Some of the villages on Inle Lake are known as floating
villages since they have canals for streets, and much of the day to day
activitiy is carried out from canoes. Built on stilts rather than floating, these
villages are inhabited by farmers growing a wide variety of of flowers,
vegetables and fruit. Many of these crops are cultivated on floating islands,
where water hyacinth and mud have been combined to form incredibly fertile solid
masses that are staked to the lake bottom with bamboo poles. The vegetables are
sold at the floating markets.
