Mueang Thong Charoensri Market

This is where Udon Thani does its actual shopping, not somewhere built with tourists in mind. Fresh produce, street food, clothes and the usual everyday household bits, spread across an open-air site off Thanon Nittayo. The pleasure of a place like this is that nobody's performing for you. You wander, you point at something on a grill, you eat it standing up for a few baht.

The gates are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, which sounds more useful than it is. Different traders work different shifts, so the market you find at three in the morning is not the market you find at eight. Early morning is when the produce vendors are at full strength and the food stalls are cooking properly. Late evening has its own crowd and a different set of pans going. Middle of the afternoon is the quietest stretch and the least rewarding time to turn up.

Come hungry, bring small notes, and don't plan around it for anything other than eating and browsing. It's a market, not an attraction.