for security reasons I decided to keep this trip entirely confidential and did not post anything publicly until I was safely out of the [Applause] country there are three things I hate more than anything else in this world mosquitoes waiting in long lines and being cold I usually end up getting stuck with one of them no matter where I go let's 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 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 going to happen almost at the oneyear 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. 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 talked 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. 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 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 bellarus 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 m is required by law to have an underg 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 pole Conrad who was in the Poland episode we would go to crack the culture capital of Poland and then from there I would go on my Merry way on a bus ride all the way
to Meda 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 oo snow is so weird I haven't seen this in so long really all right so here in kocol with my goto pole Mr Conrad you may remember this thing from the Poland episode the barbin next to the town Gates how has your life been since the
Poland episode it's been good uh looking forward to the next Zelda game because it's pretty much in a setting like this are you serious squirrels just do this in Poland okay well as beautiful as krack off was and as much as I loved it this video is not about po or crack off 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 this is it I I go to Ukraine [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] so this is the
path to the Border I'm just going to follow these people kind of surreal you know just people with suitcases just uh you know walking into a war zone [Music] just crossed the border I am now in Ukraine I don't even know what to think wow so this is my Ukraine go-to guy Yan how you doing Yan great great nice to meet you so Crossing into the west side of 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 Yan 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 Lviv 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 site 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 Lviv 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 going to lie so this is the hotel room 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 I like it I like it they used my favorite rum Kraken then they prepared a second drink the Autumn kiss let's do this in Ukraine Down the Hatch okay I'm not going to lie after this I kind
of forgot to put on my lav mic so the audio is going to be a little choppy bear with me so the restaurant here wants to treat me to dinner I don't know what's going to happen let's find out also not going to lie those two drinks kind of Hit me hard and I am feeling a little loopy wo I am in in no position to review food right now but I'm going to do it and look at this butter 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 m I love greasy fatty salty foods this right up my alley solo so you cannot get more Ukrainian than borch borch 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 will tongue with the carpan 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 you give me a spoon let me try eating this with a knife yeah you know I finished that up 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 happened in BR laava now Ukraine yeah and the next dish F yeah it's a fon steak Madagascar pepper sauce to e Madagascar hot sauce okay let's do this fet mnan how do I okay I got to look how juicy come
on Focus stupid camera come on focus focus on the juicy I thought I made steaks good this is on a whole other level look at the uh potato Graton oh shoot it's going to fall oh shoot still 5c 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 [Music] Ukraine yeah I am day two in leiv 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 Mir Slava who will be way better than me at explaining Lviv this is Liberty Avenue our city is rather old because our we was first mentioned in the Galicia valan CR Chronicles under the year of 1256 all the time rians ukrainians lived here All This Time Medieval ages Austrian period we had in leiv we had Nazi invasion we had Soviet period the conflict goes back even before that like oh 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 do they put the cage around the statue because of the war protection right protection yes yeah you can see a two statues one of the pope of Rome and Constantinople patriarch 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 Lviv 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 where where where are going and once you sit down the show really begins okay Ukrainian SpongeBob is following me yeah yeah okay I'm looking big what is going on V explain 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 often times you might pass by a grave site with a Ukrainian flag which meant it 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 uh 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 war 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 ke 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 stop over places that paralleled the E40 Highway like marar or andrika made it too Warfare did
not really hit the the city much though and when you enter into keev 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 bua 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 bua hotel and ke We Wish You a comfortable and safe stay enjoy the moment 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 keev 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' had ever seen in a [Music] city morning time in keev 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 ke fares the keev 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 nipal river if you're lucky you can pass by the mother motherland statue it's amazing so this is Arsenal the world's deepest Metro station 107 M below the ground let me just show you in a time lapse how long it takes to get to the [Music] top There You Go arsenalna station so this is quite a interesting thing to witness I'm here at St Michaels 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 Lviv keev 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 can not come to K without missing not only a UNESCO heritage site but the first one of the country the St sopia Cathedral and complex it was actually named after the hogia 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 vishanka 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 keev exploration it was time for Yan to take me to one of the most important sites outside of the city so in keev there were three lines of defense and on the third line that's where all the fighting again and here on the road to
zabia you see all the destroyed military vehicles tanks carriers just rusting left here after all the months these Russian tanks destroyed from zabia the remnants of War just kept continuing from town to town this is banka it's on the Strategic Crossroads on the way from bellarus all the way to keev it was hit hard in February of 2022 the crazy thing is people still live in these buildings so this half was destroyed but people actually still live further over there in that part of the building the whole area Northeast of keev in the KE oblast
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 site 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 landmines 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 Offroad Ukraine is now one of the most mined places in the world landmines pretty much everywhere unless if it has been checked this is irin along with bua it was where some of the bloodiest most 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 got to 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 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 uh 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 free will free choice and free land missiles and drones and so on uh you need to to be Fearless uh this country give me anything what
I have uh for now I Member of Parliament I'm Olympic champion and I proud to be Ukrainian it's when you always fighting 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 missiles attacking you climbing your 23rd FL 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 they traditions in its most original way we we want and we we have to be creative uh to survive every single 15 years old uh girl in Ukraine at the moment knows almost everything about generators yeah we knows about high Mars we know about leop parts we know 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 come it roots from our history I want to uh tell a big 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 wom are the best woman in the world and I'm very proud of all of them and to be Ukrainian it means that uh you definitely must to help each other your friends your neighbors uh your friends who are soldiers right now police National
Guard 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 finally you can see that you are stronger enough 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 after this [Music]
