On my way to north east Vietnam to see the resplendent Ban Gioc waterfall, but first wanted to drop in on this village. Khoa is my driver over the next 3 days, as we explore the north east provinces.

Pac Ngoi has more than 40 traditional stilt houses on the slopes of mountains surrounding Be Be Lake – built by the Tay tribe. These houses traditionally tend to have bamboo or palm floors, are usually built near to water courses, at the foot of a mountainside and surrounded by paddy fields. The walls of the house are made of woven bamboo pieces – easy to open to welcome the wind into the house on hot summer days. The thick palm leaf roof (requiring 6000 palm leaves) helps keep the house cool in summer and warm in winter.

Along the winding mountain passes, farmers were fertilising their land and this particular spot caught my eye, because of the pattern.