{"id":9421,"date":"2023-02-01T10:10:00","date_gmt":"2023-02-01T02:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.seriouslysarah.com\/blog\/?p=9421"},"modified":"2023-01-30T14:49:28","modified_gmt":"2023-01-30T06:49:28","slug":"the-istana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.seriouslysarah.com\/blog\/2023\/02\/01\/the-istana\/","title":{"rendered":"The Istana"},"content":{"rendered":"
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It’s open house time!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

It’s been around 13 years since I went to the Istana. I remember posting about it on national day in 2010<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And this year, 2023, I went to the Istana once more during their open house!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For those who don’t know, it’s free<\/strong> for Singaporeans and Permanent Residents. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For tourists and others, it’s $2. Unlike 13 years ago, everything has to be paid via qrcode so you should have paylah\/now or its equivalent ready. Ticket proceeds go to charity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do also note what you can or cannot bring into the Istana grounds, there are rules on their website<\/a> and you can also take note on the dates they’ll have it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Entrance also depends on the weather and if it is too bad, you won’t get in since it IS a large space and the probability of being struck by lightning is high during a storm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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Swans of swan pond<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

I googled to see how long do swans live and it’s around 20 or so years because I posted about the swans 13 years ago and they’re still here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unless it’s a new pair of swans? How many swans are there really at the Istana’s swan pond?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I went to the Istana, it was already raining. Not too heavily but constantly enough that an umbrella was needed.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Has the landscape changed? Not really, but it was fun attending since tents were set up, such as Sharity the elephant’s charity booth for children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And then there’s another main tent where you had performances by various schools too.<\/p>\n\n\n

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I got myself Istana merchandise, the proceeds go to the President’s Challenge, pretty much the community chest of charities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There were caps, keychains, books and luggage tags.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oh yes, besides that, the booths in the main tent also had food and some artworks you could do like Chinese calligraphy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each open house has a ‘theme’ according to the holiday after all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Even after 13 years I remembered that the walk from the Dhoby Ghaut main entrance area to the actual building is a very long walk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was humid when I went but this place is lovely for picnics when the weather is much nicer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I didn’t go to the main istana building this time. The queue was way long and I didn’t want to queue in this weather. This is the only place you need to get a ticket to even if you’re a Singaporean or PR. It’s $2 and you guessed it right, all proceeds go to charity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, I can still view it from a far even without a ticket.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No photography\/videography is allowed in the main building too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This gate is for those architecture friends who might want to have a look or for art references.<\/p>\n\n\n

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This is the view when you get out of the Istana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s uncommon to get this view since everyone is always looking in. Wear good walking shoes if you decide to go to an open house, everyone!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And charge your phones so you can pay tickets, food or merchandise via qrcodes now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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