Characters, rather than stories: - Two Turkish boys who spend their days shooting guns, riding motorcycles with limited protection by the Black Sea coast, and smoking cigars. They also have PhDs in computer engineering. - An Indonesian Goldman Sachs banker, who counts Jokowi among his friends. - An Aussie, who taught me a lot about family life, his particular views on romance, and ways to describe the world with a lot more colour. - Countless Japanese grandmothers who commented on my height. - Hiroki — simply a gem of a human being, generally honest despite his insistence that he doesn't speak English (his English is perfect). - A couple — one barber, one clothes designer — bemused by yakitori choices. - Math teacher, with the most incredible travel log I have ever heard.