Seo My Ty Lake

The lake lies perfectly still, more than 1,600 meters up. Clouds from the Hoàng Liên Sơn range roll down to touch the clear water, then thin away as the sun climbs. This is how a day begins at Séo Mý Tỷ.

Séo Mý Tỷ is a village in Lào Cai province. It belongs to Tả Van commune, in Sa Pa. From the center of Sa Pa it is about 20 kilometers to the village. The road passes through the lower communes of Sa Pa, then turns steep and narrow, winding between terraced fields and old forest. The road from Tả Van to Séo Mý Tỷ was finished in 2021, according to the provincial department of culture, sports and tourism. Only then did the village become a better-known destination in recent years.

The most striking feature of Séo Mý Tỷ is its lake. Both the provincial newspaper and the culture department confirm that it is an artificial lake of about 60 hectares, lying more than 1,600 meters above sea level. The water comes from streams in the old forest of the Hoàng Liên Sơn range, clear and cold all year. Mountains stand around the lake in overlapping ridges, and each one is a different green depending on morning or afternoon, sun or cloud.

The beauty of the lake changes with the seasons. In spring, the plum and peach trees of the village bloom white and pink along the hills around the water. In September, when the rice ripens gold on the terraced fields, the deep green lake stands out against the yellow of the slopes. In the dry winter the water draws back and leaves flat stretches of rock.

The people who live around the lake are Hmong, Dao and Dáy. The Hmong make up more than 73 percent of the population, followed by the Dao and the Dáy. Wooden houses with pơ mu roofs stand on the hillsides, with terraced fields in tiers around them and plum and peach trees in the front yards. That is the scene in the small villages by the lake. Life here is tied to the fields, the forest and the water. Many families have also put the lake to use, raising salmon and sturgeon in floating cages. It brings a steady extra income from what nature already provides.

This village lies deeper in the mountains than the popular villages of Sa Pa. Those are places such as Cát Cát and Tả Van. For that reason the place is quieter and life moves more slowly. There are no crowds and no stalls packed side by side. Instead there is the sound of streams, the smell of forest and a wide sky above the lake.

Séo Mý Tỷ shows that Sa Pa has more to it than people usually think. It is far from the center and not noisy, but it is no less valuable for that. Some communities have lived on this high land for a very long time, since before the new road and before the popular name "the lake in the clouds."

At dawn on Séo Mý Tỷ lake, clouds from the Hoàng Liên Sơn range roll down to the water. The salmon cages are still silent under the mist. It is easy to see why people call this place an oasis halfway up the sky.