Bai Talat! This, in Thailand is like a call to war.

"Bai!" means "Go!" and is uttered decisively. "Talat" refers to "Market" – the best place to buy fresh produce at a fair price. Most markets are also a treasure trove of fresh, interesting, affordable Thai street food.

Finding the best market can be a bit of a chore, as the choice is usually quite varied.

Morning markets, night markets and more seem to be strategically placed just a bit further than walking distance.
This means instead of looking for stalls and obvious signs of Thai street food, just keep an eye out for a ragtag assembly of motorbikes milling around and parking for no particular reason.

Yesterday I found the market at Ao Phra Nang, (Ao Nang) Krabi which opens three days a week.
It's straight up Moo 2, the main street, past town and right at the first main road turning off, about 200 metres down. It starts around 4pm.

For the foreigner, a Thai market can be a bit scary, as it's bereft of the usual HACCP controls, impervious walls and floors.
Forget temperature controlled rooms, uniformed butchers with colour coded knives, and neat, heat-shrunk plastic wrapped trays of irradiated food.

A bloody health hazard?
Not exactly.

The average Thai market is also lacking in food that sits in the shop for 1-5 days waiting to be sold, and possibly being mishandled.

Everything comes to the market when it opens, and gets sold by the time it's shut. Which normally isn't long.
On average we are talking five to eight hours.

Five hours of warm fish or pork is never a good thing.
Rather than writing an outraged letter to the local paper about the warm meat at the closing time like we would in the West, most take the more practical approach.
Get to the market early when it opens, and pick up the meat, fish and seafood then.

Thai street food safety depends on the vendor. Look for awareness of hygiene and look for a busy place that opens short hours – not all day affairs like you find at tourist markets

Some markets are specialised towards food, and others have pretty much everything you can imagine. They then surprise you by throwing up oddities that defy imagination.

Par for the course are skilled chefs disguised as men and women of motley.

I say skilled chefs because although they lack the tall white hats, arrogant postures and loud opinions of myself and my peers, they consistently produce some of the best food I've ever tasted. This at a cost so low that I'm normally embarrassed to pay it. But not this week. My cash supply is dwindling.
Eating at Tony Romas is not an option.  

Included amongst the above-mentioned culinary geniuses are normally:

1/. Fried chicken vendors.

Sorry KFC, but the "cheap local" product tastes better, and is also fresher with no artificial ingredients.

But I still like your refresher towels.
However I think these have been phased out, as they are now a distant memory.

The chicken vendors have fried chicken (Gai Tord), charcoal grilled chicken (Gai Yarng), and sticky rice in 5 baht and 10 baht bags.

They also do other varieties of chicken.

Satay with peanut sauce is a predictable offering – but here's another delicious marinated grilled chicken that tempts me every time.

It has a sweetish red sticky sauce that's moist, innocent and delicious, with the right amount of crushed of coriander seed and black pepper.

Any course on Tantric sex should include two simple steps.

1. Eat this chicken and
   
2. Make love.
   

2/. Fried quail eggs

Quail eggs are another tasty treat. Inexpensive too. 
Oh yeah – I can feel your eyeballs rolling from here.

But I'm not talking about big, gob-stretching eggs that you have to cut with a knife and fork and mop up with toast.

No, I'm talking small, petite, bite-sized fried quail eggs.
Just delicious, and they come in a small pack with a toothpick. A dash of Golden Mountain brand Thai soy sauce and whooshka – you have an awesome taste sensation.

3/. Saku sai moo

Snacks, or "Khanom" are market staples. One of my favourites is "saku sai moo" – sago balls with pork.

First, a sweetish savoury filling is made by cooking palm sugar with pork mince.
A "dough" is made by mashing sago (small tapioca balls) soaked in water, until a nasty thick, white paste is formed, then the filling is encased in the dough, rolled into balls and steamed.
Upon cooking they become translucent and gelatinous, with a chewy filling and a great taste.

Then they get topped with crispy fried garlic, fresh coriander and birds-eye chilli, and you have an awesome snack to eat for any reason whatsoever at any time.

4/. "Khanom beuyung"

are another commonly-enjoyed street food staple.

Small crispy rice flour "tuiles" made from a thin batter, grilled on a hotplate and filled with a colourful sweet topping.

These are probably as unhealthy as you can get.
Sugar and starch and all things nice.
But like cookies, Pringles and ice cream, we disregard this threat to our blood sugar levels, almost with glee, so that we can appreciate the freshly cooked smell, texture and taste with all five of our senses.

These are actually cooked in front of you.
Just like tuiles they are soft when cooked, and can be folded or shaped, then they quickly harden to a crunchy snap texture when they cool within a minute or two.

They look great, don't they?

5/. "Khanom krok akev"
is an interesting item. Again, a runny batter, this time poured into a purpose built grill with small, bite sized concave non-stick molds.

The outside cooks crispy, and the inside cooks until soft but firm.

These are slightly sweet with a great mouth feel, and often have a couple of corn kernels in each as a garnish. They are always cooked to order, and eaten quicksmart as they are delicious, with a seductive texture.

6/. Deep-fried bananas

Another oldie but a goodie.
You'd be hard pressed to find a street or market with vendors that didn't have grilled or fried bananas.
These ones are crispy, aromatic and moreish – deep fried tempura style in a crispy batter by a nonchalant vendor in return for about 35 Australian or US cents.

Bananas grow everywhere – almost like weeds. Very big, beautiful and desirable tree-sized weeds – with shady fronds and broad leaves which are also great for wrapping and grilling foods, or using in place of aluminium foil. They are so affordable and come in lots of different varieties, shapes and sizes.

The tiny lady finger bananas are amongst the best.

7/. The curry lady

Don't forget the curry lady (I must mention that this could also be a curry guy, or even a ladyboy, so as not to appear sexist)

The usual suspects are on offer – green curry, red curry, jungle curry, yellow curry – and are normally accompanied by either steamed rice or Khanom jeen noodles – thin white wheat flour noodles as seen in the massive tub next to this lady.

8/. Khanom Jeen

This is an absolute cracker of a dish.

It comes in all shapes and sizes, and is basically a sauce, without a lot of chunks, meat, fish or veg in it. My favourite, "khanom jeen nam ya", is a "curry gravy" made from fish, coconut milk, freshly pounded curry paste, krachai and garlic, blended until almost smooth, then ladled over these khanom jeen noodles.

This one has dumplings as well – not "usual" but very tasty! But that is not all.

Then the garnish tray comes out, and you get to put all the healthy stuff over the top, like fresh raw green beans, chunks of fresh cucumber, pickled vegetables, bean sprouts, branches of sweet Thai basil, chopped wing beans, and whatever else the vendor is in the mood to throw in.

Seriously one of the tastiest lunches.
So when in Thailand, wean yourself off green curry chicken for one lunch period, and ask for "khanom jeen – num yah"
You can send me cash in the mail after – because when you taste it, you will want to reward me for the tip

Oops.
This seems like a frequent occurrence here in March at Krabi – perfect days with afternoon storms.
My market trip is going to be cut short by the look of things up in the sky, so time to hop on the bike and head home el pronto! A tropical deluge is not exactly "scattered showers"

It is similar to a firemans hose with a nozzle the same size as a small city. 
Happy eating. Back soon with with something fishy for you.