Three different reasons to go
| Market | Go looking for | Plan around |
|---|---|---|
| Warorot / Kad Luang, Chiang Mai | Food, clothing and household or cooking goods. | An everyday-shopping outing; decide what you are curious about before wandering every aisle. |
| Sampeng, Bangkok | Gifts, accessories, sewing and craft materials. | A materials-shopping trip. Note colours, quantities or dimensions if you want to buy something useful. |
| Tha Phae Sunday walking street, Chiang Mai | An evening browse rather than a household shopping list. | Sunday in your actual itinerary. Do not promise yourself this outing on a Tuesday–Thursday stay. |
A better question than “Is it authentic?”
Ask what the market is doing for the people using it. A cooking utensil, a length of fabric and a decorative object each ask you to look differently. At a materials stall, usefulness might be the whole attraction; at a walking street, browsing might be the point. Neither needs to imitate the other.
Leave room in the day for what you buy: delicate work and a full travel day are an awkward combination. Check the current day and opening arrangements before crossing town.
When something catches your eye
Ask the price before agreeing to buy and ask before handling fragile work. A question about material or care usually tells you more than an automatic bargaining routine. For a close-up photograph of a person, ask and accept their answer. Those small decisions make room for the person doing the work.