SRINAGAR "DAL LAKE" and "NAGIN LAKE" Floating on a postcard lake in one of Kashmir's famous houseboats is the way to seehow this place earned the name, "The Venice of the East". Water - powered peddlers sell everything from saffron to paper mache deer to the houseboat door. Ride a Shikara - a Kashmiri gondola - to the watery vegetable markets and see the mountains mirrored in the lakes. INDIAN TRIBAL TOURS can book direct a fleet of houseboats on Dal or Nagin Lake in Srinagar, Kashmir's capital. The houseboats are grand with hand - carved furniture and rich Kashmiri carpets.