Looking across Hoàn Kiếm Lake at night towards the Thê Húc Bridge, and the entrance gate to the Ngọc Sơn Pagoda
The setting sun and trees framing the Tháp Rùa memorial at the south end of the Lake
New Year celebrations now include the decorating of the trees around the Lake with lanterns
Hoàn Kiếm Lake is Hà Nội's heart, and as in any tropical city, this heart starts beating as the sun goes down. The flood lights come on, people start to stroll, and the hubbub of the day dies down.
The Tháp Rùa memorial provides one of Vietnam's most famous views, and has had its illuminations increased in recent years: to the left 2006, and above (in 2016) a couple sit opposite the monument - he texting, she talking on a phone - neither are 'there'
The history of the
Tháp Rùa monument
is not what the Vietnamese would wish. Built ostensibly in memory of Lê Lợi, the fifteenth century hero, it was used for the burial of a French collaborating bureaucrat's father. The name of this official has now slipped from the records - machinations not really a matter for pride
Looking from the south end of the Lake at Tháp Rùa with the
Shark's Jaw building
a kilometre away at the far end
To the east, lights installed in the last few years...
...fringe the Lake, and here they continue to the north
Vietnam is Westernising rapidly. A change shown here by the embracing of the solar 'New Year'. However, Têt, the Lunar New Year festival, remains hugely important and still dominants all other celebrations
Unruffled water reflects the Shark's Jaw building
The specimen trees that line the shores of the lake are floodlit at night
The Ngọc Sơn Pagoda with accompanying lights, to left and right, for insurance and phone companies
At the south end of the Lake a bed of plants with single white leaves seem like lanterns in the dark vegetation
The Ngọc Sơn Pagoda - advert free
...not too cool to stop for the family photograph, but cool enough for a dog, down at the left, to have its coat on, and jackets to be handy
The path between the Lake and the road is now brightly lit at night, and Hanoians and visitors can stroll, and be seen in the cool of the evening, when temperatures in the winter dip to the mid to low teens, (and in some years down to 8 degrees)...
A girl in the crowd signs hello - the Vietnamese for 'two' being 'hai', sounding like the English 'Hi'
This seething mass of humanity marked the celebrations for a Vietnamese football victory - the Lake was surrounded by tens of thousands of people and motor bikes
The Hoà Phong tower is all that remains of a former pagoda on this lakeside site
A gate stands at the entrance to the bridge that leads to Ngọc Sơn island and its pagoda
The last visitors are leaving the pagoda and bridge, a slightly creepy hand belongs to the doorman whose shadow can be seen. Beside this entrance sits the Bút Tower. The name 'bút' is often used meaning brush/pen - the shape of the tower top...
...This tower in this position, by the entrance, links the solid foundation of the earth on which the building sits, and the eternal truth of the sky above, which we should emulate. These ideas stem from the Daoist roots of the lay-out of the site
To the left is the Ngọc Sơn Pagoda, and to the right the Thê Húc Bridge
The Thê Húc Bridge in all its night-time magnificence
The next page
stays by Hoàn Kiếm Lake, but moves to dawn when many forms of exercise are taken by local people around its periphery. Some are conventional such as badminton, some less so as with this exponent of an eastern art.
The last page was about the Yarrow Lochs in winter
A page on another pagoda
To a page on a very Scottish Loch
