Floating Islands

Entry fee: covered in the through ticket for Inle Lake Pass which charges US$5.

On the beautiful Inle Lake, there find many floating vegetable gardens which are known as “floating Islands”. Some are naturally formed, some are manmade. They can rise and down along with that of the lake water, and can be rowed as boats also.

To earn a living, local people create floating islands by collecting floating water plants, lemna minor and liana, then covering lake mud on them. Some of these islands are large in size measuring 0.4 square kilometers, while small ones may only measure 1 square meter. People cultivate farmland on these floating islands to plant melons, fruits, vegetables and grains, which are always flourishingly growing because of sufficient water and fertile soil. People even built light houses on some islands to float on the lake or to fix them with bamboo stake. Floating islands also attracts shoal of fish around, and catch fish is another living for locals.