Almost every nook and cranny in Thailand, it would be easy to find a wet market around. Some of the wet markets are at certain fixed locations while some are available on certain days/time. Some markets have a huge variety of food while some go by with about 10 stalls or so.
If you are staying in a place where you can do your own cooking, you would be able to get the most fresh and inexpensive fruits, vegetables, meat and other ingredients from the wet market. You can also try their local food and desserts which is usually available in the wet market.
All you need to do is to find out the day and time that these markets are available and then go ahead to get your ingredients and food from there. It should not be difficult because the people staying nearby will definitely know the availability of the markets.
Above is a local night market that is relatively small that has a large vegetable stall, a meat stall, a flower stall and a few stalls selling food like rice with dishes, barbecue pork sticks and desserts.
Above is a day market that caters more for the population from Myanmar hence the items are slightly cheaper compared to other markets.
Markets occupying temple parking lots
In Thailand, there are many many Buddhist temples along the way. For example, I am staying at a relatively rural area in Bangkok. But you know what, there are 5 Buddhist temples located within the same rural road that I am staying in. Out of the 5 temples, you would find markets available on certain days. For example, a particular temple would have the market every Tuesday morning, Thursday and Saturday afternoon. Along the road we would visit the market of 2 of the temples…. and until now I am not able to remember the days they are open.
Usually if there is no market, the area would just look like an ordinary parking lot. Quiet and clean. But once there is a market, the entire area would come alive with stalls, visitors and cars parked all over the place and sometimes haphazardly blocking the traffic.
Below is a morning market that occupies the parking lot of a temple.
The market starts from 3am and by 7am, most of the stalls are wrapping up. People really get up early to go to the market. You would sometimes see Buddhist monks standing or walking for almsround if you go to the market between 5.30am to 7am. It would be good to buy some edible food and offer to the monks, then let the monks chant the transference of merits. While the monks are chanting, think of the merits that you would like to dedicate to…your parents, family, children, all suffering beings, beings that you have hurt or harmed, etc.
You can also find a variety of clothes being sold in the market. When we visit the market, we would usually load up on the vegetables, fruits, meat and buy some food/dishes back. Also some additional food fried yao char koay, soyabean drink (the Thai soyabean drink is loaded with jelly and taste very nice). One of my favourites is the pork BBQ steak (หมูย่าง) that usually cost 10 baht each:
