Photo: Sword Lake

Sword Lake: The lake water is blue all year round; therefore, it was called as Luc Thuy Nguyen Lake. The lake is very wide, ranging from Hang Dao to Hang Chuoi and then flows into Red River. With the legend of Le Loi King’s sword return, it had another name, Sword Lake. Then it was used as the place for the navy force’s training, thus, it was named as Thuy Quan Lake. After that, it was divided into two parts, the north called Ta Vong and the south named as Huu Vong. In the lake, the north had a hillock, the ancients called it Ngoc Mountain. The south had another hillock called Rua Mountain because a hillock was called a mountain when it was one inch high. Ngoc Son temple is located inside Ngoc Mountain. Rua tower is situated on Rua Mountain.

 

Photo: Truc Bach lake

Truc Bach lake: It is still part of West Lake. According to Doan Ke Thien, Cố Ngư embankment in the 17th century separated the lake into one small and one big lake. Cố Ngư was later read as Cổ Ngư. On October 16, 1958, President Ho Chi Minh visited the construction site and named the street as Thanh Nien.
The southern lakeshore in the past had Truc Yen village. Trinh Giang King (1729- 1740) built a palace, Truc Lam Vien, which after that served as the exile for guilty imperial maids. They earned their living by weaving. The silk is very beautiful. People called it Truc village’s silk. In the middle of the small island is Cau Nhi temple which was said to originate from Ly dynasty.

 

Photo: Thien Quang Lake

Thien Quang Lake: Located in front of the main gate of Thong Nhat park. The lake was also called as Lien Thuy, after that, it was named after Thien Quang village in the south east. It was often read as Thuyen Quang.

Earlier, the lake was wide and spread to the streets of Tran Quoc Toan, Yet Kieu and Nguyen Binh Khiem and also linked to Bay Mau lake. In the 1920-1925 period, the lake was gradually filled for streets.

 

Photo: Bay Mau Lake

 Bay Mau Lake: situated in Thong Nhat Park. Some people said the lake is 7 hectares wide, so, it is known as Bay Mau. In reality, the lake is 30 hectares wide. In 1960, the lake was dredged and upgraded along with Thong Nhat Park. The lake has two islands: Thong Nhat is a garden which has a bridge linked to the gate on Le Duan and Hoa Binh, near the eastern shore, is a cool and peaceful place for visitors. To come to the island, you have to sail.
Until 1996, Hanoi had 40 lakes of different sizes. But during the urbanization process, many of them have been filled. Currently, some small lakes have been still left in the inner city:

Ba Mau Lake, Dong Nhan Lake, Dong Da Lake, Giam Lake, Giang Vo Lake, Ngoc Khanh Lake, Thanh Nhan Lake, Thanh Cong Lake, Thu Le Lake and Xa Dan Lake.
Hanoi’s suburban region also has many nice lakes: Linh Duong (Thanh Tri), Van Tri (Dong Anh) and Dong Quang Soc Son where have been planned for big tourism resorts. Presently, Hanoi has two additional big lakes namely West Lake and Dong Mo-Ngai Son.

 
 

Photo: Suoi Hai Lake

Suoi Hai Lake: It wasthe common name of the old Yen Cu and Cau Rong lakes before being turned into an artificial lake. It is 1,000ha wide and is capable of store 50 million cubic meters. It is located on the eastern mountain foot of Ba Vi. This is a work to control floods on Tich River. The water surface of Suoi Hai River doubles West Lake. It has a natural beauty and some 16km from Son Tay town.

 
 

Photo: Dong Mo Lake golf course

Dong Mo-Ngai Son Lake: Being a reservoir on the mountain, Dong Mo-Ngai Son is a big irrigation work at the end of 1960s, some 10km south of Son Tay town and nearly 20km east of Suoi Hai Lake. Water from Hang River is kept in the lake which is 17km long and 4km wide with a water surface area of 1,300ha. It stores nearly 100 million cubic meters of water and prevents floods and drought for the four districts of Phuc Tho, Thach That, Quoc Oai and Chuong My. There is still over 60ha of hill land which is not submerged in the lake bed. The land is used for perennial trees. Currently, hotels to serve 36-hole golf courses have been built on the lake shore.