Nga Phe Chaung is a wooden monastery built on stilts and the oldest & largest one in Inle Lake.  Approxmately 200 years old, it’s also known as the Jumping Cat Monastery.   In previous years the monks there trained a few cats to leap through small hoops.  However, after the death of the head monk, the new head monk doesn’t think it proper for monks to train cats to perform tricks for tourists.  The cats we saw were the usual, laying down, sleeping variety.

The building itself, inside was very dimly light with dozens of old Buddha images on elaborately carved wooden pedestals.

It was very dusty inside and the light was only filtering through the small windows which is why my photos with my cheap point-shoot camera aren’t so hot.

As you have to remove your shoes before heading into the monastery, they kindly provide assorted size flip-flops for using the facilities.

Note the pile of white powder by the handbasin – its a powdered soap.

Sneak peak of some of my upcoming blog posts about the Inle Lake floating islands.  Beautiful, isn’t it?

To see more about our visit to Myanmar, click here.  More on Inle Lake will be coming in the next few weeks and then I’ll be sharing about Bagan (the highlight of the trip), so be sure to follow my blog.