The Accidental Exile: Stories of Cities, Strangers, and Silence

Tales of life between places — and the people we become along the way
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Finlay Cowan traces stories of breathless momentum and emotional stillness across unfamiliar cities and half-lived lives. A podcast about travel, identity, and the search for home — wherever that may be. finlaycowan.substack.com

  1. 07/19/2025

    Anna — A Perfect Stranger in the French Quarter of Shanghai

    Set among tree-lined streets, art galleries, and passing strangers with unreadable pasts, this is a portrait of someone unforgettable — and a reminder that even the briefest encounters can shape our journey. In this intimate spoken-word excerpt from Unravelling China, Finlay reflects on a magnetic meeting with Anna, a woman whose poise and presence seem stitched into the fabric of Shanghai’s French Quarter. What begins as a romantic impression becomes something deeper: a meditation on territory, history, self-invention, and the invisible rules of expat life. 🔥 Watch. Reflect. Wander. ☕ Your support keeps the stories flowing. → https://buymeacoffee.com/finlaycowan 🖼️ Art & Prints → https://finlaystravelart.etsy.com 🎧 The Accidental Exile Podcast → https://apple.co/4jNXdXw 💸One Time Pay Pal Donation → https://paypal.me/finlaycowan235 📩 Videos, Writing and Art → https://finlaycowan.substack.com #Shanghai #FrenchQuarter #UnravellingChina #SpokenWord #WritersOfYouTube #Anna #TheAccidentalExile #TravelStories #ExpatsInAsia #ArtAndMemory #FinlayCowan #Storytelling #Loneliness #PoeticVibes #BourdainStyle This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit finlaycowan.substack.com

    7 min

  2. 07/12/2025

    Why Shanghai’s French Concession Still Feels Like a Dream

    What does it mean to fall in love with a place — not for what it is, but for what it remembers? In this evocative reading from Unravelling China, artist and writer Finlay Cowan walks through Shanghai’s legendary French Concession on a warm Saturday night. It’s not just a place — it’s a mood. A memory. A city within a city, where colonial villas lean behind high walls, cafes bloom overnight, and silence speaks louder than sirens. This isn’t a guidebook narrative. It’s a meditation on place, memory, safety, decadence, and longing. Why does this corner of Shanghai feel more alive — and more gentle — than the West ever did? If you've ever felt like a stranger in your own city, or fallen in love with somewhere foreign that felt like home, this one’s for you. 🔥 Watch. Reflect. Wander. ☕ Your support keeps the stories flowing. → https://buymeacoffee.com/finlaycowan 🖼️ Art & Prints → https://finlaystravelart.etsy.com 🎧 The Accidental Exile Podcast → https://apple.co/4jNXdXw 💸One Time Pay Pal Donation → https://paypal.me/finlaycowan235 📩 Videos, Writing and Art → https://finlaycowan.substack.com #shanghai #TravelWriting #FrenchConcession #UrbanPoetry #Wanderlust #ExpatLife #ChinaStories #AnthonyBourdainVibes #AsiaNights #UnravellingChina #FinlayCowan #TheAccidentalExile This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit finlaycowan.substack.com

    6 min

  3. 07/05/2025

    The Kindness of Strangers

    ✴️ In this episode: Cross-cultural burnout and quiet breakdowns. How a simple question opened something profound. A reflection on foreignness, selfhood, and meaning The subtle emotional language of ChinaI was standing in a corridor that smelled like despair, staring at a dirty mop and a dying houseplant in the Hangzhou equivalent of Dagenham. Everything in me was asking: why am I here? The answer came later, in the back of a taxi. A young Chinese woman — poised, graceful, and visibly holding it all together — finally let her mask slip. I asked if she was okay. She said “I’m fine.” But she wasn’t. A few words, a touch on the hand, and the dam broke. This is a story about what happens when we actually see each other. When empathy cuts through cultural noise. When kindness becomes the reason why we’re here. 🗺 Part of The Accidental Exile, a series of illustrated, poetic stories about travel, vulnerability, and the quiet beauty of being human in a world that often forgets it. 🔔 Subscribe for more soul-soaked storytelling, illustrated reflections, and meaningful moments from unexpected places. Buy Me Caffeine and I'll Write More Words https://buymeacoffee.com/finlaycowan One Time Pay Pal Donation https://paypal.me/finlaycowan235 Finlay’s Print Shop on Etsy - Buy my art, I'll be dead soon and the prices will go up. https://finlaystravelart.etsy.com The Accidental Exile on Substack https://finlaycowan.substack.com The Accidental Exile on Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-accidental-exile-stories-of-cities-strangers-and-silence/id1810037955 Unravelling China on Tik Tok www.tiktok.com/@finlay6948 Unravelling China on Instagram www.instagram.com/finlaycowan_ Finlay Studio Portfolio https://www.krop.com/finlaycowan/ Finlay on Patreon patreon.com/FinlayStudio Linktree https://linktr.ee/finlaydesignstudio Pinterest - You made it this far ? Really ? Wow... I like you. https://uk.pinterest.com/finlaycowan/yet-here-we-are-seasons-in-china/ #UnravellingChina #LiteraryMemoir #TravelWriting #HybridBooks #VisualStorytelling #AuthorPitch #BookProposal This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit finlaycowan.substack.com

    5 min

  4. 06/28/2025

    The Gift of Being Where You Didn’t Mean to Be

    It wasn’t a spiritual retreat. It wasn’t a plan.It was a cracked hillside, a plate of spicy fish, and a pot of summer tea in a tiled-backroom restaurant in Wenzhou — a city most people haven’t heard of, but whose people you’ve definitely met. ✴️ In this episode: What it means to be truly present in the accidental places A portrait of Wenzhou — its food, history, and wanderers The weird wisdom of bad locations and forgotten cities Why we don’t need to "find ourselves" — just lose the signal This is about presence in a world obsessed with escape. It's about forgotten places, unlikely meals, and the kind of wisdom that shows up when you're not looking for it - earthy, uncomfortable, spiritual, and grounded in the beauty of accidents. 🗺 Part of The Accidental Exile, a series of illustrated stories about travel, memory, and the mysterious gift of just ending up somewhere. 🔔 Subscribe for poetic storytelling, visual essays, and soulful dispatches from strange places. Buy Me Caffeine and I'll Write More Words https://buymeacoffee.com/finlaycowan One Time Pay Pal Donation https://paypal.me/finlaycowan235 Finlay’s Print Shop on Etsy - Buy my art, I'll be dead soon and the prices will go up. https://finlaystravelart.etsy.com The Accidental Exile on Substack https://finlaycowan.substack.com The Accidental Exile on Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-accidental-exile-stories-of-cities-strangers-and-silence/id1810037955 Unravelling China on Tik Tok www.tiktok.com/@finlay6948 Unravelling China on Instagram www.instagram.com/finlaycowan_ Finlay Studio Portfolio https://www.krop.com/finlaycowan/ Finlay on Patreon patreon.com/FinlayStudio Linktree https://linktr.ee/finlaydesignstudio Pinterest - You made it this far ? Really ? Wow... I like you. https://uk.pinterest.com/finlaycowan/yet-here-we-are-seasons-in-china/ #UnravellingChina #LiteraryMemoir #TravelWriting #HybridBooks #VisualStorytelling #AuthorPitch #BookProposal This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit finlaycowan.substack.com

    9 min
  5. The City That Photographs Itself

    06/22/2025

    The City That Photographs Itself

    It started as a passing thought — one of those background flickers you almost don’t notice. I was standing in Shanghai’s M50 Art Zone, waiting for someone, sipping the perfect coffee, staring at cracked tiles and old air conditioning units when I realised I was being photographed. Not once. Not twice. But constantly. Every thirty seconds or so, someone would stop, raise a phone or a camera, and take my picture. Sometimes subtly, sometimes not. They didn’t smile or nod, didn’t ask or linger. Just a quick capture and gone. Like street photography with no pretense of art. Like documenting a building. At first I felt flattered. Then curious. Then slightly hunted. But eventually, I stopped reacting. Because that’s the thing — in China, you can photograph anyone, anywhere. No one raises an eyebrow. And everywhere is a potential shoot. There’s something beautifully surreal about it. The city is in a constant state of self-documentation. Every faded wall, every rusted pipe, every person with a vaguely interesting silhouette is repurposed as content. Reality as raw material for performance. This image came from that moment — or more accurately, from what the moment felt like. The woman in the pink blouse was real, she was focused, absorbed, dressed to be seen. But not separate from the scene, part of the fabric of the place. She’s watching something. Maybe me. Maybe someone else. Maybe nothing. But she holds the frame. Like they all did. I wasn’t in a city. I was in a film set that never called “cut.”I was a prop. And I liked it. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit finlaycowan.substack.com

    25 sec

  6. 06/21/2025

    Emily in Shanghai

    ✴️ In this episode: A Christmas Eve encounter in Shanghai. The emotional resonance of brief connections. Art, intellect, seduction, and saying what we mean. How some moments become memories the instant they happen. In a dimly lit café in Shanghai’s French Concession, I met Emily. She had a sharp bob, a wicked smile, and a copy of John Berger’s Ways of Seeing open on the bar. What followed was an afternoon of shared truths and quiet recognition — the kind of fleeting encounter that lives on longer than it should. 🗺 Part of The Accidental Exile, a series of illustrated stories from modern China about connection, identity, and the quiet beauty of moments in between. 🔔 Subscribe for more poetic encounters, illustrated travel stories, and moments that don’t let go. Buy Me Caffeine and I'll Write More Words https://buymeacoffee.com/finlaycowan One Time Pay Pal Donation https://paypal.me/finlaycowan235 Finlay’s Print Shop on Etsy - Buy my art, I'll be dead soon and the prices will go up. https://finlaystravelart.etsy.com The Accidental Exile on Substack https://finlaycowan.substack.com The Accidental Exile on Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-accidental-exile-stories-of-cities-strangers-and-silence/id1810037955 Unravelling China on Tik Tok www.tiktok.com/@finlay6948 Unravelling China on Instagram www.instagram.com/finlaycowan_ Finlay Studio Portfolio https://www.krop.com/finlaycowan/ Finlay on Patreon patreon.com/FinlayStudio Linktree https://linktr.ee/finlaydesignstudio Pinterest - You made it this far ? Really ? Wow... I like you. https://uk.pinterest.com/finlaycowan/yet-here-we-are-seasons-in-china/ #UnravellingChina #LiteraryMemoir #TravelWriting #HybridBooks #VisualStorytelling #AuthorPitch #BookProposal This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit finlaycowan.substack.com

    3 min

  7. 06/14/2025

    The Lost Child

    ✴️ In this episode: A fleeting encounter that opened a lifetime of memory. Reflections on abandonment, empathy, and intuition. How transit spaces awaken the unconscious. The thin veil between the outer world and the psyche Why presence is sometimes the only answer we have A brush of the arm. A child’s fear. A sudden flash of recognition. On a subway platform in Shanghai, I stood next to a young girl and her father. For a moment — less than a second — her arm touched mine, and I felt everything. Her anxiety. Her uncertainty. Her sense that the person meant to protect her might not. And then, later, in the silence of a farmhouse, it all came back. My own story. My own fear. The child I had once been — lost, alone, trying to survive a world that didn’t seem to notice. 🗺 The Accidental Exile is a series of illustrated stories about travel, trauma, and the quiet places we meet ourselves. 🔔 Subscribe for more poetic essays, illustrated reflections, and encounters that leave a mark. Buy Me Caffeine and I'll Write More Words https://buymeacoffee.com/finlaycowan One Time Pay Pal Donation https://paypal.me/finlaycowan235 Finlay’s Print Shop on Etsy - Buy my art, I'll be dead soon and the prices will go up. https://finlaystravelart.etsy.com The Accidental Exile on Substack https://finlaycowan.substack.com The Accidental Exile on Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-accidental-exile-stories-of-cities-strangers-and-silence/id1810037955 Unravelling China on Tik Tok www.tiktok.com/@finlay6948 Unravelling China on Instagram www.instagram.com/finlaycowan_ Finlay Studio Portfolio https://www.krop.com/finlaycowan/ Finlay on Patreon patreon.com/FinlayStudio Linktree https://linktr.ee/finlaydesignstudio Pinterest - You made it this far ? Really ? Wow... I like you. https://uk.pinterest.com/finlaycowan/yet-here-we-are-seasons-in-china/ #UnravellingChina #LiteraryMemoir #TravelWriting #HybridBooks #VisualStorytelling #AuthorPitch #BookProposal This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit finlaycowan.substack.com

    4 min

  8. 06/07/2025

    Lotus.

    In Shanghai’s M50 art district, I wandered into another world. In a city of 28 million souls, she was a still point: a living work of art who spoke of life, creativity, and eternity. We drank blue flower tea, sketched without words, meditated in a room filled with dreams. And then, as suddenly as she appeared, she was gone — her studio vanished like a myth, leaving only memory and the scent of incense behind. Lotus is a story about fleeting encounters, lost worlds, and the strange timelessness we sometimes glimpse inside the noise of modern life. 📖 Follow for more: Give me caffeine and I'll write more words: https://buymeacoffee.com/finlaycowan One Time Pay Pal Donation: https://paypal.me/finlaycowan235 Finlay’s Print Shop on Etsy - Buy my art, I'll be dead soon. https://finlaystravelart.etsy.com The Accidental Exile on Substack. https://finlaycowan.substack.com The Accidental Exile on Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Unravelling China on Tik Tok www.tiktok.com/@finlay6948 Unravelling China on Instagram www.instagram.com/finlaycowan_ Finlay Studio Portfolio https://www.krop.com/finlaycowan/ Finlay on Patreon patreon.com/FinlayStudio Finlay's Linktree https://linktr.ee/finlaydesignstudio This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit finlaycowan.substack.com

    4 min
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Finlay Cowan traces stories of breathless momentum and emotional stillness across unfamiliar cities and half-lived lives. A podcast about travel, identity, and the search for home — wherever that may be. finlaycowan.substack.com

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