Jumping Cat Monastery

Burmese cats have existed in southeast Asia for more than a thousand years. Originally they were kept by the nobility as well as being used as temple cats.

While pure-bred Burmese cats have long disappeared from Myanmar, on our days cruising Inle Lake their descendants were well entrenched, often spotted enjoying the sunshine lying on window sills, on docks or even stretched out in wooden canoes.

At the Inle Princess Resort we made the acquaintance of Chumo, who rather resembled the real thing. At dinner the first evening he marched, some might say rather brazenly, into the hotel dining room from the deck. He gave me a non-committal look - as cats do - jumped on my lap and promptly went to sleep. The fact that we were well into our meal was of no concern to him.

But that's cats for you.

One of our stops earlier in the day had been to Nga Hpe Kyaung Monastery – a wooden temple on stilts on the eastern side of the lake more popularly known as Jumping Cat Monastery.

Over the years the monks have trained the temple’s resident cats to jump through hoops, an exercise in concentration undertaken during breaks in meditation. This of course has become an extremely popular stop with Lake Inle's tourists.

The cats themselves looked very laid back and contented, most lying in bolts of sunshine that beamed in between the wooden ceiling beams of the Monastery.

Joe explained that the Government has asked the Monks to cease the cat show for the tourists and to concentrate on their meditation. Seeing our disappointment, he proceeded to demonstrate what it took to make a perfectly relaxed cat jump feet into the air for no apparent reason.

We were not disappointed and overstayed our welcome. Joe had to chase us out of the Monastery!