1. Esplanade Hotel
M e l b o u r n e, 11th November 1990
Introduces the reporter, Sean Dinan in a story set in the aftermath of a killing spree. Sean goes on a 'death knock' to interview the families of the murder victims.
PART ONE: ANYWHERE - WANDERINGS
2. Howrah Mail
B o m b a y, 22nd December 1990
Sean jumps onto the moving Howrah Mail just in time to be reunited with Siobhan in Calcutta at Christmas.
3. The Salvation Army Hostel
C a l c u t t a, Xmas Eve 1990
Siobhan and Sean savour the unexpected pleasures and characters in the City of Joy.
4. Blue Sky Cafe
C a l c u t t a
The end of their affair set amidst the traveller's precinct, Mother Teresas Khalighat Home for the Dead and Dying and Jack Preager's slum clinic.
5. Shamrock Inn
D a r j e e l i n g, 21st February 1991
Sean travels to Darjeeling en route to Nepal . Winter has set in and it is snowing when he arrives. He finds a guest house called the Shamrock Inn. During the night, he has an unexpected visitor.
6. Chung King Mansions
H o n g K o n g, 2nd - 27th November 1991
Sean hears the bizarre scheme to decide on a wife by Vin, the Croatian womaniser at Kowloon 's infamous Chung King mansions.
PART TWO: SOMEWHERE - TALES OF TAIPEI DAYS
7. Taipei Hostel
T a i p e i, 28th - 31st November 1991
On a hunch, Sean travels to the renegade province of Taiwan in the Republic of China. He ends up at Taipei Hostel recommended as ".Pretty basic and crowded. Rundown from the day it was built. It hasn't really changed for 20 years. Lots of strange characters but cheap and you will find work there. Check out the balcony upstairs whether you stay there or not".
8. The Sauna
T a i p e i, Third Anniversary Of Tianenmen Square
Hamish McTaggart breezed into the Hostel like a sampan carried along in a typhoon. Sean is introduced to the irrespressible Hamo and they end up sharing the small, sweat stained room on the top floor next to the balcony called the Sauna.
9. L2N8
T a i p e i, Ghost Month, Seventh Lunar Month, 1992
Tribal attitudes are rife in the concrete bamboo forest that is Taipei including those between the British and the North Americans. During Ghost month a rash of violent attacks and bizarre fights break out. The Triad boss, Shadow warns Sean two times not to become involved.
10. The Hotel Travel
T a i p e i, The last Wednesday in October 1992
Safira Chang is the financial manager at a local automotive parts company who smuggles gold to Shanghai in her Louis Vuitton shoulder bag. She is smart, seductive and seemingly untouchable as she lives with her dictatorial father at the Taipei Institute for the Deaf and Dumb.
11. Celestial Towers
T a i p e i, Dragon Boat Festival 5th Day of the 5th Moon,1992
Chicago Bill introduces the Sunday stud poker night at the Fubar. One particular night Sean is angered to discover Hamo cheating who says "we are all cheating, just in different ways".
12. Love Fubar
T a i p e i, Moon Festival 1992
Sean seduces Cindy Wang, a general's daughter who runs a bar in downtown Taipei . The only problem is that Sean later becomes good friends with Cindy's aggressive Croatian -Chinese boyfriend, Vin Gook. But it is far too late for post coital morals as Cindy and Vin's relationship crumble.
13. Global Village
T a i p e i, 3rd December 1992
Sean meet Miranda through one of his innumerable English conversation classes at Global Village where her luminous eyes betray her.
14. Police Shoot-Out in Shi Da
N e w s p a p e r E x c e r p t, 15th January 1993
A dramatic shoot out with Taipei City Police leads to Shadow's arrest.
15. Yung Ho City
T a i p e i, Chinese New Year (The Rooster), 1993
Two bad things happened during the Chinese New Year of the Rooster. The first happens on the New Year's day. The day Guy goes crazy. The second happens a month later and is really what this story is all about. But Sean can never remember one without the other so both need to be told.
16. The Reggae Pub
K o h S a m u i, Ides of March, 1993
Sean travels to Thailand with the shy son of a Taiwanese bicycle magnate and Ted Smithers, the handsome, fashion conscious son of an American diplomat who incessantly complains about his seven years on the road. All is not what it at first seems as Ted procures his "little holiday pleasure" of white powder in Khaosan Road .
17. Tsien Tien Graveyard
T a i p e i, April Fools Day, 1993
Sean and four Gwailos kick a football in the graveyard before going back to Yung Ho for a Chinese-Irish wake. Later they drunkenly concoct a debate on the merits or otherwise of Taipei Hostel.
18. Birdland
T a i p e i, 5th May 1993
Sean is caught in the deceit of concurrent affairs.
PART THREE: ELSEWHERE - FINAL DESTINATIONS
19. The Olympic Stadium
S e o u l, D Day (6th June), 1993
On a whim, Sean catches up with his old sparring buddy, Callum, in Seoul . The drug dealer is still trying to fulfil his dream of making enough money to sail to Costa Rica . Unfortunately he makes one deal too many.
20. The Street of Happiness
T a i p e i, 29th September 1993
Miranda calls Sean to tell him "a friend has gone."
21. Apocalypse Now sBar
H o C h i M i n h C i t y, 2nd October 1993
Sean travels to Vietnam while he thinks about what to do next. He must reconcile his compulsion to travel onwards, a guilty secret and Miranda's love
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