Zapad ("West") refers loosely to the dense Soviet-era housing blocks that fill the western half of central Bishkek, from Osh Bazaar across to the Tunguch micro-district. The area is residential and working-class, with the city's main wholesale and retail markets and a thick concentration of Dungan and Uzbek bakeries.
Walking the back streets here gives the closest thing the city has to a non-tourist atmosphere, with corner produce shops, kebab carts and tea houses where the conversation runs in Russian, Kyrgyz, Uzbek and Dungan all at once.