The People

This episode is dedicated to Odessa, a truly incredible city. It remains Ukraine’s key seaside resort after the country lost Crimea. It’s also a strategic location in the ongoing war. I planned to go there myself, but there’s no way they would let me into Ukraine. So I drove as close as I could get to Odessa. There’s about 50 km between Odessa and Moldova–Ukraine border, and 180 km separate Odessa and Chișinău. I couldn’t go to Odessa since I’m a citizen of Russia. No Russians are allowed to cross the border. Luckily, Volodya Karmanov, a blogger from Moldova, stepped in. He was to go with a cameraman, but the last minute his mother asked him not to go, and he couldn’t say no. And this is Volodya Karmanov’s report from Odessa.

People, today, I'll show you how people live in the country where during last 50 years wars followed one another. How does it feel like when you look out of your window and see bullet holes everywhere? Can you get used to mined cars and suicide bombers? To your kids playing football next to destroyed ISIS base? Meanwhile, people in Iraq are incredibly friendly. When they find out you're a foreigner and speak Russian, the capital dwellers will certainly offer to pay for your cafe bill. And in small distant towns, they'll greet you as dearest guests. Meet the local star, Iraqi Rambo. He's the most famous fighter against terrorists. Now, it's peaceful in big cities, and tourists enjoy visiting them as some districts are as pleasurable as Dubai, for instance. The malls are not any worse than ours. Many women don't wear hijabs. The atmosphere is secular. But some areas are totally forbidden for tourists and foreigners. Because they are still looking for cutthroats hiding in the mountains.

This is Lyadov, and today, I'm in Dubai. It's in the United Arab Emirates. Some 50 years ago,the country almost looked like a desert. There were no skyscrapers, it was just a fishing village here. Yes, they found oil here, but just finding oil is not enough. Take other countries that have much oil and compare them to the UAE. This country managed to become one of the best quality-of-life-wise. This video is about how you could use your oil, attract investors from all over the world, and make yourself and your people rich. This is Lyadov, and this is how people live in the United Arab Emirates.

The local temperature can drop as low as 61 °F. Only 72 frost free days a year. Even coffins are raised up from the cemetery once in a while. People in this region may be the strongest one you ever met. They loved Chukotka with all their heart despise of the harsh environment. Let us travel to the heart of the arctic winter. This is Lyadov, and this is how people live in the Chukotka, the land of the brutal and extreme weather condition in Russia.

This is Lyadov, and today I’m in Mosul, once the capital of the self-proclaimed caliphate of the Islamic State. For a long time, almost every building here looked pretty much like this, but now it’s coming back to life. But seeing all these buildings, many of them high-rises 11, 12 stories tall that have been practically reduced to rubble, is mind bending. This is something that seems entirely impossible both in terms of common sense and in terms of the laws of physics, laws of nature. Yet, right now, despite all the attempts by the terrorists to keep the city as their stronghold, the people of Mosul are getting their peaceful life back. This is Lyadov to tell you how people live in Mosul.

Today I will show you how people live in the tribes where they believe in such a thing as cursed children. This boy is about 10 or 12, and look at the toy he made for himself to play with. It is a long stick with a bit on wheels, so he basically wheels it around. If an infant’s top teeth come in before the bottom teeth, that’s considered to be a deformity that calls for the village to literally kill the child. You will meet this amazing person, Lale Labuko. He is Ethiopia’s top and only humanitarian who has been fighting to save these poor cursed infants for years. They have to be taken from the tribes by force at a risk to one’s life.

This is Lyadov, and today I’m probably in the most mindblowing place I’ve ever been to. I'm in South Sudan in Africa. It is the home to the world’s tallest people who sleep next to their cows and wash themselves with fresh cow urine – no kidding! They are also always on the lookout in case any rival tribe might attack or start a fight, and have their Kalashnikovs and machine-guns at the ready, and they have loads of them. This is Lyadov to show you How People Live in the world’s most fascinating tribe, the Mundari.