Water villages are settlements that are usually built
on the water. Houses often float on the water or are located on stilts
and rarely on small islands. This is a list of water villages, which are
becoming increasingly popular tourist destinations.
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Ko Panyi , Thailand
Ko Panyi is a fishing village in Phang Nga Province, Thailand notable
for being built on stilts by Indonesian fishermen. The population
consists of roughly 200 families or between 1,500 and 2,000 people
descended from 2 seafaring Muslim families from Java. |
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Halong Bay Floating Village , Vietnam
A village of about 600 inhabitants built on the water can be found in
Halong Bay . It is a magically calm place, an escape from the hustle of
Vietnam streets. The village is a true waterworld, rising and falling
with the tides, sheltered amidst limestone towers. |
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Giethoorn, Netherland
Giethoorn is a village in the Dutch province of Overijssel . This
village is called the Venice of the Netherlands for about 7.5 km (4.5
mi) of canals run through the little village. It was founded around 1230
when fugitives coming from the Mediterranian regions settled there. |
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Uros Floating Village , Peru
The Uros are a pre-Incan people who live on forty-two self-fashioned
floating islands in Lake Titicaca , Peru . These islands are hand-made
from a native species of reed (totora) that abounds in the shallows of
the lake. Uros people build temporary houses that float atop the water
surface. The tide washes over their houses at times, so new layers of
reed need to be laid every 2 weeks for better resistance. |
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Wuzhen , China
Wuzhen is one of Chinas ancient water towns, where waterways thread
their way through the flagstone streets and alleys. Covering an area of
71.19 square kilometres (27.49 sq mi), Wuzhen has a total population is
60,000 of which 12,000 are permanent residents.
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Kampong Ayer, Brunei
Kampong Ayer is an area of Brunei 's capital city Bandar Seri Begawan
that is situated after the Brunei Bay . 39,000 people live in the Water
Village . This represents roughly ten percent of the nation's total
population. All of the Water Village buildings are constructed on stilts
above the Brunei River . Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin Mosque at night (the
mosque is built in an artificial lagoon on the banks of the Brunei River
at Kampong Ayer)
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Zhouzhuang , China
Zhouzhuang, one of the most famous water townships in China, is situated
only 30 kilometers southeast of Suzhou City . It is a enchanting place.
This village features crisscrossing water lanes, ancient bridges and
buildings built on and over the rivers. In an area of half a square
kilometer, 60 percent of the Zhouzhuang's structures were built during
the Ming and Qing Dynasties.
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Kay Lar Ywa , Myanmar
Kay Lar Ywa is water village located on Inle lake. Residents of this
village are Intha people, which are members of a Tibet-Burman ethnic
group. They support themselves through the tending of vegetable farms on
floating gardens. Also, the Intha are known for their leg-rowing
techniques.A floating tomato garden on Inle Lake. The lake weed of Inle
is collected by the Intha people to create floating gardens, which are
anchored to the lake bed with bamboo poles. These floating gardens,
called kyun-hmaw,which are built-up from strips of water hyacinth and
mud, dredged from the lake bed, which breaks down into a rich humus; it
take 50 years to produce a layer 1 m thick. The floating allotments are
anchored to the bottom with bamboo poles. Land is also reclaimed in this
way, and parts of the lake have been reduced to a maze of canals around
these plots. Most of the produce grown on the lake gardens is vegetables
- mainly tomatoes and beans.
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Tongli , China
Tongli, alternately Tong-Li, is a town in Wujiang county, on the
outskirts of Suzhou . It is known for a system of canals. Tongli is half
an hour away from Suzhou city. The place retains many of the features of
an ancient Chinese town. |
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World’s first long hair village
These Chinese women have taken their long hair to new lengths making a
Guinness World Record as the world’s first long hair village. The Red
Yao women, a minority ethnic group from Huangluo Yao Village in China,
have an average hair length of 5.5 feet. The longest locks measure more
than 6.8 feet. Incredibly, the women cut their hair only once in their
lives, at 16-years-old, before they start their search for a husband. |
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