Kratie's main market is a lively, unpretentious place best visited in the early morning before the heat. It's a proper working market — frogs in nets, freshly grilled corn cakes, pork buns for a few cents, and live fish in buckets — rather than anything designed for tourists. The market extends along the riverfront and into the interior blocks behind, and the produce reflects what grows and lives in this stretch of the Mekong valley.
The food section is the main interest. Steamed pork buns (banh bao) run around US$0.12 and make a good breakfast with coffee from one of the café stalls on the riverfront. The dried fish and fresh river catch give a sense of how central the Mekong is to the local diet. The market is busiest from around 6am to 9am; most vendors pack up by noon.