A small body of water barely separated from the much larger Hồ Tây (West Lake), Trúc Bạch is relatively well-known among Hanoi's hundred-plus lakes, because it was here that John McCain crash-landed after his plane was shot down. We spent a fun day exploring the lake, and the neighborhood found on an island within it.
Nothing in the arsenal of the American military was as deadly to the people of Hanoi as the B-52. During one operation, charmingly nicknamed the "Christmas Bombings", 15,000 tons were dropped on the city, resulting in the deaths of 1624 civilians. But Hanoi was not without its defenses. Today, the B-52 Victory Museum celebrates the Vietnamese skill at shooting the hated American planes out of the sky.
Legend has it that Emperor Lê Lợi was fishing on Hoàn Kiếm Lake, when a turtle god emerged and asked for his magic sword. Although the sword, which he had used to defeat the invading forces of the northern Ming, was precious to him, Lê Lợi was not about to second-guess a god. The turtle took the sword in his jaws and brought it to the depths of the lake, where it remains to this day.
