Cellphone photos of the 2024 Tet Festival at Mile Square Park in Fountain Valley, CA, on Feb. 11th, 2024
I just realized that this is going to be my first blog post for 2024. I just haven't had the energy. I seem to have crashed into a wall and I no longer venture out to take as many photos as I used to do so. It isn't that I don't have the desire, I do, but I don't want to go to the same places, I want to go somewhere else.
I attended this festival for the first time in 2023 (last year, of course), and thought I would return. This year it coincided with the big OC Tet Official Celebration held at the Orange Country Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa. I thought it would end up cutting down on attendance if it had to compete with a bigger event, and I think it did. I noticed fewer people this year than last.
The grounds were still very muddy, but I noticed that the city maintenance people must have put in some kind of sandy terrain so that the mud didn't stick to our shoes. I was sinking my feet in as I walked around the location. This is held at a public park in Orange County. The parking is not abundant, which is why they run shuttles. I was able to park along the street, but had to walk about ten minutes to get to the actual festival. So be it, this was my rather limited exercise for today.
It was better to be at this event than to stay at home and wait for the Super Bowl. No one was talking football at this event, and there were no jerseys from any of the competing teams. This was very refreshing.
I was hungry when I arrived, and I wanted to get some kind of combo dish. I was open to Vietnamese, Chinese, Indonesian or even Korean. I ended up going with a Pad Thai plate, but I didn't finish it. My stomach doesn't have the capacity to take in very much food now, especially with my hernia mesh which was installed last year. I get nauseous very quickly.
The event was low-key. I was waiting and waiting for dance groups, but it was in vain. I guess one of the groups cancelled, and they whiled away their time with other performances, mostly singers. I wanted to see cultural dance, though. Since I was frustrated, I just walked around and took photos, mostly with my cellphone. There is no pretence of art, it was just to while away the time and capture the ambiance.
I ended up leaving at about 2:30 p.m.
