While in Luang Prabang, Jim visited The Language Project, which is part self-learning center, part computer lab and part library, and talked to an American woman working there. Jim wrote, "They had just received two of the cheap laptops developed by folks at MIT to distribute to developing nations where computer access is too expensive or too high tech. The computers use Linux operating system but the staff has no experience with Linux. Yet. Also, the computers came without manuals. Two volunteers were busy trying to figure out how to use them."
The project developing this idea is One Laptop per Child. "The computers are quite small, made of plastic, and look like toys. The original ones were designed with a windup crank attached to the side of the notebooks to generate electric power and cost about $100. Apparently that didn't work out so well and now they come equipped to plug into conventional electrical outlets and cost $178." [They have a 500MHz processor and 1GB of memory.]
Jim left Luang Prabang after a week or so and hitched back down to Vang Vieng. One day, he took off on a long walk looking for a cave near the Nam Song river in Vang Vieng. It was a longer walk than anticipated and on the return to his guesthouse, he was getting realy tired. Two Lao boys on bikes stopped and offered to help him out. One of the bikes had a seat on the back, so Jim steered that one and of the boys got a ree ride all the back into town.
To awaken quite alone in a strange town is one of the most pleasant sensations in the world. -- Freya Stark
A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving. -- Lao Tzu
