Gimcheon (김천) - it's the 'hopeful city', bright lights, buzzing streets and 800\ McD's choco-cones make this a must-visit destination on the peninsula. We descended into town, slightly euphoric, slightly dazed at being back among the intensively apartmented landscape that comprises your typical mid-sized Korean city. Gwaja options everywhere sent blood sugar levels skyrocketing within minutes. After settling into the local jimjil, we hit the plaza. From here our Gimcheon experience started to play-out. After selecting a 식당, bimbimbap 3개 주새요! This is your classic waygookin order in Korea - bimbimbap is a rock-solid option - rice with a fried egg and various greens all mixed in with some spicy gochujang (고추장) or chilli paste. As we ate we explained ourselves, well Kathleen did, to the staff.
K: "We're looking for a place to wash our grimy 2-week trail clothes".
Ajuma: "Get in the car, I know a place"
3WG comply.
A: "This place is closed and won't accept pants"
K: "Bugger"
A: "Come round tomorrow and you can wash them at my place".
3WG: "Sweet!"
Next day...
We turn up at the 식당 again. Minutes after eating we find ourselves in the family home, more specifically, on the floor of the family bathroom and wringing out the worst of the trail....well..., yeah trail stains, just to make the garments acceptable for the washing machine. It was Buddha's birthday so the two kids were off school and pretty much manic - it's not everyday you get three waygooks crashing around the average Gimcheon household!
The rest of the family seemed unphased - particularly the jovial husband - a.k.a Chan-sik( 찬식). A dynamic interior decorator with multiple side-projects, Chan-sik took it upon himself to show us round the sights. For Mark and I, our current answer to the question "what do you do"? is that we are "aspiring farmers". Upon hearing this we were off to view the endless fields of onions surrounding the city. Gimcheon is known for two products - onions and grapes.
Stopping in at one of his farmer mates enabled us an inside look at a typical small farm property in Korea. Basically lots of junk lying around with every spare space in some form of cultivation. The farmer kindly gave us some duck eggs for "strength on the trail", just another example of the gift culture in action.
For the remainder of the day we checked out Jikji-sa, which is a very beautiful Buddhist temple set beneath the local mountain of Hwangak-san (황악산). Buddha's birthday is a national holiday in Korea, and the temple grounds were pumping, full of the people that make rural Korea tick.
A festive atmosphere was manifest in the temple grounds with market stalls, comedy acts and various brands of soj'd up old-timers in the mix. Everyone was loving the perfect weather and the chance to pray for the good health of family and friends. Just for good measure there was a free bibimbap on hand for all. Chan-sik provided a running commentary in broken English, stopping Mark and I at one point so that we could fully appreciate the soothing music that was coming from speakers positioned throughout the temple grounds. Obediently, we closed our eyes and dug the relaxing groove.
Back at home base we waited around in McD's, had our 4th choco-cones and started preparing for dinner at our adopted Gimcheon family's place.
Dinner turned out to be a classic Korean BBQ of marinated pork and kimchi pancakes, washed down generously with grape juice and soju (소주). Each round the soju ratio increased as Chan-sik set the pace throughout the evening, getting through at least 소주 3병 or 3 bottles. We tried to slip under the radar on the soju front, but simply could not avoid the intake of meat. Channy gregariously applied new slices to the grill every 10 minutes. What had seemed an implausible 2kg bag of pork was slowly but surely packed away. By about the 4th hour I estimate we had each eaten at least 3kg of food. Needless to say Kathleen heroically translated and maintained the flow of conversation throughout the night. Chan-sik got more raucous with each round and was unstoppable near the end, taking down all available rice and starting on the beers.
Male drinking traits are global, and at 11.30pm Channy stumbled into the kitchen, returning with some ramyeon and frozen goods for the grill. He messed around with his kids (who were on fire in the lounge dancing to K-Pop anthems), yet somehow avoided the evil stares of his wife, who was regularly supplying us with extra food.
At last, after a great evening and solid 5 hours of eating/drinking, all sorts of glorious promises and an offer for a part-time apprenticeship - we made it back to the jimjil and sunk into a deep sleep on the floor. Post-party weigh-in was 69.4kg.
However attractive the vices of Gimcheon, we happily rolled out of town next afternoon, refreshed, well-fed and eagerly anticipating the trail.
K: "We're looking for a place to wash our grimy 2-week trail clothes".
Ajuma: "Get in the car, I know a place"
3WG comply.
A: "This place is closed and won't accept pants"
K: "Bugger"
A: "Come round tomorrow and you can wash them at my place".
3WG: "Sweet!"
Next day...
We turn up at the 식당 again. Minutes after eating we find ourselves in the family home, more specifically, on the floor of the family bathroom and wringing out the worst of the trail....well..., yeah trail stains, just to make the garments acceptable for the washing machine. It was Buddha's birthday so the two kids were off school and pretty much manic - it's not everyday you get three waygooks crashing around the average Gimcheon household!
The rest of the family seemed unphased - particularly the jovial husband - a.k.a Chan-sik( 찬식). A dynamic interior decorator with multiple side-projects, Chan-sik took it upon himself to show us round the sights. For Mark and I, our current answer to the question "what do you do"? is that we are "aspiring farmers". Upon hearing this we were off to view the endless fields of onions surrounding the city. Gimcheon is known for two products - onions and grapes.
Stopping in at one of his farmer mates enabled us an inside look at a typical small farm property in Korea. Basically lots of junk lying around with every spare space in some form of cultivation. The farmer kindly gave us some duck eggs for "strength on the trail", just another example of the gift culture in action.
For the remainder of the day we checked out Jikji-sa, which is a very beautiful Buddhist temple set beneath the local mountain of Hwangak-san (황악산). Buddha's birthday is a national holiday in Korea, and the temple grounds were pumping, full of the people that make rural Korea tick.
A festive atmosphere was manifest in the temple grounds with market stalls, comedy acts and various brands of soj'd up old-timers in the mix. Everyone was loving the perfect weather and the chance to pray for the good health of family and friends. Just for good measure there was a free bibimbap on hand for all. Chan-sik provided a running commentary in broken English, stopping Mark and I at one point so that we could fully appreciate the soothing music that was coming from speakers positioned throughout the temple grounds. Obediently, we closed our eyes and dug the relaxing groove.
Back at home base we waited around in McD's, had our 4th choco-cones and started preparing for dinner at our adopted Gimcheon family's place.
Dinner turned out to be a classic Korean BBQ of marinated pork and kimchi pancakes, washed down generously with grape juice and soju (소주). Each round the soju ratio increased as Chan-sik set the pace throughout the evening, getting through at least 소주 3병 or 3 bottles. We tried to slip under the radar on the soju front, but simply could not avoid the intake of meat. Channy gregariously applied new slices to the grill every 10 minutes. What had seemed an implausible 2kg bag of pork was slowly but surely packed away. By about the 4th hour I estimate we had each eaten at least 3kg of food. Needless to say Kathleen heroically translated and maintained the flow of conversation throughout the night. Chan-sik got more raucous with each round and was unstoppable near the end, taking down all available rice and starting on the beers.
Male drinking traits are global, and at 11.30pm Channy stumbled into the kitchen, returning with some ramyeon and frozen goods for the grill. He messed around with his kids (who were on fire in the lounge dancing to K-Pop anthems), yet somehow avoided the evil stares of his wife, who was regularly supplying us with extra food.
At last, after a great evening and solid 5 hours of eating/drinking, all sorts of glorious promises and an offer for a part-time apprenticeship - we made it back to the jimjil and sunk into a deep sleep on the floor. Post-party weigh-in was 69.4kg.
However attractive the vices of Gimcheon, we happily rolled out of town next afternoon, refreshed, well-fed and eagerly anticipating the trail.
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