Greetings from Ukrainian controlled Crimea so you can see a few guys probably fishing there we're right
at the point where Ukrainian soldiers are actually stationed on the road I didn't want to film there
because probably they're going to stop me filming but basically we're on the Arabatskaya Strelka
which is a small tiny sliver of land called a spit is the geographical term and it is
probably I mean I just guess by looking about probably about one percent of the
territory of Crimea that is still under Ukrainian control you're probably aware that in 2014
Russia annexed Crimea and they actually controlled this little sliver of territory as
well at the time the Russian forces withdrew further down the spit about 15 kilometers
further down the spit is technically where the de facto border is but already
there are Ukrainian soldiers with a checkpoint on the road so we can't actually go any further
than here so we're a good bit away actually but as you can see Crimea is pretty sweet
basically as a Westerner if I want to go on further well actually no one can cross apparently
the border here the de facto border but even if I wanted to go Crimea the other way I'm not
allowed to just cross in I'd need permission from the Ukrainian side then the Russians are going
to ask me for a Russian visa because they claim it's Russia and I need a visa to go to Russia so
basically it's going to be a lot of complications not worth trying to do that especially if you are
a vlogger and you have a camera where everything is going to be documented so anyways let's go and
see what we can do on the Ukrainian part the Ukrainian controlled part of Crimea
Поехали!
I think this would be a cool place in winter I think this is probably the time to come where it's
maybe even snow outside on the ground and you come here to hot springs a little
bit like what I've had in Iceland obviously at the famous Blue Lagoon there's not blue here
yeah it's super hot actually when you get close to it that's the hot water
that is scorching otherwise it's just pleasant
So one of the lesser talked about casualties of the Russian annexation of Crimea was my favorite
music festival in the region Kazantip because after annexation while it was never held again at
least in in here in this region in either Ukraine or Russia they moved it they tried a few times
to put it in other countries didn't really work and it seems to have been disbanded completely and this
summer I spotted an instagram that a new music festival started in the area I'm here in Henicheska Hirka
just at the beginning of the Arabat Spit and Wave Festival is maybe not really Kazantip but
it is a little bit like Burning Man so let's get dressed up and go and check out the festival Поехали!
So we're just here for the sunset opening night of Wave Festival maybe some good vibes
So welcome to Biruchy island we're just off the coast from Henicheska Hirka near Henichesk
and this is quite a hidden gem a little bit similar to a place I went last year which is
known as the Uukrainian Maldives, Dzharylhach on the other side of the Crimean peninsula also
under Ukrainian control here we took a boat out about half an hour and you just have basically
this pristine wildlife reserve there's some deer in there although we didn't see any so far and you
just have some clean water which is quite unusual in Ukraine if you've been to the Black Sea say in
Odesa the water is not the cleanest in most parts but here out in the wild it's a lot cleaner and a
nice relaxing place to come to for a few hours for sure or maybe stay overnight pretty good