Explore Ba Be Lake - one of the largest freshwater lakes in the world
Hello everybody?
How are you today? Surely you have spent a happy week at the beginning of the year and don't know if you have finished your holiday yet? What plans do you have for this weekend? The new year comes with new beginnings, new plans, and plans, wish you a happy weekend full of energy and a smooth and successful start to 2022.
Today, I will introduce to you a place that I recently discovered, which is Ba Be Lake, one of the 20 most beautiful natural freshwater lakes in the world. Ba Be Lake is located in Nam Mau commune, Ba Be district, Bac Kan province, about 230 km from Hanoi city, located in Ba Be national park complex. Ba Be Lake has formed about 200 million years ago. From the geological movement of the limestone mountains here and the subsidence of the caves, there are three lakes, namely Pe Leng, Pe Lu, and Pe Lam, and collectively known as Ba Be Lake (meaning is 3 lakes).
The lake has a very large area, about 650ha, 8km long and the average depth is about 20-25m. This entire freshwater lake is located at an altitude of 150m above sea level, surrounded by the green color of primeval forest and towering limestone mountains, all year round with a cool and fresh climate. In 2012, Ba Be Lake was recognized as a special National Landscape, so Ba Be Lake is really a place worth visiting and discovering what nature gives us.
The legend of Ba Be Lake:
Legend has it that: "In the past, in this Nam Mau commune, there was a custom to hold a festival to pray for Buddha at the beginning of the year. Villagers dress very well, eagerly go to the temple to burn incense, pray, and hope for many good things. One day, suddenly there was an old beggar who came from nowhere. She looked very scary with her thin body, sores, dirty clothes that smelled of stench. As she walked, she begged for food: “I'm so hungry! Hope you guys do well!". Everyone was so scared that they chased her away from the crowd. The old woman walked until she reached a fork in the road when she met the mother and son of the boy returning from the market. Seeing the poor old woman begging, the mother took her home, fed her rice, and invited her to stay overnight.
Late at night, mother and daughter looked at the place where the old woman was lying and saw a bright light. A huge Dragon with its head on the beam, tail sticking out of the ground was curled up in the corner of the house. Mother and daughter were very frightened, had to close their eyes, hold their breath, and lie still for their fate to come.
When they woke up in the morning, the Dragon was nowhere to be seen. On the bed, still the old beggar, sick and sore. The old woman was about to leave when she waved her mother closer, she told the mother that this area was about to have a big flood, she gave a package of kitchen ashes to spread around the house. Hearing that, the mother worriedly asked: how to save the victims. The old woman picked up a grain of rice, brought it to her mouth, broke it, and gave two pieces of the husk to the mother, and told to use it to save people. After saying that, the old woman suddenly disappeared.
Both mother and daughter were shocked and surprised. The mother hastily brought this story to the people in the village, but no one believed her. Sure enough, on that night, when everyone was doing the worshiping ceremony, a stream of water on the ground spewed out. Wherever the water sprayed, there would be landslides. People were terrified, scrambling to escape. Suddenly, a rumbling sound shook the ground, houses and everything was instantly submerged in the sea of water. Only the small house of the other kind mother and daughter remained intact, dry and not wet at all, and no matter where the water flooded, the house floated up.
The mother felt sorry for this tragedy, suddenly remembered what the old woman had told her in the morning, and immediately dropped two pieces of rice husk into the water. And strangely enough, 2 rice husks turned into two wooden boats. So under heavy rain and strong wind, mother and daughter tried their best to save those victims. When the water receded, the collapsed land turned into Ba Be Lake, while the mother and daughter's house became a floating mound in the middle of the lake, now known as Ba Goa mound. (meaning widow)”
This story is passed down by word of mouth from generation to generation of this land, to educate their children and grandchildren about loving people, about those who are gentle and kind, living well will meet good things. And this legend has been put into teaching textbooks of Vietnam, to teach good things to students, and it has become a story that everyone from old to young knows it.
This trip of me and my companion started from Hanoi city by motorbike, and it took more than 5 hours to reach Ba Be Lake. When we arrived at about 3 pm, we met a young couple who also came here by motorbike from Hanoi. And we talked to each other and learned that we hadn't booked any accommodation before coming here, and so we rented a boat together for 600,000 VND/boat and toured around this Ba Be Lake together. After chatting, it's nice that we have the same hobby of backpacking, and the way he experiences it is similar to ours. When you travel, you can meet people who have the same passion as you, it is a very wonderful and very interesting thing.
The motorboat carrying all 4 of us, and 2 motorbikes started from the river to the inside of the lake. We were told by the boatman about the places we passed. Sitting on the boat, we can see the majestic scenery around with immense water, soaring limestone mountains. On both sides of the river are corn and rice fields planted by local people. We were able to go through a cave, that is Puong cave. In this there are small caves, to worship the gods in this land. Because this is one of the limestone mountains, inside there are stalactites that are millions of years old. It is also home to a variety of swallows and bats.
Going through the cave, we started going inside the Ba Be Lake area. The lake is very large, around us is immense blue water, covered on 4 sides by mountains covered with primeval forests. The boat driver took us across Ba Goa Island right in the middle of the lake. The island is just a small rock rising up in the middle of a vast lake, on the island there are a few old trees covering the rock. And I remember the story of this island that I told you about above. Indeed, nature has brought us unexpected things, and the fact that a small island like this rises in the middle of a large lake is the best proof of that. In the distance, people's boats are fishing, because this is a very large freshwater lake, the number of fish living is also diverse and abundant. And fishing is also one of the main occupations of the people here besides growing rice and crops.
The boat took us around to tour around the lake and finally brought us to the tourist area located inside this lake. Around the lake are stilt houses of the Tay people, an ethnic minority living in the northeastern region of Vietnam. As soon as we docked, we were invited by the owners of homestays, hotels, and motels to their accommodation. Since this place has developed tourism, the foodservice and accommodation here have also developed, and if you have not booked your accommodation yet, you do not need to worry about it.
The 4 of us walked around for a while and finally chose a homestay for us. The homestay is located on the top of a hill, designed in the style of a stilt house, but the whole thing is made of very beautiful wood, and you have to walk up a slope with high steps, it creates a very impressive highlight for this homestay, and we chose it for that. We left our motorbikes below and walked up that slope. Standing on stilts, one side can look out to the lake, the other side is the mountain view with the front of the rice field located right next to the foot of the mountain. When we got here, it was already dark, and we had ordered dinner cooked by the host himself. The meeting of the 4 of us was bonded by dinner, along with beer. We were from strangers, met by chance and became friends, sat down to have dinner together, and shared the same passion. And I really admire her brother and sister, married because of the same passion, the same interests, the same direction. And then take the time to travel together every weekend or holiday. After that trip, we have made new friends, even though we are in two different cities, about 700km apart, but now we still keep in touch and sometimes see each other again and review together. the memories we had, are extremely valuable things that we have after the trip.
The next morning, we left Ba Be Lake tourist area by road, and experiencing the winding road along the lake was also a very interesting thing. Each path of discovery has its own interesting things, like going on a boat, you will experience the feeling of standing in the middle of the immense sea, watching the surrounding scenery in a comprehensive way. As for exploring by road, we will be able to ride a motorbike on a small road along the lakeside, admire the beauty of every small corner, cross the iron bridge over the river, and see Ba Be Lake in the area 1 wider angle.
With this unspoiled, breathtaking natural beauty that has not been exploited much except for restaurant, hotel, and motel services, this place attracts a lot of young people who love to explore nature like us, also as foreign tourists. There are also scientists who also regularly come here to study the rich diversity of flora and fauna. No matter what angle you discover the beauty of Ba Be Lake at, whatever road you take, this is a very wonderful place that deserves to come here once to visit and explore it. I am sure you will not miss it if you have the opportunity to come to this Bac Kan province, which is just over 240km from Hanoi city.
The journey to discover and conquer nature is a long journey, each place has a different beauty that no other place is the same. And the things that nature gives us are surprising and mysterious. We need to preserve and protect them, because human development has a great impact on the earth, as well as on nature. And once nature is angry, the consequences that humans suffer are great. Therefore, we need to protect everything around us, like protecting our own lives.
These photos were taken by me and my friends!
Thank you for reading!
See you next post and have a nice day. 💜