Thuy Yen Tourism: Experiencing the pristine lakes and cascades

Tourist boats welcoming visitors running on Thuy Yen Lake

Diverse tourism ecosystem

From Hue, we can take a motorbike drive along Highway 1A towards Da Nang; it takes more than 1 hour to move about 50km. When you pass the Phuoc Tuong tunnel, turn right and go through the vast Melaleuca forests, Thuy Yen lake appears in front of your eyes. The lake surface is calm and vast, nestled amidst the peaceful scenery with the strange beauty with which heaven and earth have endowed.

Previously, when the construction of Thuy Yen Lake was completed, this irrigation project was only used as a water reservoir, serving irrigation for people in the communes in Phu Loc district. Recently,since the activities of exploring nature tourism have begun to operate, this place has started to attract tourists.

“There are two ways leading to the waterfalls and springs lying deep in the lake, where we can catch the streams before stopping at the mouth of the lake. Either can we walk along the lake, or buy a ticket on a tourist boat to be transferred across the water, then climb up a slope to get there,” Nguyen Trong - an indigenous person said.

The group chose to buy tickets to sit in a boat to experience the view of the lake with the cool water as well as the natural scenery before going into the lakes and streams that indigenous people call the Fairy stream. People here said that Fairy stream is the name given by the villagers, and is also a generic name because this area has many streams, from high to low. The higher the stream is, the cleaner, stronger and cooler the water is.

After a boat or walking journey, visitors will experience stream bathing with a system of waterfalls deep inside the lake.

With about 20 minutes by boat, many tourists can set foot on a mountain, whose path leads to the lakes and waterfalls of Fairy stream. Conversely, it takes about 1 hour to walk, but in return you will have an interesting view when looking down on Thuy Yen Lake from above.

Mr. Trong said that although it has been put into operation for a long time, the exploitation of tourism, its opening to welcome visitors at Thuy Yen lake has only taken place recently.

Since the Tien stream tourist site began to be exploited, visitors to Thuy Yen Lake have increased sharply, especially in the weekends, when the summer hot weather comes to its peak, and ones’ demands of hanging out to avoid heat increase. Maps determining the locations of tourist attractions are also set up, many trash cans are also arranged everywhere.

Finding a refreshing feeling in the middle of summer

When the boat stops, you can go along the winding concrete road along the mountainside, many streams and waterfalls with crystal clear water with a lot of tourists will appear in front of your eyes. The "temporary" huts were built by business people to welcome visitors.

Many huts with wooden floors lying close to the water surface were chosen by most people to take a rest, they remove all their belongings, swim and dive in the cool and crystal clear water.

In the middle of the mountains, looking up or down, there are many groups of old and young tourists enjoying swimming and floating along the flow of water; a feeling somehow adventurous, somehow elated is there, which is hard to describe.

Many tourists choosing to explore and picnic on their own

“I have known Thuy Yen Lake and the system of waterfalls inside this place for a long time, but because at that time, people had not exploited yet, so, I was afraid to explore. Knowing that this waterfall system was allowed to operate, my friends and I decided to go there. Indeed, everything is very beautiful and pristine,” said Nguyen Thanh Phuong (from Hue City).

Mr. Phuong said that many people still do not know about it, and he hope that if visitors come to this ecotourism area, they need to raise the awareness of protecting the environment and surrounding landscape.

Seeing customers coming and going busily, Ms. Thuy Phuong - the owner of a stall located along the system of streams and waterfalls could not help but delight. She both conducted the staff serving the guests and was on the phone answering guests making a reservation.

“Everyone compliments that this place is both new and clean, especially with the cool water; besides, its terrain is not as difficult as that of many other waterfall areas; so, everyone likes it,” Ms. Phuong said. To impress customers, many restaurants here also serve many delicious specialties of the region such as chicken, natural fish at affordable prices.

Story and photos: Phan Thanh