Tuyen Lam Lake

Only five or six kilometers from the center of Da Lat, on the road toward Prenn Pass, the city begins to give way. Pine forest, then hills and mountains, take over, and at last a wide stretch of water opens out. This is Tuyền Lâm Lake, one of the most striking pieces of landscape in the south of Da Lat.

The name Tuyền Lâm is very simple. Tuyền is the word for stream, and Lâm is the word for forest. The scene fits the name. The lake lies among slopes of pine, and beyond it, layer after layer of deep green highland hills runs into the distance.

Today's Tuyền Lâm is not a wholly natural lake. It was made by people: from 1982 to 1987 the Lâm Đồng irrigation department built a dam 235 meters long across the Tía Stream, also called the Da Trea, to form it. The lake was first named Quang Trung Lake and was later renamed Tuyền Lâm Lake. In 1998, the Ministry of Culture and Information recognized it as a historical and cultural site.

The year 2017 was another turning point. On February 15, the Prime Minister signed Decision 205, which recognized the Tuyền Lâm Lake Tourist Area as a national tourist area. That made it the first tourist area at national level in the whole country. What had been a place on the edge of Da Lat for admiring the view was now planned as a center for eco-tourism, conferences and sports for Lâm Đồng.

The lake covers about 350 to 360 hectares and lies at an elevation of more than 1,000 meters. So this is not a lake of the lowlands. It is a highland lake, with cooler air, water that stays calm with few waves, and thick pine forest all around. From Trúc Lâm Monastery on Phượng Hoàng Hill, it looks like one huge mirror laid among the trees.

Around the lake there are several different kinds of place. The monastery on Phượng Hoàng Hill is the quietest spot, where the sound of bells and the scent of agarwood incense spread softly down to the water below. Agarwood is a fragrant, resinous wood used for incense and perfume. A tunnel of sculpted clay has a strangeness all its own. Resorts lie scattered along the shore, but pine forest still fills most of the view. As a national tourist area, the lake has a plan to the year 2050 that puts its weight on protecting water resources, forest and biodiversity.

In the early morning, mist still hangs over the water, and the pine forest has not yet shaken off the cold of the night. That is what people mean when they say that Tuyền Lâm Lake is where Da Lat keeps its stillest part.