Gimcheon (김천시; 金泉市; gold.spring.city) is a city in Gyeongsangbuk-do. The population as of 2004 was 144.587, including:
- 143,527 Koreans and
- 1,060 non-Koreans.
There's a five-day market in Gimcheon, right in the middle of town. It's held on days ending in 0 and 5. It's quite a bustling market. The other days there are few vendors in the market area.
Kimcheon is an odd place. Not much real old there as the war destroyed a lot in 1950. But the south side of town (in back of the shijang) is full of little yoinsuks or something similar (hasuks...), too many it seems, what are they doing there? An ajumah may sidle up on the street and "pssst..." try to sell a person something of an undetermined but illegal-sounding nature.
If one gets out at the bus station and want to go downtown, one doesn't just want to follow the road running in front of the terminal. Instead cross the street toward the Nonghyup (농협, agricultural bank of Korea), go to the right till the next cross street. Take that side street until you see the stairs to the overpass over the train tracks. Take that. You'll come out in front of the train station and close to the public market, right downtown. For a city the size of Gimcheon, people here do not seem to be very used to foreigners, but are quite friendly.
About the Nong Hyup across from the bus terminal. It's huge for a Nong Hyup - a department store basically, covering four storeys. In front of it are a lot of people selling things, a sort of shijang along the sidewalk.
There are suspicious places to stay in back of the market and along the roads going up the hill. Farther to the west are some large hotels. Still, Gimcheon seems to lack a good variety of both accomodation and restaurants for a city its size.
Administrative divisions
The outlying regions of Gimcheon are divided into twenty-four myeon (or townships) and one eup (or large village). In addition, the city center is divided into seven dong, or precincts.
Tourism
Restaurants and Bars
Restaurants
As the average Korean, Japanese, and Chinese restaurants are in abundance throughout Korea and are easy for foreigners to find, the following restaurants reflect a sampling of restaurants considered to be either popular or are western-friendly choices and other ethnic foods.
Bars
External links
