Laem Din Market

This is where Thai people in Chaweng do their actual shopping, and that's the whole appeal. Fresh vegetables, seafood, seasonal fruit, clothing, odds and ends. Nothing carries a price tag. You pick what you want, put it in a plastic tray, and pay what the vendor asks. Reviewers who've done this dozens of times say they've never once felt stung as a foreigner, and are usually surprised how little the total comes to.

Come hungry. The food stalls are the reason most travellers end up here rather than the produce, and the cooking gets consistently warm praise, not just for the prices but for the people behind the woks. It's a family sort of place, open-air, unhurried. Don't arrive expecting scale, though. It's a modest market, and if you're hunting one specific fruit you may well leave without it. Treat it as a stroll and a cheap lunch rather than a shopping mission and you'll get the most out of it.