Wat Chedi Ai Khai, in Sichon district, Nakhon Si Thammarat, is a pilgrimage site built around the story of Ai Khai, a boy who once travelled with the revered monk Luang Pu Thuat. Explore this sacred site alongside the food and culture of southern Thailand; city temples and pilgrimage sites outside town may need separate trips.
Check the site's own notices for opening times, entry fees, and access to halls or grounds. These can change for a service or local event. Follow the rules at the site and give people space to pray.
English spellings can vary. Use the Thai name and map location to check that you have found the right place, especially when names are similar.
The temple's story goes back to the late Ayutthaya period. Local tradition holds that the revered monk Luang Pu Thuat travelled from Songkhla toward Ayutthaya with a young boy, around nine or ten years old, who served him on the journey. On the way, they stopped at the site of today's Wat Chedi, where the monk met a local abbot named Khrua Thong. The temple's name, Ai Khai, comes from that boy, and the name has stayed in use ever since.
The temple itself sat abandoned for centuries before being renovated in 1957. Its real transformation came much later: during the COVID-19 pandemic, word spread that the spirit linked to the temple's Ai Khai statue, known internationally as the Egg Boy, had helped someone win the lottery. The story spread fast, and Wat Chedi became a major pilgrimage site for people seeking luck, drawing national and international press coverage, including National Geographic.
These details come from Wikipedia, academic reporting on the Ai Khai phenomenon, and international press, not a government archive, so treat the founding-period story as tradition rather than a confirmed date.