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Street Talk: West Lake
Category: General Published on Saturday, 09 January 2010 13:24 Written by Nick Ross Hits: 417
At once a mark of modern, middle-class Hanoi and yet a sign of how far this city has to go, West Lake makes for a great place to take a stroll, relax among greenery, sip on a ca phe nau or perhaps even take in a pagoda (there are three of them). The lake road (Duong Ven Ho) goes most of the way around the perimeter, and development – coffee shops, oc sellers and newly built property – is coming with it, as are all the fishermen.
The Thanh Nien / Thuy Khue Area
You can get to the Lake Road here, but it requires driving through the paved parkway area close to the Thuy Khue end of Thanh Nien and then over the 25m or so of gravel.
Pass the possibly deliberate effort to leave the road unfinished (500m further down the streetlights don’t work and the walled in diplomatic residences are under heavy guard), and you come to a strip of cafes and floating restaurants. Potomac, Tay Long and Eureka, to name but a couple of the venues out here, sport the standard formula – fast food, not-so-cheap coffee, Wi-Fi, beer, standard Vietnamese cuisine and a place to chill over the lake. For those wanting to get further away from it all, this is where you can hire swan-shaped pedalos, although don’t come expecting a foray on the lake at night.
Down the Alley
Take Ngo 128 off Thuy Khue and you find the main south-side entrance to the lake road. Turn right and pass the cafes and nighttime anglers taking advantage of the shallow waters as they search for their latest catch. Go left, past the seafood restaurants and the splattering of cafes, and you will find yourself at the first of a few interesting spots on this stretch, like the slightly wacky Zen Bar (100, Ngo 28 Thuy Khue).
If ever a place is an expression of young Hanoi, it is here. Downstairs, techno blasts, but the rugs and cushions on the second and third floor of this strangely painted building with its banana leaf roof offer a perfect place to lounge away over a beer or one of the bar’s extensive selection of cocktails (VND45,000 each). To give it a romantic air, the place also specialises in chocolate hotpots at VND88,000 a go.
A touch further on is another good spot, Nha Hang Hai Dang 3 (254 Thuy Khue). A bia hoi joint serving the typical range of drinking dishes, the best thing about this place is the breeze coming off the lake – great to cool you down during the summer. Just don’t come here in dark and dreary December, unless you want to catch a chill.
Oc Chin Mon
Oc, or snails, are everywhere along the south and west side of the lake, but nowhere seems to be more popular than the area around Chua Sai Pagoda. Snails are not for everyone, and so, to cater for a range of tastes, our friendly escargot are cooked up in a range of styles including steamed (oc hap thuoc bac) or even sauteed with sesame seeds (oc xao me), and a dish comes out at a mere VND30,000. One restaurant has even created a nine-course set menu of snail dishes (oc chin mon), perfect for those with a fetish for gastropods. For those who prefer something a little less whiffy, then how about some cockles?
Lac Long Quan
Hit the north-east side of the lake and you find an area yet to be completed, yet to become a thoroughfare for traffic. Here the Lake Road comes to an abrupt halt just behind the water park and West Lake entertainment area – you have to turn round and go back on Lac Long Quan to get through. Lack of access makes this the most serene part of the lake.
When you do manage to get back onto Lac Long Quan and find Ngo 612, the entrance to Cong Vien Ho Tay, in front of you stretches an enormous entertainment complex.
Strangely desolate during the week, but alive at weekends and during holidays, the buildings here contain one of the city’s best known amusement parks. Home to an enormous ferris wheel, dodgems, a pedestrian looking rollercoaster and a Disney-style fairy castle, guests are also treated to karaoke favourites blasting out of the park’s many speakers. An added bonus.
You have to pay for this luxury, of course, with VND10,000 getting you through the gates and an overall ticket (VND100,000) giving you access to all the rides. Those not so enamoured of the facilities here can instead pay as they go, with the ferris wheel setting brave punters back a whopping VND15,000.
There is also a water park here, although it is closed until Apr. 20. Not for renovation, we are told. And next door is the gargantuan Nha Hang Sen Tay Ho (614 Lac Long Quan). Sporting an imperial-style faÁade and an enormous ‘international’ buffet area, this well-known establishment does a brisk trade in weddings and parties.
A Bit of TLC …
Behind the Water Park, head out onto Au Co, turn right down To Ngoc Van and follow the road to the end and underneath the sign for Phuong Nguyen Restaurant. The tarmac here eventually becomes concrete, before petering out into a rocky path which takes you through to the first of the dying lily ponds. Here the lake road below comes to an abrupt end, while the grafittied one above skirts the edge of the water before coming to a halt at the back of the water park. It is an image of desolation.
A few lopsided floating restaurants do their best to entice customers in with the promise of seafood and bia hoi. But the area, like all the best wastelands on this planet, has become an outdoor community centre for penniless teenagers, who seem content hanging out and leaning against the railings separating the street from the lake.
Head back into civilisation a bit and one of the first places you come to is Block House Cafe (64 Ngo 52, To Ngoc Van). Built from concrete and decorated to look like an adobe fort, an outside terrace area and upstairs roof patio with a lake view disguises the decor inside – low-ceilinged cubby holes hidden down dark passages, all wallpapered with pages from old newspapers.
The Stuff of Legend
West Lake, like so much of Hanoi, has legends and stories attached to it, and one place enshrined in the city’s vernacular is the iconic temple, Phu Tay Ho (71 Dang Thai Mai). Packed to the rafters on the 1st and 15th of each lunar month, worshippers come to pray for good fortune to the mother goddess Lieu Hanh, one of Vietnam’s four immortal spirits, and the daughter of the Jade Emperor, the Lord of Heaven.
The story goes that Lieu Hanh was exiled from heaven by her father after breaking a vase, and was made to live in a small hamlet in Nam Dinh. After she had served her time she returned to her celestial abode, but life on earth attracted her and she frequently returned to assist the Nam Dinh locals or help them avert disaster. She also liked to travel. One day she came across a small but beautiful peninsula, and decided to open up a small inn selling alcohol.
As fate would have it, she met Phung Khac Khoan, a noted 16th-century Vietnamese military strategist, politician, diplomat and poet. Lieu Hanh whiled away the hours drinking with him, reciting poetry and playing music. Months later, Khoan returned to the spot where he had met Lieu Hanh, but she had disappeared. Saddened, but also inspired, he built a temple to honour her.
Back to Earth
Leave Phu Tay Ho and you find yourself heading south-east to Xuan Dieu and close to the mayhem and traffic of the city. The restaurants, shops and bars along this stretch need little introduction. From the newly opened Don’s Tay Ho to Al Fresco’s, Mandarin, The Arabian Corner, Vine and Oasis, most of these establishments cater for expats and middle-class Vietnamese, the people who have helped make West Lake the area it is today.
When it comes to views, though, looking down onto West Lake from the Sheraton is a real winner, as are the sunset views from the 19th-floor Summit Lounge in the Sofitel Plaza. However, for a bit of luxury, romance, West Lake tranquility and contemporary style, the Sunset Bar in the InterContinental has to be the place to go. Just don’t forget your gold card.