Raja Bazaar is the beating, chaotic heart of old Rawalpindi. To call it busy is an understatement: the lanes are densely packed with shops selling cloth, spices, electronics, hardware, plastic goods, wedding paraphernalia, and much else, all pressed together with no obvious logic. Motorcycles push through crowds. Hawkers shout. The smell shifts from open drains to roasting nuts to fresh bread within the space of twenty metres.
This is not a tourist market. The goods are aimed at Rawalpindi's residents, and prices are accordingly lower than in any boutique or curated craft shop. Haggling is standard. The best buys are cloth and simple metalwork; the Kashmiri shawl shops that sit on the fringes of the main bazaar sell genuine Kashmiri and Pashto-influenced textiles at prices well below what you would pay in Islamabad's upmarket stores. Come hungry — the food stalls that cluster around the inner lanes are excellent.