Royal Safari Garden Hotel, Puncak: Pendopo

This photo here comes from the series of our family vacation to the Royal Safari Garden Hotel & Restaurant. In case you don't know, it belongs to Taman Safari Indonesia, Indonesia's center for reproduction of endangered wildlife. Both places are actually located at two different areas, but stand nearby. I love this place so much that I can't stop writing about it.

The building in the photo is called a pendopo, which according to the Wikipedia is:

A fundamental element of Javanese architecture; a large pavilion -like structure built on columns. Either square or rectangular in plan, it is open on all sides and provides shelter from the sun and rain, but allows breeze and indirect light. The word pendopo Sanskrit word mandapa ('hall'). The Dutch writer Multatuli in his colonial reformist novel Max Havelaar described the pendopo as "next to a broad-rimmed hat, an umbrella or a hollow tree, a pendopo is undoubtedly the simplest representation there is of the concept of 'roof'".

You can rent this architectural building for family or company gatherings at this site. I think the pendopo in my photo shot is the largest one in the area. There are also several smaller pendopos in various sizes for free.

Royal Safari Garden Hotel, Puncak: Birds Presentation

There is a lot of stuff that you can do at the Royal Safari Garden Hotel & Restaurant. Besides some activities at the Goddess of Rice Pond, you can also go and see this birds presentation for free on each Saturday, Sunday or Holidays at 11am or 15pm.

They have various kinds of birds to present, like this smart parrot here. Our kids had a great time at the Royal Safari Garden Hotel, Puncak: Birds Presentation.

Royal Safari Garden Hotel Puncak: Goddess of Rice Pond

The Royal Safari Garden Hotel, Puncak, is a place where you could go with the entire family. There are so many activity choices that I think no one will be left out.

Here at the Goddess of Rice Pond, you can rent water bikes and feed some big goldfish. If you are not in the mood to go on a water bike, you could just sit at the benches or under an umbrella or stand at the bridges while watching fish or feeding them.

Besides this pond, the Royal Safari Garden Hotel has also a pond with a little bird island and another one for fishing activities.

You can see the Goddess of Rice pond at the Royal Safari Garden Hotel & Restaurant in the photo above. According to the Wikipedia:

Dewi Sri is the goddess of rice on the island of Bali and Java. She has the power of the underworld and the moon. She controls the foodstuffs of the Earth and death. She is the mother of life because she symbolizes rice (the primary food of Indonesia). Highly revered especially by the Javanese, Balinese, and Sundanese people of Indonesia, there are a lot of versions of her legend in Indonesia, most of them involve Dewi Sri (also known as Dewi Asri, Nyi Pohaci, etc) and her brother Sedana (also known as Sadhana, Sadono, etc), set either in the kingdom of Medang Kamulan, or in the heaven (involving gods such as Batara Guru), or both. In all the versions in which Sedana appears along with Dewi Sri, they end up separated from each other, through either death, wandering, or a refusal to be married. Some versions made correlation between Sri and large snake of the rice field (ular sawah) and Sadhana with swallow (sriti). The traditional Javanese people in particular have a special place in their house dedicated for Dewi Sri, decorated with intricate carvings of snake, so that she will give prosperity for them. In the agricultural Javanese, a snake who entered a house won't be chased away as it is a sign for a success in harvest, and they will give it offerings instead. The Balinese provide special shrines in the rice fields for her. The Sundanese have a special festival dedicated to her.