Coming back from Kaeng Hin Peung in Petchburi, I stopped off at Chachoengsao and visited the Wat Sothon Wararam Woravihara. Very impressive and well worth a visit. What intrigued me was the entrance, you have the usual array of Lottery ticket sellers and stalls selling the Oil for the lanterns, Gold Leaf etc etc, however one “stall” baffled me.

You basically made a donation (common amount a 20 baht note) and you were given a bowl full of rice, you then preceded to scoop rice out of this bowl into 7 different bowls, each one of these bowls had Thai writing around the outside , but it was very fancy so I couldn’t read it that well.

Every now and then the stallholder (I’m sure he’s more than that but you get the picture) would then empty the 7 bowls back into a big bowl, and then he would dish the rice out again to the next customer.

Can anybody tell me what its al about and what the 7 bowls signify

The seven bowls represent seven days of the week. Basically, people would spoon the rice into the bowl that represents their birth day. For instance, if you were born on Friday, you would scoop the rice into the bowl marked 'Friday'.

To maximise profits, the rice will be recycled and resold to the next customers. If everybody brings their own food, there will be surpluses and wastes.