Visit Ban Me Dien Bien

Introduction of Ban Men community tourism

Community tourism in Men village

Nestled between thousands of mountains and fields, Men village (Thanh Nua commune, Dien Bien district, Dien Bien province) is known as an attractive community tourism destination, attracting many domestic and international tourists. .

From City. Dien Bien Phu, along Highway 12 about 6km to the north, visitors will come to Men village. From a distance, Men village is as beautiful as a picture with its back leaning against the mountain, facing the vast field. Prominent against the green background of trees and the sky are the traditional black Thai stilt houses. Not only attracting tourists by the beautiful scenery, Men village also has fresh, cool air and a green, clean and beautiful environment. The village has more than 110 households with more than 500 people, all of whom are of the Black Thai ethnic group. The Black Thai people here live by farming rice, crops, livestock, and traditional brocade weaving and embroidery.

In recent years, the villagers have joined hands to develop community-based tourism in association with building a civilized lifestyle, eating clean, staying clean, drinking clean. Thanks to the right direction in sustainable community-based tourism development, Men village has not only become a tourist destination attracting a large number of domestic and foreign tourists, but also preserved and promoted its traditional cultural identity. There is weaving and brocade embroidery. If in the past, women in brocade weaving and embroidery were only for family use, now they also serve the needs of tourists. The village’s brocade products are usually cloths, scarves or bags with the embroidered words “Memorial Ban Men’s Brocade” to promote the village’s unique culture to visitors. Along with weaving and brocade embroidery, the Black Thai people here still keep the traditional architecture of stilt houses…

The cultural stilt house in Men’s stilt village is usually built in the position of the back leaning against the hills and mountains; facing the river, stream or field according to the principle of “Son Chau Water Condensation”. The house is made of good wood, pine, bamboo or vulcan, with four tiled roofs, of which two roofs at the two gables are arched with turtle shells. In particular, at the two ends of the roof beams, there are two wooden slats that cross each other in an X-shape called “khau quail” with many decorative patterns in the shape of a bud, a crescent moon, etc. Currently, the Black Thai people believe in worshiping the moon god and buffalo. The stilt house has two floors. The upper floor is for the activities of the host family and guests, the lower floor is for weaving looms, agricultural tools, wood, firewood… In order to ensure that the stilt houses are qualified to serve tourists, the villagers have invest in building a number of new projects such as toilets, water tank and a cultural stilt house with the same architecture as a traditional stilt house to serve community activities. In addition, to impress visitors, the Men village also established a culinary team of 10 people with experience in food processing and a musical team of 15 people with beautiful voices, inspirational voices, and beautiful dances. Coming to Men village, in addition to the opportunity to admire the typical natural scenery of the Northwest region, visitors also have the opportunity to experience daily activities with the villagers such as processing traditional dishes (can wine, rice). Lam, grilled stream fish, bitter bamboo shoots, boiled buffalo meat dotted diagonally); take care of livestock and poultry; go to the forest to collect firewood; down stream to catch fish; weaving, embroidering brocade or participating in cultural activities (Thai folk song singing, Xoe dancing, fan dance, stall dancing, playing the flute pi pap, pí o). With unremitting efforts,