Rob's Happy Fun Time Blog

Today, Sarah and I went to the Smithsonian Folklife Festival. It was incredibly hot out today, but we still had a great time. And neither of us got sunburned TOO badly.

The food was rather expensive ($8 for a stromboli and $6 for a thing of pasta), but I guess we sort of expected it at something like this anyhow. The other food areas may have been a bit cheaper, but I doubt it. One thing that was probably worth the price was the Frozen Silk Road Punch or whatever it was called. At $5 for a 20 oz. cup, it seemed expensive, but... it was so very yummy, so I didn't mind so much. I don't think I've ever tasted a better fruit drink. If you get a chance to go, try it.

Anyhow... the festival was really enjoyable. We didn't see everything and we didn't watch each performance we went to in its entirety, but that gave us a chance to see a variety of acts. We never managed to find the dervishes that were supposed to be there somewhere according to the above-linked page, but that's O.K.

When we first got there, the throat-singing had already started, so we rushed over. Luckily, the place they were at was right by the metro stop. I couldn't see too well, but I could hear just fine. It was really interesting to hear. It just sounds like it has to be incredibly painful to do, but it's just so... fascinating. The music they were playing was great, too, and I really loved the female singer in the group.

After that, we pretty much just wandered all over the place, searching for stuff to see. And there was plenty. I think, for me, the highlight was the Asian mask theatre act at Nara Gate. It was very cool.

I'm definitely glad we went. There was a lot of great music and dancing to see. And great crafts in the craft area, too. There was this one woman doing silk work that was just amazing. The fine detail must've taken forever to do. Watching her work on even a small area was cool.

The crowds were pretty heavy today. But I expect they'll be worse on the weekend. And especially the following weekend, when it'll be a holiday weekend. So I'm definitely glad we went on a Thursday. I can't even imagine how bad it'll be on other days.

We managed to avoid any rain until we were heading home, so that was cool. :)

All in all, it was a great time and I'm glad we got to go. I highly recommend it to anyone in the area who has the chance to go. And now I'll stop rambling.