Plants | Apa Kabar Bram

The second part of Singapore’s Istana open day.

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The pond at Victoria Garden

A statue of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, the garden was named after her. She was the queen when Singapore was still a British colony.

More information about Her Majesty statue

Lotus banana or musa ornata

Blood banana

Paper plant

Heliconia rostrata

Water lily or nymphaera sp

Johannesteijmannia sp

Thunbergia or thunbergia affinis

A fountain located metres away from the main Istana building

People picnicking with skyscrapers in the background

The Istana

Closer to the Istana

Dwarf ixora or ixora siamentis

Phyllanthus or phyllanthus ayrtifelima

After that, I went inside the main Istana building. The ticket costs S$ 2.00 each and the money raised will go for charity causes. However, phototakings are not allowed inside the building, prior to security. Inside the building, there are many gifts from Singapore’s friends. The artefacts are priceless.

Keep the children busy here

A building in which visitors are not allowed to visit

This is where art competition participants submitted their artworks.

A McDonald’s booth was set up to cater hungry visitors.

This is a map to tell visitors the dos and don’ts places to visit in the compound.

Exit

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And that’s the end of Istana Open Day report. For the first report on this issue, please visit this link.

That’s all from me now. Thanks for coming and good day.

Last Sunday, August 02, 2009, Singapore’s Istana held an open house ahead of the National Day which took place one week after the open house (August 09). So I took the opportunity to visit the Istana. After four years staying here, I’ve never been there before.

Long queue outside the Istana

Visitors to the Istana would be given a booklet printed by NHB’s Singapore Art Museum about what events going to take place inside.

The park opposite to the Istana has been decorated with Singapore theme ahead of the National Day.

The queue behind

It’s not the end pf the queue yet.

Police guarding the Istana

To enter the Istana that day, Singaporeans and Permanent Residents need not pay a single cent whereas foreigners must pay S$ 1.00 each. What made the long queue was actually a security check using an x-ray scanners and metal detectors. And Indonesia, my homeland, please learn one thing, in Singapore, you need to tale out your laptop from your bag for x-ray scan as well just in case terrorists hide their explosives there. I have experienced that lots of times in Singapore’s Changi Airport. This is one reason why Jakarta’s JW Marriott became a target for the recent bombings.

Once entered Istana, steps after the security check, visitors would be greeted by thousand umbrellas decorated by students from various levels of institutions in the country.

Inside the brochure I told you earlier, in case of wet weather, please do not use the umbrellas. Why? Is the painting still wet? Or may be scared the colourings would ruin your clothes? Anyway, I did not manage to take shots of the umbrellas, time limit and memory limit.

Last shot before going further inwards

I know they won’t put up this sign if there is an official visit from other country.

Some Orchard Road skyscrapers could be seen from the Istana.

There were five booths of NHB to promote their museums to children. They are National Museum of Singapore (NMS), Asian Civilisation Museum (ACM), Singapore Art Museum (SAM), Singapore Philatelic Museum (SPM) and Peranakan Museum. I♥Museums is the slogan used.

NHB organised an art competition that day, there was also a performance from a military band and lastly is the unpredictable weather. See the dark clouds gathering but it was still a stuffy day.