sneaking into a palace in s'pore

this morning, three daring men and one brave woman sneaked into the sultan's palace. the gate was padlocked and the sharp spikes were there to deter us from climbing. there was no guard or sentry.



so, we slipped in through a narrow opening at the side, between the post and the fence. someone must had paved the way for us and others by forcing the fence to one side.




once there was a road leading from the gate to the sultan's house. today, much of the road has been covered by creepers, so it has become more like a track. the walk from the gate to the palace made us realise the expanse of the place.




this old and bald tree was an indication of the state and age of the building that we were looking for.





it was certainly in a worse shape than the bare tree, stripped of most of its one-time fine covering and trimmings, it was in a real run-down condition. however, the kitchen and the servant quarters looked quite respectable, at least from the outside.



the bull-dozers are not far from its door-steps. soon, what the fire could not totally destroy nor the bombing by the japanese, that job would be completed by the bull-dozers.

i think this once grand building that we explored today is the istana woodneuk and not the tyersall house. most of the tiles that we saw lying around on the ground and near the roof were blue in colour. according to records, the tyersall house had a red roof.

picture from the national archives of s'pore

you can read more about the tyersall house and istana woodneuk here.