Be a guest at the Old Istana Negara

The exterior of Old Istana Negara overlooks a vast compound wih grand fountains. Photos: The Star/Norafifi Ehsan

Standing outside the grand black-and-gold gates of Istana Negara on a balmy Friday morning, I let my imagination run and imagine how it would be like to be royalty and speak Bahasa Istana (royal language).

That thought is fuelled by having spent much time tracing various royal genealogies on the Internet as well as the many instances of seeing the former national palace while I was stuck in traffic along Jalan Istana, and wondering what it looked like inside.