Sing for the World Part V: Three Gold Medals for Indonesia

[caption id="attachment_121666" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Having breakfast in Ngawi City, East Java, before arriving in Juanda International Airport Surabaya. Photo by Sonny Hendrawan Saputra"]

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[/caption] Going to the east, they stopped for a moment at 6 pm in a restaurant in Ngawi City, East Java. They ordered the simple menu as they had to be very smart in organizing their minimum budget. But their togetherness made everything got more fun, they enjoyed the food and talked in the warm of friendship. At 7 am, they continued their trip to Surabaya. They bit nervous because they finally faced the threat named traffic jam. The bus totally could not move on. Luckily, after 30 minutes the street came back to normal and they would not be late to arrive in Juanda International Airport. At 12.30, they had been in airport. They still look so enthusiastic though they had to wait their flight to Bangkok at 3.30 pm. Sawasdee!!! Greeting from Bangkok. They finally arrived in Suvarnabhumi International Airport Bangkok at 7.30 pm (no difference of time between Surabaya and Bangkok). As common youths do when they arrived in a new place, they crazily took pictures here and there. The airport itself was very interesting with luxurious appearance with elegant combination of Thai traditional and western modern. Most of them felt happy to take pictures in the spots of the airport that mostly used Aksoonthai, traditional Thai letter. They focused too much on taking photos until they seemed to forget to take their luggages. Yes, it was the young life, full of fun and full of joy. [caption id="attachment_121668" align="aligncenter" width="666" caption="The atmosphere in Suvarnabhumi Airport. Photo by Sonny Hendrawan Saputra"]

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They had been waiting by the tour guide name Nick or Vasin Mohcharoen. Of course the first information to ask from Voca Erudita members was about the place for dinner. Nick gave choice by stopping the bus in "Motorway". It is the area of shops and restaurants along the street between Bangkok and Pattaya. First of all they entered KFC and McDonald. Unfortunately those both fast food restaurant did not provide rice.  Absolutely, it would not be suit for the custom of Indonesian people eating rice everyday.

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They finally decided to go to simple restaurant providing several choices of Thai traditional foods - certainly with rice. With the password "no pork, please", each of them could enjoy the menu of chicken or beef with rice but without water for 40 Bath. The seller looked so happy welcoming the guests from Indonesia with big group of people (37 people) until she willingly gave bonus for extra "kao" or rice and fried eggs. After eating some of them spent a little time to go to 7-Eleven mini market next to the restaurant. They bought some water and snacks to eat in hotel.

[caption id="attachment_121671" align="aligncenter" width="666" caption="Ambassador City Jomtien Hotel in Pattaya. The venue of the 4th Grand Prix Pattaya International Choir Competition. Photo by Sonny Hendrawan Saputra"]

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Finally, at 11 pm they arrived at hotel. They stayed in Ambassador City Jomtien Hotel in Pattaya in which it was also the venue of the choir competition. They were amazed by the hotel known as "the world largest resort complex" with over 5,000 rooms occupying 40 acres of prime beach front. They stayed in the part of hotel named Inn Wing precisely in front of souvenir markets area.  Long journey with tiredness did not extinguish the fire that they brought of Solo even they added the spirit from Thailand. Under the moonlight that welcomed them in the first night in Thailand, they finally slept.

With the Sound of Wave of Jomtien Pattay Beach, They Played Their Melodies (July 19 and 20, 2011)

[caption id="attachment_121676" align="aligncenter" width="666" caption="Keep on Practising. Photo by Sonny Hendrawan Saputra"]

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[/caption] [caption id="attachment_121685" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="Tria, official of Voca Erudita. Photo by Sonny Hendrawan Saputra"]

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Early in the morning, at 6 am, Tria, official of Voca Erudita actively knocked the doors of Voca Erudita members to wake them up. With various kinds of expressions of waking up-faces, they started to do morning exercise in front of beach. The sound of the beach wave gave them both refreshing and contemplative feeling. It was such a good place to recharge energy after yesterday log journey. After that they took breakfast together. They did not need to worry about the menu because the hotel had guaranteed that the menus were halal (edible for Muslim) as Voca Erudita had requested before.

They did not want to spend much time without doing anything. They directly continued their activities by practising. In the souvenir markets inside the hotel near the beach, they started to practise. Wonderfully, their voices seems blended with the sound of wave of Jomtien Pattaya beach into beautiful melodies. They were so excited to practise to prepare the best for their performance and competition. Even after a little break, they continued practising in the afternoon. While at night, they really used it as "young life time" to refresh themselves by swimming.

They did it similarly in the following day, in July 20. Of course, they did not forget to complete their efforts by having daily prayers together. Those two days run very fast without they realized but they knew that they had been more confident and ready to face tomorrow challenging activities.

Thailand Grand Palace and the First Opening Concert in the Church of Assumption University (July 21, 2011)