Hard at it

We've had a couple of long days at the office trying to get the web server up and running and ploughing through the rest of the training. We were supposed to go out for the day tomorrow but it looks as if we're going to need another day at the coalface. We did get out for a couple of hours to see some of the caves including Cave 158 which houses the beautiful 15 metre sleeping buddha. Lucky Buddha, I've managed to get about 4 hours sleep in the last 48. I've never suffered so badly but at least I have a jetlag twin, Alastair has been keeping almost identical hours to me since we arrived so we can compare eye bags over our breakfast eggs.

Our hosts continue to overfeed us at regular intervals; dish after dish of every conceivable (and otherwise) edible is delivered to a straining lazy susan. I never thought I'd associate the arrival of a plate of food with such misery. Just as you're begging for mercy, the noodles and two bowls of soup arrive and it's only when a fruit plate arrives that you can see the light at the end of your alimentary canal. The very moment the borborygms cease is the time to be thrown into a people carrier and taken to a restaurant to begin the whole cycle again. At least tonight's dinner didn't involve any competitive drinking and we were set free early enough to have a leisurely beer at an outdoor shish stall on sun loungers and watch the suited and booted locals go by.

Now I'm off to bed to see if any of that Buddha's narcolepsy has rubbed off. Wish me luck.