The largest of Shymkent's traditional markets, and the place to come for the Central Asian texture that the renovated centre has mostly lost. Sprawling, partly covered, partly open-air, it sells everything from kurt (rolled balls of dried fermented yoghurt) and horse sausage to bolts of bright atlas silk and stacks of melons in the season.
The bazaar is busiest in the morning. The food rows on the south side of the complex have the best lunchtime plov, samsa and laghman in the city — eat where the bazaar traders eat. Bring small notes and don't expect English.