Like many areas in rural northern Thailand, Mae Hong Son province hosts a mobile market that sets up shop in a different town once a week. I happened to be in Pai when the market came into town (it’s held in Mae Hong Son city on Sundays, and in Soppong on Tuesdays), and on a very cold Wednesday morning, stopped by.
It’s a low-key affair that brings together a handful of vendors selling an almost exclusively local selection of produce: think disks of dried soybeans, freshly-ground turmeric, black sesame seeds, mustard greens. There’s some bizarre stuff imported from Myanmar — herbal remedies, suspicious-looking tinned curries and ancient-looking sweets — and several prepared food vendors. The latter make it a good breakfast option, particularly if you’re in Pai, and it’s possible to get a hot bowl of khao sen (thin rice noodles served with a pork and tomato broth), crispy deep-fried triangles of chickpea flour (pictured above) or Shan/Thai Yai-style sweets.
Click the button in the corner for full-screen mode and captions.
Pai’s Wednesday Market
Behind police station, Pai
7-10am
View Thai Eats in a larger map
