Gerry Letourneau's Blog
April 12, 2013
Gone Today, Here Tomorrow
Part memoir, part travelogue Gone Today, Here Tomorrow is an intimate tour of both Asia and the author as they were in the 80s and are now: where and what has changed, how and why, for good and often, not so good.
Spanning 26 years and 18 countries where over 250 international borders were crossed {the vast majority voluntarily}, Letourneau has been a commercial exporter, ESL teacher, student of Chinese and Thai languages, columnist, hard-core traveller and major substance abuser. It seems he has enjoyed anything but a typical Canadian Prarie man's life.
The title Gone Today, Here Tomorrow insinuates dissimilar implications on such varied fronts as the author's three deportations, an eleven year heroin addiction, a three day coma induced by way of one of a legion of motorcycle accidents as well as uncountable relationships where he mentions that those of the sexual variety never seem to last with: "The coup de grace in why I'm single is perhaps the Catch-22 scenario of I'm interested in intelligent women but the clever ones don't seem to fancy me."
Informatively recounted, this autobiographical work is interspersed with darkly comic anecdotes featuring Triads, transvestites, touts, dope, tourists, smugglers, and fellow travellers. From Manila to Mandalay, Tokyo to Taipei, Hanoi to Hong Kong, Chiang Mai to Chengdu, as well as less trodden paths to where few Westerners had ventured, these selected musings offer an insightful glimpse into a proverbial black sheep and an extraordinary continent.
Can be purchased through: mcnallyrobinson.com/product/title
Spanning 26 years and 18 countries where over 250 international borders were crossed {the vast majority voluntarily}, Letourneau has been a commercial exporter, ESL teacher, student of Chinese and Thai languages, columnist, hard-core traveller and major substance abuser. It seems he has enjoyed anything but a typical Canadian Prarie man's life.
The title Gone Today, Here Tomorrow insinuates dissimilar implications on such varied fronts as the author's three deportations, an eleven year heroin addiction, a three day coma induced by way of one of a legion of motorcycle accidents as well as uncountable relationships where he mentions that those of the sexual variety never seem to last with: "The coup de grace in why I'm single is perhaps the Catch-22 scenario of I'm interested in intelligent women but the clever ones don't seem to fancy me."
Informatively recounted, this autobiographical work is interspersed with darkly comic anecdotes featuring Triads, transvestites, touts, dope, tourists, smugglers, and fellow travellers. From Manila to Mandalay, Tokyo to Taipei, Hanoi to Hong Kong, Chiang Mai to Chengdu, as well as less trodden paths to where few Westerners had ventured, these selected musings offer an insightful glimpse into a proverbial black sheep and an extraordinary continent.
Can be purchased through: mcnallyrobinson.com/product/title
