Kathie

Our friend, Min Thu, who guided us around Bagan and who we recommended to many of you, has asked us to make a purchase for him.

Min Thu would like a laptop computer to help him with his studies. He has saved $300 to buy one and has asked us to buy one in the US and bring it to him. We have found several small laptops for about $350. We are glad to throw in the extra $50 plus tax to buy it for him.

Cheryl is kicking herself, as she just sent her old laptop to her nieces, otherwise we'd have a three-year old Dell we could give to him.

While I'm sure Min Thu is very proud to have saved the money for the laptop, it pains me to think of taking his hard-earned $300 for the computer. It occurred to me that others of his customers might want to pitch in to help pay for his laptop. He would not accept a gift that large from us, I'm sure, but he probably would if it came from many people.

Others of you who know Min Thu, what do you think?

m_bran

Kathie,

Great idea!

Is there a way I can contact you?

Perhaps through your blog?


Mary

Kathie

Hi Mary, Yes, you can contact me through my blog, Kathie @ travelindependently dot com

(Obviously without the spaces)

rhkkmk

kathy we would give you $25, even though we don't know him...let me know

B&K

Kathie

Sure! The laptop can be from the Fodors crowd.

Thanks.

Kathie

Many thanks to Mary and Bob for their contributions. Cheryl has a paypal account we can use to collect donations if anyone is interested.

Hanuman

Don't forget the software Kathie and that could cost $$$. If you don't mind bootleg software then those can be found in Bangkok cheaply. I don't recall seeing any I.T. or software shop in Burma.

Kathie

Yes, we will deliver the laptop fully loaded. The one we found has Windows 7 on it, and Cheryl has licensed copies of Office. Anything else we should think of, Hanuman?

Hanuman

A lot of the older hardware, like printers etc, are not compatible with Windows 7. I had to replaced a lot of my office printers when we upgraded to Windows 7 a few years ago. I'm not sure what the situation is in Burma with regards to hardware etc but I would include Windows XP and if there's non on the lap top, a card reader for photo upload.

Kathie

Thanks for your thoughts, Hanuman. I'll have to check with Min Thu on whether he plans to print and whether he wants to upload photos. He told me he wanted it primarily to work on his English.

We are making the assumption that we need to fully outfit the laptop, because I expect nothing is readily available in Burma.

rhkkmk

i would prefer that it has XP rather than 7.... call dell directly and they might have some deals.... they also have an on-line outlet...

gmoz

Hanuman we stumbled across a couple of software/movie/music shops in Rangoon. They were near the Bogyoke Aung San markets but on the opposite side of the street. Plenty of software and movies a lot cheaper than Bkk. Later we walked up the street and near the Ruby Supermarket there were shops selling everything for 1/2 the price.Its always the way. I have no idea of the quality.
Apart from Rangoon I didnt see any software shops, but I wanst really looking.

Kathie

Interesting, gmoz. We didn't have enough time in Yangon to see what was available there. Still, it seems safest to put everything on the computer than Min Thu might need.

Kathie

I'm topping this in case others who have used Min Thu are interested in contributing to his laptop.

Kathie

Last chance for anyone who wants to contribute. We do have a paypal account for those not in the US.

Robbietravels

Kathie: I'm sending you $125 to contribute to MinThu's laptop. He deserves all the help we can give him.

Kathie

Robbie, that is very generous of you. Cheryl has ordered the laptop, and will have some time to load additional software onto it before we go.

joan47

Kathie - how can I connect with your paypal account?

Kathie

Joan, please send me an email at the address above. I'd rather not publish the paypal account here.