An Ma Island

From far across the water, the island looks like the back of a horse wading through the lake. It is An Mã Island, in the middle of Ba Bể Lake.

Ba Bể is the largest natural freshwater lake in Vietnam, and it lies inside Ba Bể National Park. The lake covers 650 hectares. Its average depth is about 20 to 25 meters, and it runs more than 8 kilometers from end to end. It formed in limestone country that sank after underground water hollowed out the mountain over thousands of years. From a boat, you can see three arms of the lake joined together. Local people call two of them Pé Lầm and Pé Lù. The third is Pé Lèng.

An Mã Island sits in the Pé Lù arm. It is a limestone island that rises about 27 to 30 meters above the water, covered in green trees and shaped like a horse wading. Because of that shape, it is the easiest landmark to spot on the wide lake.

A temple stands on the island. It is called An Mã Temple, and the name is often written An Mạ. The Tày are one of the peoples of northern Vietnam. Provincial sources say that in their language "An Mạ" means a peaceful tomb and a lovely grave. That explanation ties the names of the island and the temple to the story of people who once lived close to this land.

The temple honors the Buddha and Mẫu Thượng Ngàn. It also honors Chúa Sơn Trang and Đức Thánh Trần. This mix of folk beliefs is common across the mountains of the north, where spiritual life is tied to forest, mountain and water. The temple was rebuilt from 2005 to 2006.

The provincial sources also record a legend. During the war between the Lê and Mạc dynasties, they say, some loyal officials of the Mạc fled into these mountains. The story goes that they took shelter in Puông Cave and ended their lives there, and that Ba Bể became a place tied to their memory. This is a legend kept by local people, not an event with independent historical proof. Yet this layer of legend is what gives an island temple its depth.

The only way to reach An Mã Island is by boat. The boat crosses the wide arms of the lake, past steep limestone cliffs covered in green forest, and little by little the island shaped like a horse's back appears in the middle of the water.

When the boat touches the shore, steps lead up into the temple grounds. The space here is small, quiet and cool. Lake water laps softly on both sides of the island, and forest birds call down from the trees on top. There is nothing else to hear. Few places in the Việt Bắc region offer a silence this complete.

After offering incense, visitors can look out over the whole of Ba Bể from a new angle, that of a person standing in the middle of the lake with mountains and forest on every side.

The An Mã Temple festival is held on the sixth day of the second lunar month every year. The Ba Bể spring festival falls on the tenth day of the first lunar month. On those days the island is much livelier than usual.

An Mã Island is a rare place. It can be reached only by boat, and it sits in the middle of a vast lake among limestone mountains. Its small temple carries a layer of Tày culture, a layer of folk belief, and a legend of people who never came home.