Nui Coc Lake

The day the dam closed across the Công River was the day Núi Cốc Lake was born.

The dam was built between 1973 and 1982. The Công River, a branch of the Cầu River, was held back by a great dam. The wall stands in the Đại Từ area of Thái Nguyên. The water rose slowly. It drowned the valleys and wrapped itself around the small hills. When it settled, nearly 90 islands, large and small, stood in a lake of about 25 square kilometers. The lake is so wide that from the shore a person sees only islands and clouds, and never the far bank.

It is counted among the leading places to visit in Thái Nguyên. But the lake does more than please the eye. It also irrigates the fields, supplies water, and holds back floods for the land downstream on the Cầu. A government newspaper once reported that it belongs to a list of national irrigation works that must be protected. So a boat on this lake floats over a structure that matters to millions of people on the Cầu River plain.

The tourist area lies about 15 kilometers west of the center of Thái Nguyên city. It belongs to Tân Thái commune, in the Đại Từ area.

The most prominent place of worship here is Thiêng Thác Vàng Pagoda. It has a statue of Shakyamuni Buddha, 45 meters tall. Shakyamuni is the founder of Buddhism. One local tourism site says that inside the statue stands another pagoda, named Thác Vàng.

The tourist area also has several caves. Two of them are the Huyền Thoại Cung Cave and the Cổ Tích Âm Phủ Cave. A third is the Ba Cây Thông Cave. One thing should be said plainly. These caves are built structures, made to retell a story and to give visitors something to see. They are not natural rock caves with stalactites. In the first of these caves, the figures belong to a folk tale about the young man Cốc and the young woman Công. Their love story gave its name to the mountain and the lake. It is a legend, not history. But it is a layer of cultural memory that the people of Thái Nguyên have kept and told for many generations.

Out on the water, a boat gives a view across the whole spread of islands and clouds. It calls at Gàn Temple, on a small island. It passes Núi Cái Island, where, as one newspaper reported, there are old houses and relics.

In 2016, the Prime Minister signed a decision approving the master plan for developing the Núi Cốc Lake national tourist area, with a vision reaching to 2030. So the lake is no longer only a scenic spot. It has become part of the future of the Northeast.

Green islands float on the wide water, and people call the lake the green jewel of Thái Nguyên.