Vietnam Hanoi - Hoan Kiem Lake

Hanoi of Vietnam is sound familiar to me since my school time. Although been travelled to Vietnam few times, but always stayed in Ho Chi Minh instead of this historical city. Thanks for the business request, finally got chance to Hanoi and had short visit to the famous Hoan Kiem Lake.

Hoan Kiem Lake

Formerly known as Green Water Lake, Hoan Kiem Lake is located at historical city of Hanoi. According to the local friends, the lake is legendary known to have a giant golden turtle. The giant turtle is believe to be Golden Turtle God (Kim Qui) which appeared in the legend of how Hoan Kiem Lake was named. According to the legend, in 15th century, there was an emperor named Le Loi who was also the founder of Le Dynasty. One day, the emperor was boating in this lake with his magic sword but unexpectedly it was grabbed by a giant turtle who quickly disappeared into the depths. Although efforts had been made to find both sword and turtle but all attempts were not successful. The emperor was then acknowledged that the sword had been reclaimed back by the Golden Turtle God who giving it to him sometimes ago, during his revolt against the Chinese Ming Dynasty. The lake was then named by the emperor as Hoan Kiem Lake which means Lake of the Returned Sword.

At the northern end of Hoan Kiem Lake, there is a small tower stand on the islet, named as Thap Rua (Turtle Tower).

Turtle Tower

The tower was erected in 1886 on the islet which was formerly the fishing site under Emperor Le Thanh Tong. Now the Turtle Tower become an important symbol of both peace and patriotism to the Hanoi people.

While walking around the lake, there is a bright red colour bridge linked the lake to the islet where Ngoc Son Temple located. The bridge is named as 'The Huc' which means 'flooded with morning sunlight'.

Due to time limit, I was not visiting Ngoc Son Temple but understand from the website that this temple is dedicated to the hero Tran Hung Dao, who defeated the Yuan army that invade Vietnam. Before step on the bridge, there are stone gateways with Chinese character that guarded the entrance. 

Apart from the legend or history, Hoan Kiem Lake is still attracting the locals especially the elders in doing exercise around the lake. When I reached the lake around 7am and thought that the day still young, but many uncles and aunties already started their exercise either joining the various type of group dance or play a simple badminton beside the lake. I was so impressed when saw aunties probably at age of 80+ were still so energetic and healthy in doing exercise.

When I continue to walk around the lake, I was seeing something that surprising me, not happened beside the lake but another side of the road. Let see the picture below:

I never thought that the sports could be played on the road. Maybe it is common at that areas but I really feel surprise when first time looked at this situation. After all, I was excited because this is so called culture difference that suppose to be experienced during oversea trip. Am I right?

Although I only spent roughly one and half hour walking around the Hoam Kiem Lake, but I really love it especially on the scenery and dynamic environment generated by the locals.