Wat Phrong Akat

Wat Phrong Akat is a community temple in Bang Nam Priao district, Chachoengsao, built around a large gilded pagoda-style ubosot and a set of reproduced Buddha images gathered from temples across the region. Entry is free. The temple’s best-known association is with its late abbot, Luang Pho Somchai Buddhasaro, who died in January 2025 after decades leading the monastery.

Founded in 1977 by villagers who donated land in what’s now Phrong Akat subdistrict, the temple grew around Luang Pho Somchai, who had trained in the lineage of Luang Pho Cha Tissaro, the former abbot of Wat Phodi Chalermsak. Over his tenure the temple assembled a set of revered Buddha images reproduced from other well-known Thai temples, including one known locally as Luang Pho Sodhon — an echo of Luang Pho Sothon, the famous image at Wat Sothon Wararam Worawihan in Chachoengsao town, a separate and considerably larger pilgrimage site. Luang Pho Somchai also had the temple’s landmark structure built: a large ubosot in gilded pagoda style, intended as a recognisable marker for the Bang Nam Priao area, sometimes still called by its old nickname of Paet Riu. A sizeable Ganesh (Phra Phikanet) statue in the grounds has become a secondary draw of its own, popular enough to appear in short-form travel clips independent of the main temple visit.

Insider Tip: Combine this with a stop at Wat Sothonwararam Worawihan in Chachoengsao town — the two temples share a devotional thread (the reproduced Luang Pho Sodhon image here versus the original there) that makes more sense visited together than separately.

Luang Pho Somchai died of sudden cardiac arrest in January 2025 at 79, after 59 years in the monkhood, and local news coverage at the time described him as one of the most respected teaching monks in Chachoengsao’s Bang Nam Priao district. The temple continues to function as a working monastery, and the community around it still treats his memory as central to why the site draws visitors rather than being just another neighbourhood wat. Watch out: with the abbot’s passing recent, don’t expect the same level of personal blessing ceremonies or amulet distribution that older travel write-ups describe — check with temple staff on-site for what’s currently offered rather than assuming past routines still apply.

The temple is easily reached by car or motorbike from central Chachoengsao, roughly following the canal roads through Bang Nam Priao district. Dress modestly with covered shoulders and knees, and remove shoes before entering the ubosot. There’s no dedicated visitor facility on-site, so plan food and drink stops in Bang Nam Priao town rather than at the temple itself.

Explore more of the province via the Chachoengsao destination guide, the region’s best-known pilgrimage site at Wat Sothonwararam Worawihan, or the riverside shrine at Kuan Im Loi Nam.