Ao Chau Lagoon

Ao Châu Lagoon never holds one view for long. The scenery keeps changing as a boat moves across the water.

The lagoon lies in the Hạ Hòa area of Phú Thọ Province. It spreads across one town and three communes, about 65 kilometers northwest of the city of Việt Trì. The water covers about 300 hectares. It is divided into 99 inlets, with nearly 100 islands, large and small.

The surface is not one open sheet. Narrow strips of land, hill slopes and small islands cut it into dozens of separate stretches of water. In a boat, the view changes with every inlet. At one moment the lagoon opens wide. At the next it narrows into a slim channel with trees on both sides. People often compare this kind of scenery to a bay in miniature, yet it lies entirely inland, among the red-earth hills of Phú Thọ.

The usual route begins at the Ao Châu boat landing. It passes the islands, a house with eight roofs, and Mẳn Pagoda, with many smaller stops besides. Each turn into a new inlet opens the view like a page from a book no one has read yet.

Ao Châu also carries an old layer of legend. People in the area tell of the Hùng Kings, whom Vietnamese people honor as their ancestors. One of them, they say, once stopped here to choose land for his capital. And beneath the water, people pass down a tale of a giant creature hiding in the deepest inlets. No one can check these stories. But they have lived alongside this land for many generations, and they are part of the soul of Ao Châu.

What matters more is the lagoon's place in the years ahead. In 2023, the Prime Minister approved the Phú Thọ provincial plan for the years from 2021 to 2030. The plan sets out to create a landscape protection area at Ao Châu. The place is seen as a wetland ecosystem and a home for many rare animals and plants, as well as a beauty spot.

Ao Châu remains intact. Its scenery has not been standardized, and the sound of a boat on the water in the early morning is still quiet and real. A boat slips through a narrow inlet, and a still stretch of water suddenly opens in front of it, ringed by green hills.