Address: northwestern outskirts of Almaty. Take one of the Barakholka Buses going west from Rayymbek.
Timings: Tuesdays to Sundays, 9 am to 8 pm
A very large, very cheap flea market that is put up regularly on the outskirts of the city, consisting of a number of smaller bazaars on a 10 streets wide, 4 km long belt.
This place is a cultural gathering point for locals and tourists alike. You can see Turkish, Uzbek, Chinese, Indian, and Russian tradesmen calling for attention to their prized items-on-sale.
You can get anything from electrical home appliances to textiles and clothes to even automobiles! Bargaining is hell crazy – prices on some objects are brought down to almost 10% if you are good enough – of course, being good enough would mean you have command over the local language!
The market gets very busy on weekends, especially Sunday mornings. Once again, watch out for pickpockets in all the crowd and commotion!
Travelers will find that another good place for purchasing handicrafts and souvenirs is in the gift shops of local attractions. The museums ( http://www.tripadvisor.com/Travel-g29… ) are a good place to start. For example, the Central State Museum ( http://www.advantour.com/kazakhstan/a…) has three different souvenir shops where visitors can purchase such items as hand-woven rugs and handcrafted local jewelry. Since visitors are likely to already be interested in visiting attractions such as this one, it is convenient to combine shopping with the tour experience.
