About 20km from Ha Giang city to the northwest, Xa Phin village in Phuong Tien commune, Vi Xuyen district has become a popular tourist attraction. This place has an idyllic and poetic natural setting, featuring houses with mossy roofs.

Xa Phin village is home to the Dao ethnic group. This place impresses visitors for its dozens of houses with roofs covered with moss and greenery all year round.

The mossy roofs are the result of the houses being located at an altitude of nearly 1,000m atop one of the mountains of the Tay Con Linh range.

With cool weather all year round, the area is often cloudy, drizzly and foggy, with high humidity... This is an ideal condition for the development of green moss on the roof of the damp palm leaves of the houses on stilts.

The roofs covered with green moss are estimated to be 20 to 30 years old or more. By looking at the thickness of the layer of moss, they can distinguish the age of the houses on stilts.