The Central Bazaar is the most alive place in Karagandy — a large covered market where the city's ethnic mix is most visible and the commerce most honest. Stalls sell dried apricots and raisins alongside slabs of horse meat and smoked fish; Chinese-made clothes hang next to hand-stitched Kazakh items; the smell shifts from spices to meat to pickled vegetables as you move through the halls. It is the kind of market that reminds you that Central Asia sits at the junction of a lot of different worlds.
The food stalls at the back are the best reason to come hungry. Look for kurt — small dried balls of fermented milk that are an acquired taste but genuinely interesting — and for shubat (fermented camel milk) if you want to commit fully to the local repertoire. More conventionally, there will be fresh bread baked that morning, samsa (baked pastries filled with meat and onion), and a rotating cast of prepared dishes. Prices are market prices: low, negotiable, and honest. The bazaar is busiest on weekends and in the morning; come before noon if you want the full experience.