DAY 1+2 - VIA SINGAPORE TO VIENTIANE

Off to Singapore (with a short layover to enjoy the butterfly park constructed in Changi terminal 3 to pass the time - where they flutter about 

and there's even a chamber for the pupae to grow and hatch)

before swapping onto Silk Air for the 1500 miles north to Laos' laidback and easy-going capital, Vientiane.

That was virtually it for the day so a bit of introductory history : in 1563, King Setthathirat made the riverine city of Vientiane the capital of Laos (or, more accurately, Wiang Chan, the City of the Moon, became the capital of what was then Lan Xang). In those days, it was a small fortified city on the banks of the Mekong with a palace and two wats, the best-known and most venerated That Luang and Phra Kaeo, which was built to house the Emerald Buddha (except that the Thais have since run off with it!) 

The kingdom's fortunes fluctuated for a while - under King Sourigna Vongsa, it enjoyed 57 years of peace and a revival of art, literature, music, dance; it was a magnet to monks and nuns for religious study from throughout SE Asia.   The Dutch East India Company entered into trade contracts in 1641 and all was going fine for a 50 years until a split in 1707, resulting in the founding of the various kingdoms of Vientiane, Luang Prabang and, five years later, Champasak. Neighbouring Siam and Burma competed for alliances with the kingdoms. playing them off against each other - the kingdom of Vientiane ended up a Burmese vassal from 1765 to 1778 and a Siamese vassal until 1828, during which the entire city of Vientiane including the palace were destroyed.

It wasn't until the French colonial period that the city was rebuilt, again as the capital; the name was softened a little for the French tongue from Viangchan to Vientiane.