Sickness in Souvanaphoun: Great game

December 11, 2014

A few days earlier, when I'd been writhing around on my death bed, I had warned Dea not to get too close to me as I was fairly certain at least one of my ailments was contagious. She ignored this warning, boldly stating "I never get sick." Dea, new to the world of bicycle touring let’s remember, was clearly unfamiliar with the cruel repercussions that inevitably occur when someone so arrogantly tempts the wild mistress of Fate. Now she sat with her head in her hands in a little shop, pale of face and complaining of a feeling of terrible sickness. Remembering how kind she had been in looking after me during my own dice with death I thought I'd offer her some kind words, but accidentally I instead said "I told you so."

Dea looked alright in the morning, from what I could see of her as she raced off into the foggy distance

Photo credit -Dea Jacobsen (probably the best photo Dea's camera has ever managed)

Having cycled through another misty morning we had emerged into yet another blindingly hot and sunny day, the weather here repeating the same pattern almost every day. Although Dea had started to feel a bit the worse for wear we made steady progress throughout the morning and enjoyed cooling off in a nice little spot by a river. But by around the middle of the day it had all got a bit much for her and we had to rest a while in this shop, get her out of the sun and drink some green tea. She really did seem to be in bad shape and, seeing as all of her symptoms were the same as mine the day that I fell sick, I could certainly sympathise. We decided that we had better stop and found a guesthouse just as soon as we could, the nearest one being twenty kilometres away in a place named Souvanaphoun.

Although the more modern houses suggested people here had more money, they did not indicate that they had more taste

Not sure if the buffalo were supposed to be here, but they looked happy

Dea during our little swimming break. If you look closely you'll see she is observing some cows

These little critters were in the shop. Not sure if they were supposed to be pets or dinner

The funny thing about this was that even though Dea was really sick she still kicked my ass and was cycling on ahead of me for the rest of the way as I dawdled along. To be perfectly honest I think I was as happy for the early finish to our day as she was, as we booked into the first guesthouse we found at the beginning of the town and Dea took to her bed. Seeing how poorly she was I did my very best to look after her, tucking her in and rushing off into town to find some things to make her better. Alas, Souvanaphoun was nothing more than a big village and I could find none of the things that she had requested, despite me searching the whole place.

In the river in the town I saw people out in the water, but I wasn't sure what they were doing

I returned shame-faced to the guesthouse and we rested together for the remainder of the day. I was worried because Dea did seem to have all of the same symptoms as me, and if she needed to rest for as long as I did we were going to be in big trouble. I'd taken four days to get better, but now we only had three days left to cycle to Vientiane, which was 240 kilometres away over a big mountain. I felt terrible about having wasted so much time on my own recovery, which now left us in this tricky position. But I had a feeling this girl was going to be able to do it, come what may.

Now, there was one very exciting and dramatic moment leading to a feeling of great ecstasy for me that occurred between the two of us in our bed on this evening and, in the interest of thorough reporting, I shall relive that moment here with you. We were playing a game of 'Yatzy' which I had never played before and, in case you haven't either, it is a game which involves taking it in turns to roll five dice. There are various combinations that need to be achieved such as a full house or a straight or four-of-a-kind or a 'Yatzy' which is the same number on all the dice. If you don't get what you want on the first roll, you can pick up as many of the dice as you want and reroll them, twice if you want to. The other key thing to know is that there is a scorecard and if you fail to get anything then you have to choose one of these combinations to cross off, so that you can't roll for it anymore.

The score was incredibly close with two rolls left and I needed to get either four '3's or a straight to win. With my penultimate roll I failed completely. I crossed out the four '3's, meaning that I could no longer win with that and needed the straight on my final turn. After Dea had failed to improve with her last roll I had the chance to win, but only if I could roll a straight. I threw the dice. They came down four '3's. I couldn't believe it! I would have won if I'd crossed out the straight instead! Dea seemed to have perked up and found this all very amusing.

But I still had two rolls left and I scooped up all five of the dice and threw them down again. This time I got a three, two fours, a five and a six. Suddenly Dea wasn't so very amused. She looked a bit worried in fact. I picked up the spare four and prepared to re-roll it. My last chance. If it came down a two I would steal the victory. I needed to psyche myself up for this so I got Dea to play a particularly motivating piece of music for me, and I chanted quotes from Will Smith and Rocky until I was absolutely ready, and then I rolled. It was a two! I was ecstatic! Unbelievable! What were the odds on rolling a two with just a single dice?! Must be a hundred-to-one! This was undoubtedly the most dramatic game of Yatzy that had ever taken place ever! I jumped up and ran around and danced with joy, and said "look what you can achieve with motivational music!" and I think even Dea got excited and she gave me a high five and said "great game."

Today's ride: 56 km (35 miles)
Total: 34,686 km (21,540 miles)

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