Ukrainian and they do it the proper way pieces of beetroot inside of it and go crazy top three favorite soups in the world Porsche here we have the next dish for you it's a Wilton with the Carpathian mushrooms on the top of it there is a moss I'm just I'm just eating whatever they give me and it's good it's like clam chowder but better and give me a spoon let me try eating this with a knife yeah you know I finished that job I swear why is it why is it everywhere I go my subscribers or the people I meet the locals they always try to get me drunk it always works it's happened in St Vincent it happens and brought to Slava now Ukraine yeah and the next dish yeah it's a filet mignon steak my dog is called pepper sauce to eat Madagascar hot sauce okay let's do this filet mignon how do I okay I gotta look how juicy come on Focus stupid camera come on focus focus on the juicy [Music] I thought I made sex good this is on a whole other level look at the uh potato girl oh shoot it's gonna fall oh shoot still five second roll seriously I think this is the most like luxurious meal I've ever had in my life my goodness and I'm having it in Ukraine [Music] I am day two and live the city Comes Alive notable sites are still there like the guy who invented the kerosene lamp the guy who founded the city and so on but of course I would need a proper guide so I met up with miroslava who will be way better than me at explaining levieve this is Liberty Avenue our city is rather old because our leap was first mentioned in the Galicia Millennium Chronicles under the year of 1256 all the time russinians ukrainians lived here All This Time Medieval ages Austrian period we had in luviv we had Nazi invasion we had Soviet period the conflict goes back even before that the conflict goes back to the 16th century first stop St George's Cathedral probably the most famous site in this whole city and if you looked a little closer you'd notice a little something so question why did they put the cage around the statue because of the war protection right protection yes yeah you can see two statues one of the pope of Rome and Constantinople Park Tree Art the patriarch and the pope and the pope yeah it means that the church if you're Christians you have to be United so it's kind of like a mix between both between both right now here's the thing leviv is kind of like a double City one above ground one below ground and in such you will find many restaurants cafes underground like this really cool cafe so now I'm at a cafe where it's underground and they give you a headlamp we're we're going and once you sit down the show really begins Ukrainian SpongeBob is following me yeah look at what is going on there's a red and black flag over there explain what is that we have Ukrainian flag it's blue and yellow right and we have another flag of Ukrainian resistance Army it's black soil and red blood of our boys who defend Ukraine now as much fun as we had and as beautiful as some parts of the city were you couldn't help but notice a somewhat melancholic undertone oftentimes you might pass by a grave site with a Ukrainian flag which meant it was the burial site of a recently deceased soldier in fact we actually came across this a funeral service for a recently deceased Soldier I was surprised because they were actually imploring me to film this in fact they wanted me to give recognition to a fallen soldier as he was carried out everybody kneeled to pay respect and everyone headed into the church where the service was held this was just one incident amongst many and I was told that this was pretty much a daily occurrence despite that in Viv now we almost every day we have a funeral ceremony in the center of the city we have to continue to live so we have to raise our children we have to earn money we have to work we have to to drink to eat we try to make our life as more ordinary despite the work as possible as possible as it is possible we have to live you have to live somehow right yeah [Music] [Applause] alas it was time to move on and get out of the western side of the country and head east and by that I mean Kiev the capital several kilometers on the main Highway before you even enter into the city you'll notice remnants of the war with destroyed buildings that were attacked by Russians in 2022 even in little stopover places that paralleled the E-40 Highway like makarif or andrifka keys made it too [Applause] Warfare did not really hit the city much though and when you enter into Kiev you'll notice that it is still a somewhat functioning City however many major construction projects have been halted due to the war yet they are still trying their best to move forward from here I would be staying at hotel Bursa right at the heart of the old town this place was very Charming somewhat more of a younger crowd type of Hotel it has its own Cafe and Restaurant again super nice staff and of course just like all the other hotels if you need it they have an underground bunker and of course my room was quite the spectacle one rustic brick wall on the side and a beautiful bed of course it came with your typical disclaimers in case if there was a power outage so this is the room oh my goodness dear Paul we appreciate you chose Bursa hotel and Kiev We Wish You a comfortable and safe stay enjoy the moment oh yeah I was kind of obsessed with this bed maybe even a little too much so good that I even elbowed myself in the ribs and injured myself in any case it was getting a little late and I decided to take my first night walk in Kiev and uh I kind of noticed something so this is crazy I have a little light with me I'm here just walking along the nipro river all the lights are turned off all the street lights everything is dark the only lights are usually just coming from the Cars a few businesses I don't even know if you can see it there's the bridge way back there all the lights on the bridge are turned off half of the city just goes dark at night on that note though there was something good that came out of the darkness it allowed the night sky to become illuminated tenfold and for the first time in a long time I got to see a moon halo or a moon dog these things usually only occur in the freezing cold temperatures at night and it was honestly one of the most beautiful spectacles I'd ever seen in a city [Music] morning time in Kiev is a whole different atmosphere the city wakes up and starts hustling and bustling people are moving businesses are opening up and people are trying their best to keep moving forward so I'm from California I don't have a lot of warm clothing so I had to kind of pack up whatever I had that was warm I mean it worked on Christmas now since the war to conserve electricity trams have stopped operating however the Metro still functions now if you know me I love taking metros let's see how Kiev fares the Kiev Metro is without a doubt one of the most beautiful metros I've ever seen mosaics adorning the ceilings with chandeliers with three main lines it's pretty efficient and gets you where you need to go nothing more beautiful than crossing the nipple River if you're lucky you can pass by the mother motherland statue it's amazing so this Barcelona the world's deepest Metro station 107 meters below the ground let me just show you in a time lapse of how long it takes to get to the top [Music] there you go Arsenal station so this is quite an interesting thing to witness I'm here at St Michael's square and uh right next to it are a bunch of destroyed Russian tanks and carrier Vehicles put on display for the public the locals and any visitors to see as a way to kind of rally up the Ukrainian people to let them know that hey this is going on kind of surreal it's like all these destroyed vehicles in the middle of a Public Square in front of a cathedral this is uh I guess this is the message that Ukraine wants to not only send to Russia but to the world just like leviv Kiev is a city that seems to have a central theme of being caught in the dichotomy of being in the middle of a war while trying to maintain a functional Society while also trying to portray its unique identity and culture to the world and share it as best as they can at whatever capacity and in such I could not come to Kiev without missing not only a UNESCO heritage site but the first one of the country the Saint Sophia Cathedral and complex it was actually named after the Hagia Sophia and constructed in the 11th century unfortunately I could not go in it was closed during the time that I was there but I was allowed to go up the bell tower so you can definitely tell it's Ukrainian because the angels are wearing vishvankas the bell tower offers amazing views not only of the interior and of the cathedral complex but also of the city outside and it is quite a privilege to experience after all the Kiev exploration it was time for Yan to take me to one of the most important sites outside of the city so in Kiev there were three lines of defense and on the third line that's where all the fighting began and here on the road to zabuchia you see all the destroyed military vehicles tanks carriers just rusting left here after all the months these Russian tanks destroyed from zabucha the remnants of War just kept continuing from town to town this it's on the Strategic Crossroads on the way from Belarus all the way to Kiev it was hit hard in February of 2022. the crazy thing is people still live in these buildings so this half was destroyed where people actually still live further over there in that part of the building the whole area Northeast of Kiev and the Kiev o blast is just riddled and speckled with sight after sight whether it's a destroyed Bridge a destroyed arts and culture center rusting piles of cars that were destroyed within battles Russian Artillery boxes the sites seemed to be endless along the side of the roads you see leftover Russian and Ukrainian trenches little Mounds where soldiers were fighting tons of fields with unharvested crops due to the fact that land mines have been planted everywhere rendering the entire areas as unsafe it is speculated to take about 15 years to demine all of the fields rule number one do not walk into the forests or any place off-road Ukraine is now one of the most mind play places in the world land mines pretty much everywhere unless if it has been checked this is earpin along with pucha it was where some of the bloodiest most devastating battles happened bullet holes everywhere aftermath shelling it's a lot it's a lot to take in it's a lot to see it's a lot to witness this is the reality of War sometimes you gotta understand how things are really going down in the end what it comes down to is like most post-soviet Nations Ukraine is kind of caught in the middle of the East Slavic world and the West European world the situation is very complicated and it's not simple to address people are figuring things out and taking it one day at a time you cannot avoid the topic of war in this country it is everywhere you go and everywhere you step but I really wanted to get to know the Ukrainian people so I just had one little project when I came here thankfully there was a little mini theater Studio that I could use thank you to United 24 media for stepping in and helping out with this and I honestly just wanted to ask the Ukrainian people one simple question what is a Ukrainian for me to be Ukrainian it means to be uh independent and to to feel the freedom in our veins for the 500 years we have been burned and we've been dying just with the one thing we want to be free Ukrainian is a Freewheel free choice and Freeland missiles and drones and so on uh you need to to be Fearless this country give me anything what I have for now I'm a member of parliament I'm Olympic champion and I'm proud to be Ukrainian is when you always fight you for freedom but we are like everyone else like to party we like to drink we like to have fun to be a Ukrainian means drink coffee and gathering with your family when Russian missile is attacking you climbing your 23rd fly floor because the elevator is off for girls for example means dry dry your hair when in a car you know because there is no electricity Maria is the hair thing is the hair thing true yeah it's true if you haven't been in carpathians I will probably recommend you to go there the most authentic ukrainians their traditions in its most original way we'll we want and we we have to be creative to survive every single 15 years old girl in Ukraine at the moment and knows almost everything about generators yeah we know it's about high Mars we know about leopard we're now about military guys every single Ukrainian are volunteer to be a Ukrainian means to be a hard worker but to be a stubborn person we are not very good team players we are individualists and it comes the truths from our history I want to tell a big big thank you for all men who and women of course who are on the world now and of course on the front line a lot of women are there too that's why Ukrainian women are the best woman in the world and I'm very proud of all of them and to be Ukrainian it means that you definitely must to help each other your friends your neighbors your friends who are soldiers right now yeah police station God Etc and also for civilians it's like in the game you know trying to reach Next Level it is harder and harder and you're thinking what is next what is next why why for me why it's everything for my nation but find finally you can see that you are strong enough or we are walking through the hell but after I invite everyone to Ukraine and I will hug you and if not me we have everyone in Ukraine who will hug you I can't believe this is what my life is now I I started doing the Afghanistan episode in an apartment and now I'm halfway across the world in a war zone I don't know what's going to happen to geography now but it seems like this is where things are now I got this far in life let's see where life takes me after this [Music]

Channel: Geography Now

Views: 1,902,513

Keywords: Geography, facts, info, cool, education, learning, countries, history, class, lesson, funny, travel

Id: QHIKlu6bn2M

Length: 24min 52sec (1492 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 19 2023

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[u/ColdPotatoWar]

How is this not war tourism? Disaster porn? No matter how much he tries to pretend it's about "supporting the Ukrainian economy". There's still millions of Ukrainian refugees taking shelter abroad in all of Europe and he casually strolls in there to have fancy dinners and live in nice hotels? Yeah, no. Not for me.