There are 3 markets in Mukdahan. The best known and the nicest, location wise, is the Indochina market, held every day along the Mekong river.

And at night, the main road is closed to traffic and a night market takes place, a market where you go in the evening to have nice and cheap food.

But there is a third market. The place where Mukdahan people go to buy fresh food and fresh vegetables. The wet market. It is similar to  the many wet markets you will find in most cities in Thailand, including Bangkok, one of the biggest being close to the place where I live, the Klong Toei wet market. But this is Mukdahan, a small and quiet city along the Mekong river, so the food is different, the people are different and the overall feeling is different. The market is located on the right side of the road leading to the Mukdahan Tower.

Contrary to the wet markets in Bangkok, the small alleys are not always crowded. And, sometimes, you have some people sitting in the middle of an alley , alone. Strange as the little one said. What is he doing there?

The Mukdahan wet market is also far more entertaining than the ones in Bangkok, with some Isaan girls dancing on a regular basis on the stands where they’re selling vegetables.

This is a wet market, so one of the main reasons to go there, besides the entertaining factor is the fresh vegetables.

This is Thailand, buying some chillies for dinner

If vegetables are the reason why I go to the wet market. I also sometimes buy some seafood in wet markets, at least in Bangkok. I never did it in Mukdahan, the city is a bit too far from the sea (700 km), so I’m not too sure about the freshness of the seafood. But it is available.

But the fishes from the Mekong river are sure fresh. Buying some.

Something I seldom buy on the wet market is the meat. Mukdahan is not as hot as Bangkok but still too hot for the meat to last long at room temperature. And I’m not sure using a plastic bag as a fan to scare off the flies helps much.

So if you feel like buying some, you’d better like your meat well done.

Buying meat on the wet market in Mukdahan

And last but not least, if you feel like eating some exotic food, some Isaan game, this is also available, although not really common. Not much to eat on flying squirrels anyway. And on whatever is shown on the last photo.