namaste

You know, until I read this chapter, it never even occurred to me that House bought the cane while in Singapore. I always just figured that he had bought it at an antique store somewhere in Jersey and happened to bring it along with him to Singapore. Of course, that means it probably would have been confiscated from him while going through security at the U.S. airport as well—I guess I assumed that they "missed" it or just let it go. But your theory about him buying it in Singapore makes more sense and is probably accurate. :-)