A golf course on Orchard Road

Those of you who read The Dodgess will know that over the Lunar New Year Holiday we went to visit the Istana, Singapore's White House. Needless to say it is somewhat lavish, as you would expect for the highest paid president in the world.

Even so, the grounds do put the efforts of other governments to shame, for, the grounds are no less than a golf course!!!

Now lets put this into perspective. The Istana is right at the heart of Singapore, set just off the equivalent of Oxford Street, or perhaps 5th Ave. And they have a GOLF COURSE taking up who knows how much space.

Lucky them. Here are a few photos:

 

 

We also got to have a look around inside a couple of the guest rooms. I have to say the greatest attraction of this was the super cold air con units... despite the murky skies, the temp was still somewhat over the 30C mark.

Inside were displays of the various gifts the government had received. Britain had sent but 1 recently, a pair of silver goblets engrave with Elizabeth II Regina and the Singapore Crest. Reasonably nice. Some countries had sent things that were distinctly unimpressive. New Zealand sent a plate. I think they got it from IKEA - well perhaps if Sweden had sent it I could understand!

Incidently, in case you think I'm kidding, I would have taken photos inside, but a very polite chap tells you not to. I often don't obey such polite chaps, but this one was holding a machine gun, so I did obey him. (Now you all know what to do if you want me to pay attention to you)