The traditional stilt houses of the Thai ethnic group in Muong Lay town are mostly roofed with stone.

People often call it black stone, but in fact, this stone has many colors such as: black, gray, yellow, red... depending on the age of the stone and the location of mining.

This is a special stone taken from rocks in the mountains or from rivers and streams, the rock is composed of many layers, when it is first exploited, the stone is quite soft and flexible, so it is easy to split into thin layers and cut into other shapes.

Because stone is a fairly available material and the price is not high, most of the stilt houses  of the people here use this stone for roofing.

Therefore, when Muong Lay town was re-planned according to the resettlement project of Son La hydroelectricity, rows of stilt houses with stone roofs were formed.

Since then, Muong Lay town has brought a beauty that has both the modern shape while retaining the characteristics of the traditional villages.

The old people here said that the villagers began to know how to use black stone to roof their houses from the time when "Thai king" - Deo Van Long ruled this land. They used black stone to roof the buildings of the mansion.

After that, people also knew how to exploit stone for roofing.

Some people say that the mining of black stone by people became popular since people went looking for stones to serve the restoration of the Hanoi Opera House, then discovered that this area had many good stones and decided to choose a quarry in the area of ​​Pa Tan commune (Lai Chau) for mining.

No one knows exactly when the culture of making stone-roofed on stilt houses began, but for a long time people still love to use this stone for roofing because it both brings certainty to the house and creates a cool and friendly space.

Thousands of stone-roofed stilt houses make Muong Lay town, Dien Bien province a very unique beauty.

This is also considered as one of the important factors contributing to tourism attraction besides the natural and long-standing cultural factors of the land and the Muong Lay people.

Source: Laodong.vn