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Gumi |
Gumi (구미시; 龜尾市; turtle.tail.city) is a city in Gyeongsangbuk-do. The population as of 2004 was 370,088, including:
- 365,681 Koreans and
- 4,407 non-Koreans.
Points of interest: Geumosan Provincial Park lies within the municipal boundaries of Gumi. The Municipality of Gumi is quite big and stretches as far as the town of Seonsan, about 30 minutes drive to the north. Gumi is the birthplace of President Park Chung-hee; there is a small museum that contains his house, and Gumi residents are quite proud of being Park Chung-Hee's birthplace. It is said that the profile of Geumo Mountain looks like Park Chung-Hee's profile! Geumo Folk Museum in Mueul-myeon has displays as well as workshops on traditional crafts.
Gumi is an industrial city with three large industrial parks. There are over 100 factories specializing in electronics and semiconductors. As a result the economy is quite stable and Gumi is growing more quickly than other parts of Korea.
A bustling city of over 200,000 people, it consists of a huge primarily industrial district to the Southeast and a smaller residential and commercial district to the Northwest. The two areas are separated by the expressway.
Gumi is a 25-minute train ride from Daegu Station in Daegu.
[edit] Administration
[edit] Government offices
- Post offices The main post office is located near the city hall. There's a branch post office in the main shijang downtown.
[edit] Businesses and Services
[edit] Fitness
In Hwangguk Oncheon there's a gym which is 80,000 won monthly for men, 70,000 for women.
[edit] Public baths
- Nokwon Motel on the main street has a women's-only sauna.
- Gumi Geumosan Oncheon is 4,000 won for bathing in the water of a mineral spring (with Germanium). It's quite an amenable place. (054) 455-6222, 6210. It's in Kwangpyeong-dong, across the expressway from the E-mart.
- Gumi Tourist Hotel has a men's-only sauna.
- Hwangguk Oncheon has baths a bit fancier than usual - Cost is 4500 for bathing or 7000 for jjimjilbang stay overnight). There's also a gym adjacent to it which costs 80,000 won monthly for men, 70,000 won monthly for women.
- Hanyang mokyoktang is near the Hwangguk Oncheon.
[edit] Restaurants and Bars
[edit] Restaurants
Restaurants are everywhere and can easily be found. Western franchises in Gumi include, McDonald's in Hyong gok dong, Popeye's in the Gumi Train Station, Outback Steak House in In dong and Pizza Hut in downtown and across from city hall in Song Jeong dong.
Lotteria is another fastfood burger franchise that exists ubiquitously throughout Gumi. With two locations downtown and 1 in almost every dong in the city. Gimbap-365 and franchises like it offer gimbap (similar to california spring rolls) for 1000 won and simple Korean food dishes for 2-3000 won. They are everywhere and can be easily found by asking any passer-by "Gimbap aw-dee say yo?" (Where is gimbap?)
- Bonjuk is on the main street just north of the train station. 451-6288. Take out and eat in. They specialize in juk, or rice porridge. There are many kinds, ranging in price from 5,000 won to 20,000 won. Bowls are huge, and come with banchan and a cold turnip soup. Good if you want some tasty but not spicy food.
- Geumosan shiktang is at the lower terminal of the cable car on Mt. Geumo. What is good there is very tasty bindaeddeok.
- Namt'ong-dong tourist village at Geumosan has quite a few restaurants, many of which specialize in baek suk. This is just down the hill a bit from the cable car at Geumosan.
- Waegook Cook is in Song Jeong Dong. It is a foreigner Restaurant, half owned by a South African. It has a large ex-pat patronage and is popular for it's 15,000 won steak dinner, live music guests and welcoming environment. Ask taxi's to take you to Badam Badam, Waegook Cook is on the second floor.
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.
- Psycho Bar is a ex-pat friendly bar with an English speaking staff. It has a large music selection open to requests, flat screen TV for various sporting events, open mic night, pool table, periodic live music and Wednesday night poker. It is on the third floor on the main shopping street Munwaro. For diections, cross the street after leaving the train station and turn right, walk until you see your first left...about 15 meters down. Go down this street and walk until you get to Munwaro, on your right hand side you will see a GS-25 mart, turn right and walk 20 meters. You should see a sign in purple and white reading Psycho Bar.
- Rolling Stone is sports lounge featuring an electronic dart board, pool table and bottled beer. The owner, "Lenny", speaks English and though it does not have draft beer, Rolling Stone is a comfortable place to have a drink. It is on Munwaro shopping street downtown. Follow the same instructions to Psycho bar (above) and keep walking another 3 blocks down the street.
- Waegook Cook, see restaurants.
- New York, New York is a great lounge for cheap food and drinks. It is packed with college students on the weekend and is open 20 hours a day. Closing from 7-11am for cleaning. It is the cheapest downtown venue to drink and probably one of the most comfortable. It is on Munwaro Shopping street. Follow the same directions to Psycho Bar (above) but instead of turning right at the GS-25, turn left and walk 10 meters. Look up and you should see a 9 story building to your right. On the 8th floor is New York, New York. In the building is another bar on the 7th floor, with slightly more expensive drinks. As well as a DVD room on the 3rd floor.
- Wa bar has two locations in Gumi. Both offer a fantastic selection of drinks from all around the world. Bottled beer and hard liquour from around the world, a snack buffet and decent bar-grub. The first location is just off Munwaro shopping street. Follow the directions for Psycho Bar (above), but when you arrive at the GS-25 mart, continue walking through the intersection. Across from the various orange-soju tents on your left will be Wa Bar on the second floor.
- Wa bar II is located in Song Jeong Dong, about 250 meters down from City Hall. This venue features an outdoor patio, great for drinking in the summer heat.
[edit] Shopping
E-Mart is down across the freeway in the industrial side of town. A new Lotte Mart has recently opened its doors about two blocks north of the E-mart. As well, there is a Tesco/Home-Plus two blocks south of E-mart. All three of these mega-shopping plaza's offer similar products. From simple grocery items to high end electronic products. Though Tesco has the most imported products. Lotte Mart sells the most high end items. There's a fair-sized Nong Hyup in back of the Gumi bus terminal. And, downtown, in the market place and east of there are several supermarkets and discount stores, most of them on side streets.
[edit] Public markets
Gumi's main shijang starts a block west of the train station, on the north side of Jung-angno. It extend down a number of side roads and lanes.
[edit] Tourism
[edit] Accomodation
The area between the bus station and Gumi's center is jam-packed with hotels. Prices are more reasonable than one might suspect, due to competition. There's also a few yeogwans in the market area north of the railroad station. Four or five motels are located up at the tourist village at Geumosan, in Namt'ong-dong.
[edit] Transportation
[edit] Getting there
- Air. Nearest airport with commercial service is Daegu.
- Bus. Gumi Bus Terminal is a couple kms. east of the train station. Local buses or taxis connect the two - the taxi stand is across the street from the bus station, and the bus stop is likewise, to the left of the taxi stand a ways. Buses go to several Daegu bus terminals, to Pohang, Ulsan, Pusan, Jinju, Gwangju, Daejeon, Seoul, Seosan-Sangju-Jeomchon, and other destinations throughout Korea.
- Train. Along the main train line between Busan and Seoul. Some trains on this line cut off at Gimcheon, heading north to Sangju, Yeongju and Gangneung.
- Highway. Right along Expressway #1 that runs between Seoul and Busan. Exits: Gumi IC and Namgumi-IC. A few kms west of Expressway #5 which runs between Daegu and Yeongju.
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