Innlay Lake surrounded by blue mountain ranges is so enchanting to look at. The delightful Innlay region contains innumerable objects to study and so many unique ancient pagodas and monasteries to visit.

The monastery you see now is the Ngaphe Chaung Monastery situated in Ngephe Chaung Ywa Oo, Nyaungshwe Township, Southern Shan State. It is popularly known as the Jumping Cat Monastery. It was built on the instruction of the Nyaungshwe Sawbwa Sir Saw Maung in Myanmar Era 1205 9AD 1843).

The Monastery has 5 flights of stairs and is an ancient monastery. The Monastery has contains ancient works of art and architecture such as 8 annexes with three tiered roof, 2 annexes with a single roof, 1 open-air balcony, 27 shrine rooms, 6 lacquer Buddha statues, 66 alabaster Buddha statues, 3 statues of the Thumeda Hermit receiving preordainment of events from the Buddha and 200 pillars gilded with pure gold.

The monastery renowned for its artistic features is made even more famous by the cats in the monastery. The cats are tame and are able to jump through hoops of rope. When they are told “Jump” they jump through the hoop of rope. The Ngaphe Chaung Monastery came to be called Jumping Cat Monastery due to the jumping cats.

When you are touring the Innlay region, you are cordially invited to venerate the ancient Buddha images and observe the unusual jumping skills of the fascinating cats.