Ho Tay is the largest of all the lakes in Ha Noi. The lake is on the northwest part of the city. Long ago, the lake was a branch of the Red river but later, as the river changed course, the lake remained a body of water just west of the river. There are many legends associated with West Lake. The most popular is the legend of the golden buffalo. vietnam tour , tour in vietnam
As the story
goes, there once was a medicine man who was a giant. He is well known in
Vietnam for his medicine practice and the king often used him to treat
the royal family. His fame reached China and he was invited to China to
treat the king. He was successful where others have failed so the king
was going to reward him with great wealth. He refused offerings of gold
and only requested that the king give him all the black copper in the
king's vault. The king agreed and the giant left for Vietnam with vast
amounts of black copper. In Vietnam the giant molded a giant bell of
black copper. The giant rang the bell and the sound resonated all the
way to China. In the king's vault there was a golden buffalo. Upon
hearing the sound of the bell, the buffalo came to life (because he
thought that his mother was calling him) and charged southward. Upon
reaching Ha Noi, the buffalo trampled the land in the area near Red
river. Over the years, this area filled with water and became Ho Tay or West Lake.
Ho Tay has
always been an area for vacationing royalties. When Ha Noi was still the
capital city, the kings from the Ly and Tran dynasty built summer homes
along the lake. In the north end of the lake there are several villages
famous for their flowers and fruits plantations. Most famous is Nghi
Tam village, the birth place of Ba Huyen Thanh Quan, one of Vietnam's
premier Poetess.
Today, many of
the summer homes built by kings of yesteryears are now shrines and
temples. Phu Tay Ho is one of the more popular shrine on the shore of Ho
Tay. During the first and fifteenth day of the lunar month, people from
all over Ha Noi pour to the shrine to pay respect to the deities. On
these days, the roads are filled with people dressed in colorful attire
heading to the narrow road leading to the shrine. Phu Tay Ho is also
famous for the Bun Oc (escargot vermicelli soup) and Banh Tom (shrimp
cakes) sold in stalls along the way
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