Hanoi’s West Lake in a mess after authorities axe boat services

From February 23, the district authorities began moving in to shut down a dock and floating restaurants on the West Lake as part of a campaign to stop the services at Hanoi's largest lake and a popular tourist site. 

After over a week of coercion, dirty mudflats are left where the boat services used to base.

A contaminated area at the lake gives off unpleasant smell. A resident said the problem has been in place for a long time but which hasn’t been treated by the authority.

Rubbish floats around a sewage outlet behind a floating restaurant...

…or gather on top of an abandoned house beside the lake.

A mudbath is completely overgrown with weeds.

Apart from removing the floating restaurant services, the authority should also conduct proper clean-up activities to make the lake a better tourist attraction in Hanoi.