An hour of hunting around the sweaty market and nothing. One last time I showed the piece of paper with a scribble of Laotian script on it: “Do you sell dice here?” the paper asked. “No, no, no…” said the woman shopkeeper, waving her hand. There were no dice in her shop of plastic nicknacks and toys. I looked at her watch and saw it was approaching 5pm so resigned my search. If I were to follow options 1, 4 or 5 I would need to buy the ticket and pack my bag right away.
 

It was quite on a whim that I decided to try dice travel. After the high of an amazing motorcycle escapade in the Bolaven plateau, I found myself slightly bored and wondering where to go next. Coincidentally, I was also reading a book called The Dice Man about a man who decides what he will do from one minute to the next based on the roll of the dice (verdict: interesting concept, in fact part autobiographical, but in the end a mediocre novel).  Also coincidentally, I am a thrill-seeking, impressionable young man, willing to try new things. It did solve my problem: part of me wanted to relax and chill out in a sleepy riverside town; part wanted to continue by motorbike; and part yearned for the seafood and the beaches of the central vietnam coast. In the dice options I wrote down, I tried to represent how much I wanted to go to each place, ie. 2 possibilities for 4000 islands in Southern Laos.
 

The options for my first (only?) round of dice travel:
1) Hue, Vietnam (Overnight bus to the home of Vietnamese Imperial cuisine. Appeals to my inner food critic)
2) Stay in Pakse another night (Rent a motorbike again and search out more adventure in the surrounding area. Appeals to my inner petrol-head)
3) Don Kone, Laos (One of the 4000 islands. hammocks, bungalows, and cheap beer. Appeals to my lazy side)
4) Vientiane, Laos (Great city with cafes, great restaurants, colonial history. Long overnight “sleeper bus’, with beds apparently. From what i hear on the travelers circuit, the overnight bus has mice)
5) Don Det, Laos (4000 islands)
6) Phnom Penh, Cambodia (The wild card choice. Appeals to my masochistic side)
 

But unfortunately, as I’ve said above, i couldn’t find any dice.
 

Hence, Plan B: consult the Oracle.
 

(Setting: INT. Cafe. Laos town of Pakse. Protagonist sits at table next to lone blond-haired, blue-eyed scandanavian girl)
 

“Hi. What’s your name?”
“Stephanie. And you?”
“Mike. Hey, I need to ask you a question.”
“Sure.”
“Okay, I need you to pretend you are a dice.  Pick a number from 1 to 6 — including 1 and 6.”
“Four.”
“Hmm. (I flip the paper in front of me over) Vientiane it is. Thanks.”
“Did you just…? Wait now…  (Stephanie studies the paper)  You’re crazy.”
“I’m just glad you didn’t pick number six.” (Phnom Penh. The wild card choice.)
 

So here I am, 30 minutes before my sleeper bus to Vientiane (the one with the mice), feeling good about letting “the dice” (or rather, Stephanie) decide my fate. Either way, it’s a fun experiment. Try it out.
 

Interestingly though not surprisingly, I’m not the first person to try this. While searching just now for a dice image to use in this post, I found a long running British travel show called the Dice Man.  http://www.diceman.co.uk/