Mueang Mai Market

This is where Chiang Mai's restaurants do their shopping, and that's the whole appeal. A full city block of stalls northeast of the old city, near the Ping River, selling seafood, meat, greens and fruit in quantities that make sense to a kitchen rather than a hotel room. Nobody has arranged anything for tourists. That's precisely why it's interesting.

Go early if you want the real thing. Pre-dawn and just after is when the place is packed with buyers and trucks, and the stock is at its freshest. Later in the day trade carries on at a gentler pace, which is easier if you just want to walk and look. The fruit section is the one people talk about most, piles of it, seasonal and unfamiliar varieties side by side. The frustration for travelers is obvious. You'll see a hundred things you'd love to cook and no way to cook them. Buy fruit and snacks instead, and accept that some vendors deal in bulk only.