Wat Chedi Ai Khai (Wat JD) Nakhon Si Thammarat Thailand - The Chicken Temple

We start out the video with a quick tour of the old city wall of Nakhon Si Thammarat. After the city wall we travel by accident to a country temple with the name of Wat Chedi but it’s the wrong one. After exploring it for a bit we travel north to the correct temple. Wat Chedi is famous in the area and is also known as the chicken temple. I show you why in the video.

Nakhon Si Thammarat was a fortified city, surrounded by ramparts. The first city wall was built during the reign of Phra Chao Sithamma Sokarat during the founding of the city on Had Saai Kaew. He built the rampart surrounded by a moat. It is assumed that the wall and many parts of the city have been renovated several times, the last being in the 17th century. At the time of King Narai Maharat, French engineers and architects traveled to the city and designed the walls in the form of a castle, as you can clearly see. During the reign of King Rama II the wall was again renovated.

Wat Chedi Ai Khai, which I’ve used in the title. But it’s also known as Ta Khai Wat Chedi, or, according to the many signs directing you to the place, just Wat Chedi or Wat JD (JD sounds like Chedi) or even Wat Chedi Ikai (because Ikai sounds like Ai Khai.) Most people though, know it as The Chicken Wat.

It allegedly dates back more than a thousand years. A famous monk named Luang Phu Thuad was travelling south from Ayutthaya. That’s more than 1.000 KM away. He had with him a young disciple, nine or ten years old, named Ai Khai. When they arrived at the area of the present wat, they found “many treasures.” The young boy was instructed to stay there to look after the treasures.

There’s no mention of what happened to the place, the boy or the treasures, until the building, by now derelict, was rediscovered in 1957. After that, anyone who tried to sleep inside the ubosot, the main prayer hall was unable to unless they had asked for permission from the ghost of Ai Khai. Supposedly anyone trying to sleep would see an image of the boy bashing their heads and pulling their legs.

In 1983 Pho Than Thoem, who was the abbot of Wat Chedi at the time, decided that people should give money to Ai Khai, to help redevelop the wat. People come in the thousands every day, from all over Thailand and Malaysia. They pray to a “thousand year old” small statue of Ai Khai, who is dressed in modern clothes and dark glasses and they donate money.

Why would they do that? Because they believe the young boy, or his ghost, will solve their financial problems. Starting a new business? Pray to Ai Khai. It’s an interesting story and temple and worth a visit. I enjoyed my time here.

Enjoy the video!

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