Steve Miller, an American video blogger, has been introducing Korean heritage sites and travel attractions for four years. His YouTube clips have attracted over 200,000 views and his travel story-telling segment airing twice a month on TBS efm is highly popular. He even started his own podcast at the request of his audience.

Currently teaching English at Sungkyul University, Miller is better known for his blog The Qirange Adventures (www.qiranger.com). The site mainly features videos Miller filmed on his travels around Korea which he peppers with history and interesting anecdotes. The blog is not just popular but influential.

“There is a guy who was born in Korea, moved to California and lived there for 20 years who quit his job and came to Korea just because he saw my videos. He said that he hikes here now,” Miller told The Korea Herald.

Miller first came to Korea in 2008 after he sold his business in the U.S. His wife suggested that they go to Korea, as he was thinking about pursuing a career in English teaching, for the simple reason that neither of them knew much about the country. Miller agreed, anticipating an opportunity to explore the unknown country, and fell in love with it when he came. 

“My family traveled a lot. My father always had two weeks off summer so we would go with him to the National Parks and spend time with the rangers. So I have always had that thirst for traveling,” said Miller.

An exciting point about traveling here, he said, is that he can find unexpected similarities between Korean and American culture and even European cultures.

When he visited Amsa-dong, for example, Miller was thrilled to find subterranean homes and thatched houses which he could connect with similar housing in the West.

“Rather than focusing on how different countries are so different, I focus on how they are the same. We may have different things but fundamentally we are all the same, living on the same planet and sharing a lot of things,” he said.

His knowledge of Korean history and culture is from books and what he learns from his travels. And now he possibly knows more than most Korean youngsters ― “I am Korean and you know more than I do” is a frequent response to his videos.

Discovering so many art galleries and museums in the city, visiting them became another of his favorite things to do. He has installed the artday app, available in English, on his iPhone to check out new exhibitions. He especially likes landscape photography, he said.

“Normally apps are about restaurants or coffee shops. But getting to know what galleries there are and what exhibitions are coming up through an app, to me it is very helpful,” he said.

By Park Min-young  (claire@heraldcorp.com)