Solar Powered Street Light

This is a sample (pilot project) solar-powered street light at Bandung City Hall complex on Jalan Merdeka. In the future, most street lights in the city will be solar powered.

This post is Bandung Daily Photo's participation for this week's Skywatch Friday.

White Rhinoceros

This white single-horn rhinoceros sculpture is placed at the fountain pond located at the southern part of the Bandung City Hall Park.

Badak (the Sundanese word for rhinoceros) is an important animal in the Sundanese culture. A native animal of the land where the Sundanese people live, badak has long held a strong cultural significance in their lives. The word badak and its synomyms are used to name a lot of things, literally and figuratively. Here are some examples:

ngabadak (v) - to open a field
heuay badak (n) - a kitchen chimney
badak heuay (n) - (literally: yawning rhino) a traditional Sundanese house architectural style in which the roof is open like that of a yawning rhino
babadak (n) - a bamboo structure that is used to dam a river or put at a river bank to prevent landslide.
ngaladog (v) - (ladog = badak = rhino) to roam far
Etc.

Many places in West Java (the Sundanese land) are also named after this animal, for example cibadak (rhino water), rancabadak or rawabadak (rhino swamp), paguyangan badak (rhino bathing place), etc.

The single-horn Sundanese or Javan rhino (rhinoceros sondaicus) has mostly vanished in most part of the Sundanese land. Currently only about 50 are left in the wild. They are protected at the Ujung Kulon National Park at the western tip of Java Island. Not long ago, however, this animal used to roam free in many parts of the island. According to the surviving notes of Europeans visiting the area, for example, this animal could still be found in what now becomes the city of Bandung up until the end of the 18th century CE.

Taman Balai Kota Bandung (Bandung City Hall Park)

This is the center piece of Bandung City Hall Park. Designed by Dr. R. Teuser, the park is one of the oldest in the city. It was built in 1885 and was named Pieterpark in honor of an Asisten Residen (the title for the city's administrator before it became a municipality in 1906) Pieter Sijthoff.

In the old days, the park was also often called Kebon Raja (The King's Garden) because it was located just across the street from, Sakola Raja (Dutch: Kweekschool, or The King's School).

In 1950, the park's name was changed to Taman Merdeka (the Independence Park), and on December 4, 1996, the park's name was again changed to Taman Dewi Sartika in honor of a Bandung-native national heroine Dewi Sartika whose statue has since been placed there.