Thailand Street Food

Best local Thai food are by the street vendors

I think my favorite part about my trip to Thailand was the street food. It was fun to go hunting the streets for a meal. My Thai is not that good and I just had to point to what I wanted and only screwed up a couple of times and got things that were not what I was expecting like a fishy tasting sausage and a chicken head stir fry. I ate most of my trip on the streets and never got sick in the 3 weeks of travel. (lucky?)

A few things to consider when considering street food is whether the stand looks clean. Bangkok had the best looking places to eat street food. They say it is so competitive that any bad food vendor quickly goes out of business. Outside of Bangkok things can be a little less clean looking so you have to be more careflul there. Bigger cities like Chiang Mai should be OK but I was a little more careful in Ko Lanta and the small town of Pak Bara.
-They say to beware of blocks of ice because they can be water from a tap that is frozen into easy to make ice. Cubes usually mean safer water. Some stands offer ice water or ice tea. If you value your stomach then avoid that. I drank some shaved ice with some tea at a stand in Bangkok and had no problem but I think that was a bit of a risk.
-Memorise a few word of favorite foods that you like to eat so you can ask them about what is in their selection. Words like "Moo" for pork and "Kai" for chicken help you get what you really want.
-Most of the better places have some tables set up for their customers with plates and aluminum silverware. You point to your selection, take a seat, they bring it over to you and then you pay after you are done eating.

Most food is 20 baht a serving and goes up if you get another serving or a drink with it. Pretty cheap. Sausages are great and are usually 10 baht. Make sure to ask them for the (semi)spicy sauce to put on them because they don't always give it to you. I got a skewer of grilled Chicken hearts at a grill one time. The guys though I didn't know what I was getting and were surprised that I wanted them. That was just 10 baht for a quick snack.

Don't be afraid of Street Food if you are careful you can get the most authentic and best food from Thailand.