They have stopped serving shots in the backpacker bars of Vang Vieng. The night spots of this south-east Asian tourist town would normally be full of young travellers downing traditional Lao whiskey,

Simone White, 28, from Orpington, Kent, was one of a number of people taken to hospital after the incident in the popular backpacking town of Vang Vieng last week

The deaths of six foreign tourists linked to a suspected mass methanol poisoning has thrown a spotlight on a small town in Southeast Asia that has worked hard in recent years to shed its reputation for excess.