Mandi i'm off: Vang Vieng

Vang Vieng had its reputation built on wild partying by western youth,in it's original incarnation it was little more than a dirt airstrip for warplanes,and now it is rather a lovely little town with heaps of adventure activities,laid back bars and restaurants and a backdrop of high scenic jungle covered karsts and a fast flowing river.It bears little resemblance to the real Laos,but undeniably it is Fun.

The casualty rate from drunken youth mixing water sports and high rope swings and zip lines into a shallow and boulder strewn river with high octane local cocktails resulted in many fatalities and permanent injury and forced the authorities to crack down.Now the riverside bars have been limited to three with the chief of police owning number 2.

I limited my adventure to observation mostly,not being up for rock climbing,white water kayaking,mountain biking or tubing.A sunset balloon ride and a boat trip up river,and even with a skilled local boatman we still hit rocks.was about all I could manage.

Followed by some research into local cocktails,It was a hell of a place to have to face ones old age.