Local time: 02:32 PM |

Nga Phechaung Monastery Overview

Nga PheChaung 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 PhaungDawOo 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.

Locally known as Jumping Cat Monastery, Nga PheChaung 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.

Apart from the Nga PheChaung Monastery, Indein Village, PhaungDawOo Pagoda, and floating villages are also popular sights around the Inle Lake; you may take a look at this sample itinerary that includes all the highlights mentioned above.

Floating Village

The gorgeous Inle Lake in Myanmar is dotted with small floating villages made of wooden houses built on stilts. Over 80,000 people living on the lake are from the Intha Tribe but many other tribes from surrounding mountains head to the lake for the popular market days. If you take a boat ride on the Inle Lake, don't miss to see the floating market that moves between the floating villages on a five-day rotation.

The Ywama Village, located just south of Nga PheKyaung Monastery and northeast of the Indein Village, is part of the 5-day rotation of market. It is the most easily accessible village by boat from the town of NyaungShwe on the north side of the Inle Lake.

On the market day, the Ywama floating market is packed with tourist boats and souvenir vendors who do business with locals and tourists on the small boats that are loaded with handicrafts or produces. Only a few local farmers try to sell their vegetables to local buyers. On non-market days, there are only souvenir vendors

and tourist boats, of course, the smart farmers are already at another market that rotates among the villages of KaungDaing, Maing, Thauk, Nam Pan, IndeinandThandaung. Just have a look at the five-day market schedule.

Want to see the floating villages and markets on Inle Lake? Check out this sample tailored itinerary.

Activities

General Information

is a country in Southeast Asia. Myanmar is bordered...

Food Culture

Tips for Dining in Myanmar

Travel Experiences

"This is Burma. It’s quite unlike any other place you know about."the British writer...

Shopping

There are very few international flights to Myanmar. Bangkok,Singapore, and Kuala Lumpur are the...

Heritage

World heritage in Myanmar