The main covered bazaar is the liveliest place in Chardzhou and well worth an early morning visit. Carpets pile up alongside dried fruit from the Lebap region's orchards, bolts of cloth, and the vegetables and grains that supply the city's kitchens. The famous Chardzhou melons — considered by many to be the finest in Central Asia, with a sweetness and texture that the melons of Uzbekistan and Afghanistan aspire to — appear in abundance from July through September, and melon season is genuinely the best time to be here.
The bazaar runs on its own logic: prices are negotiated, the layout shifts seasonally, and the morning hours before ten are when the serious commerce happens. The carpet section is worth lingering in — the Lebap region produces distinctive flat-weave kilims and pile carpets that are different from the Tekke-pattern rugs made in western Turkmenistan. Vendors expect foreign visitors to be interested in carpets and will negotiate, but know your values before you start; decent pieces go for more than the surroundings suggest. The bazaar is also a good place to buy provisions — dried apricots, nuts, bread — for the long train journey westward across the Karakum.