Nga Phe Chaung Monastery

Nga Phe Chaung Monastery is a beautiful wooden monastery built on stilts around 200 years ago over the Inle Lake. It is considered the oldest and largest monastery in Inle Lake region. It is set among floating gardens and well worth a visit, especially if you’re on the way to or back from the Phaung Daw Oo Pagoda.

This attractive wooden monastery houses an impressive collection of Buddha images respectively in Shan, Tibetan, Bagan, and Inwa style. The tall, mosaic-decorated pedestals and cases built for the images showcasing Shan and Northern Thai Buddhist art have a history of more than 100 years.

The fine carving of a reclining Buddha Status is a decent illustration of the art work hidden in the monastery. A dark structure that contains an exceptionally intriguing collection of Buddha statues placed in their shrines, some of them are truly amazing with artful wooden carvings covered with gold leafs.

Locally known as Jumping Cat Monastery, Nga Phe Chaung Monastery is best known for the cats that were trained to jump through hoops. After the death of the head monk, the trained cats have all since died or retired, and the new head monk doesn’t think it proper for monks to train cats to perform tricks for tourists. However, it is still possible to see some jumping cats.