This book of revelations from an experienced journalist contains more than eighty dramatic, exotic and comic episodes of personal life, collected over half a century of wandering around the world and thinking about what he saw. How I survived besieged Leningrad by catching stray cats with a fishing hook. How I was almost shot by residents of a remote Chinese village, mistaking me for a saboteur. Just like in Tibet, where intimacy with a foreigner is valued above all else, I was invited to be a temporary husband by a local duchess. How I grew pearls in Japan. How he received a prize for a waltz at a ball in the Vienna City Hall. How I stood next to a Filipino healer while he performed thirty operations with his bare hands. I hope that this stream of memories reflects the diversity of the world, the spirit of the times, and the personality of the author.