Thai Lom Walking Street, Phetchabun

Ronnakit Road, a stretch of two-story wooden shophouses in Lom Sak town, closes to traffic every Saturday evening for Thai Lom Walking Street. It isn’t a generic “Thai” night market — the name refers to the Tai Lom (ไทหล่ม), the ethnic group native to this district of Phetchabun, and the market exists to keep their food, dress, and performance traditions visible to a new generation rather than to draw a tourist crowd.

Food is the draw. Look for khanom chin Thai Lom — fermented rice noodles served with a Lom Sak-style broth you won’t find outside this district — alongside ping kai khao buea (chicken marinated and grilled on skewers) and khao lam phaya luem kaeng, sticky rice roasted inside bamboo over charcoal until the husk chars. Vendors also sell handwoven textiles, basketry, and small wooden crafts along the shophouse frontages. On some Saturdays a stage hosts cultural performances, including a retro-style ram wong circle dance that visitors are welcome to join.

The atmosphere is unhurried compared with tourist-oriented night markets elsewhere in the country. Families from Lom Sak and nearby villages make up most of the crowd, arriving early for specific dishes before they sell out. Vendors don’t hard-sell, and there’s room to browse a stall without being talked into a purchase — the market runs more on habit than performance for outsiders. Because Lom Sak sits at a crossroads on the way toward Loei and the mountains further north, plenty of the shoppers are passing through rather than local, which keeps the mix of stalls varied from one Saturday to the next.

Insider Tip: Get there for opening at 17:00. The Tai Lom specialty dishes — particularly the khanom chin and the bamboo sticky rice — are made in limited batches and the best stalls sell out well before the 22:00 close.

Watch out: Most vendors are cash-only, and there’s no ATM directly on Ronnakit Road — withdraw cash in central Lom Sak before you arrive.

Lom Sak sits about an hour from the Khao Kho highlands, so it’s easy to pair a Saturday-evening market visit with a weekend base in either district — just don’t confuse the two; they’re distinct areas of the same province. Parking is on the side streets off Ronnakit Road since the main strip is pedestrianised for the market.