Here we have TEN of the world's tastiest and most colourful markets!

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Let's go shopping in Bangkok, Thailand

Many people think of floating markets when Bangkok is mentioned. But there are two very good ones on land too.

Bangkok is home to perhaps the world's largest market. It's a weekend market and luckily we were here on a Sunday. The Chatuchak Weekend Market extends over almost 11 hectares (27 acres) and has over 15,000 stalls. Simple maths tells you this is not a place to 'do' in a day. Especially when you factor in browsing time, and the inevitable haggling before a mutually acceptable price for your purchase is agreed.

Of course, there is absolutely everything and anything you could think of wanting to buy - and a lot you could not imagine. Jewellery, art, fabrics, shoes, homewares, kids things, bells, whistles, coffee...oh, just go along and look for yourself. But allow plenty of time.

Not far away is Or Tor Kor, a growers' market which also sells cooked foods. 

WATCH THIS VIDEO of the market

Beijing night market

On offer, at this market on Wangfujiang Street, you will also find starfish, sea urchins and much more stretching off into the skewered horizon.

Capo Mercato, Palermo, Sicily

And just when I thought I knew all the street foods of Italy, an intensely savoury aroma drew us to these in Capo Mercato, a food market in Palermo, Sicily's capital. There it is, the ultimate comfort food on a cold day: a brazier of smoky roasted onions, in their skins, just begging to be peeled and savoured.

Sicily's hot Mediterranean climate (just a hundred or so kilometres from the northernmost tip of Africa) makes for ideal growing conditions for many of the staples of Italian cuisine. These tomatoes are doubly interesting. The tag saying where they have been grown reveals they have come from the town which is widely believed to be the hub of the Mafiosi.

Nearby, another fishmonger was slicing magnificent rounds of flesh from a swordfish, pesca di spada. To underline the size of the creature, he had set its head up to attract attention, the surprised eye gazing lifelessly at all who passed.

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Some call these the ‘mother-in-law’ markets - naughtily quipping that the goods are not good enough quality for wives or children!

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This 'weasel' coffee comes via the digestive tract of the Asian palm civet which dines on coffee berries and expels them, ready for producers to make the coffee. It's an unappetising idea, although aficionados have hailed it as superior. The downside is that increased demand has led to the setting up of farms where these lovely little animals are caged in order to make their droppings more readily available.

These tiny dried shrimp are used in many dishes and it is an ideal way to keep them without spoilage.

Like any self-respecting Vietnamese market, not only were there aisles of tablecloths and sandals.....

..... hats and handbags and kiddies' clothes, but there was food in abundance. 

Dragon fruit (Pittaya) is breathtakingly beautiful but not always as tasty and aromatic as some other tropical fruits. Its colour and texture though - speckled as it is with little black seeds - make it a pretty addition to fruit or cheese platters.

Campo dei Fiori, Rome

This is certainly not a big market, but its position is unrivalled.

Sunday market, Kashgar, China

A young man in a white skullcap brandishes a long knife. He’s beckoning us to notice his chrome, cross-shaped machine – part Middle-Ages torture implement, with sharp points and a hefty screw, part useful tool. Even the rich crimson liquid bleeding into a red bucket below it seems a little macabre.

He’s got bottles of the stuff already filled, and just as we are about to shudder and turn away, we realise he’s squashing that ruby juice from ripe pomegranates.

This is the Kashgar Sunday market, on the far western border of China, and the high point of the week for the locals who dress up for this, hook the family donkey to the cart, then pile on and head for town.

We find the place is absolutely bursting with people. They come for the food – mounds of figs, cartwheels of bread, baked sheep’s heads, pomegranates - plus the energy, and the socialising. It was hard to imagine that a thousand years ago (and a thousand years before that) this place would have been just as busy.

Namdaemun Market, Seoul, Korea

A few years ago, I spent half a day exploring the Namdaemun market, a sprawling 24-hour shopping extravaganza, more an experience than a bargain hunter's dream, near the famous 14th-century gate which was badly damaged by fire in 2008, then rebuilt in 2012. 

In the shops I notice an attention to detail that appears almost Japanese, yet with a distinctly different flair. These fish have been meticulously displayed and are sparkling and fresh.

The claims for kimchi are surpassed only by Korea's other miracle cure-all, ginseng which, unsurprisingly, is regarded as an aphrodisiac and vital for virility. Like so many foods it owes much of its reputation to its shape. The long twining roots, which resemble a parsnip in some sort of seizure, glow in bottles of liquor on many street market stands. Or you can find it by the crateload in Seoul's herbal market. Here, not only is it sold whole, but as tablets and lotions, wines and powder. Korean ginseng is respected worldwide and I watched as tourists loaded up with it to take home.

Keelung Night Market, Taipei, Taiwan

Taiwan has so many fine foods that it is difficult to choose when confronted by a menu, however my personal search on a recent trip to this wonderful island was for these. Toffee tomatoes are specific to Taiwan and best found at a night market such as the one just a few blocks from our ship in the port of Keelung, about 45 minutes from the city centre. 

It seems this lady was there just waiting for me to buy them and renew a taste I have been missing since my last visit, fifteen or more years ago. It's a wonder no one has thought to do them elsewhere. Although we have toffee apples in Australia and other countries, and China puts toffee on many fruits, including plums and dates, to me, tomatoes are best. The slight acid of the pulp is the perfect foil for sweet toffee and they burst obligingly as you bite into them.

But some other things did not look quite so appealing to us! Even so, the local customers were happily slurping down bowls of broth and offal, despite the hot and steamy night.

Beancurd, again, this time using thin sheets to wrap a filling - possibly minced pork.

Aways there are noodles, broth....

... squeakily fresh seafood....

.....tiny whelks you would need a toothpick to remove the morsel of flesh....

... and proof, yet again, of the locals' love of pork.

At a stall at the other end of the markets, here is another version with strawberries, and grapes. Tempted - but not enough - I doubled back to my friend at the start of the markets and bought more of her tomatoes.

So if you are in the port of Keelung, this is how to find this wonderful night market.

Jeam Elafna, Marrakesh, Morocco

After arriving in Morocco, late in the afternoon we headed for Jeam Elafna, the city’s main square. Nothing could have prepared us for this. The jarring noises, the mingled smells of horse dung, mint tea, incense, smoke – or the aggressive marketing: snake handlers, dazzlingly dressed dancers swivelling to frenzied Berber bagpipes, water sellers, acrobats with bells, henna artists, tarot card readers – even a little man seated on a square of pavement feeding teaspoonsful of milk to a hedgehog and scattering crumbs for his tamed pigeons. Oh, and the denture man on the ready to supply upper or lower sets immediately!

Part carnival, part bedlam, this mobile mosaic is threaded through with a swirl of camera-toting tourists, robed locals, motorbikes, donkey carts and horse-drawn carriages, the latter ones inaudible in the general hubbub .‘It’s a zoo!’ says our guide, Abdellah, laughing like a proud father showing his children a special treat.

It’s a photographer’s paradise, too, so long as you pay the fee. Our guide keeps negotiating rates and feeding low denomination dirham to each group so we can attempt to capture the colourful acts and characters.

Finally, he leads us up several flights of stairs to a terraced rooftop café overlooking it all, where we join other tourists sipping mint tea. Long shadows lace the gyrating dancers and promenading crowds. Now, visible, on every mudbrick rooftop, are clusters of white saucers – satellite dishes. Like cups to gather rain, these are set to capture the moods and modes of other worlds. Other cultures.

Goa's markets, southern India

Goa has a long and complex history of colonisation and contact with traders and explorers from many countries. It shows in the dishes you find on offer in restaurants. To understand this better we decided to go to the source. Here, in a fish market, the day's catch is sorted and sold by nimble-fingered women. Portuguese cuisine relies heavily on seafood and the nearby waters are rich in fish and crustaceans, all of which can be found here on a daily basis.

A little further on, the fruit and vegetable market has a wealth of produce, with the ladies seated high above their produce, and able to supervise everything. Goa is so small, though, that much of the bounty on sale has come from adjoining states.

And once again we find cashew nuts, still encased in the shell. Cashews were originally introduced by the Portuguese who transported them from Brazil where they are indigenous.

Many dishes in the south of India rely on coconut to add richness and flavour to many dishes. A fresh coconut with its cap sliced off is a common drink offered in many places, but here these are older coconuts which will be grated and used in cookery.

There are dozens of chillies used in Indian cookery, each giving a different heat factor and flavour, and here they are bought by the handful, either fresh or dried.

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Ten wonderful world markets, but there are so many more around the world - maybe even in your own city or town. Make sure you visit them to discover the freshest food as well as soaking up their vibrant atmosphere.

Text and photographs: ©Sally Hammond

Video: ©Gordon Hammond