The Grand Children’s Park
It was about ten minutes after our entrance into Busan’s Grand Children’s Park before we realized something was amiss. The park was crowded with senior citizens playing go-stop and full-grown adults hiking or playing badminton. But one thing was conspicuously missing from the Children’s Park: children.
Found near the Samgwangsa Temple, the park surrounds a beautiful reservoir which is fed by a cascading stream and ringed by heavy woods. It’s yet another spot in central Busan where it’s impossible to believe you’re in the middle of a metropolis; so serene and quiet. And the tranquility is definitely enhanced by the utter lack of squealing brats.
And this would be a great place for kids and families to spend some time! There’s a zoo, an amusement park, a practice driving course and an entire three-floor science museum. Of these, we visited only the Science hall. And we had the run of the place. I had long suspected how much better the world would be without children, but never truly understood. While the museum’s staff watched us with either contempt or boredom (surprisingly difficult to tell between the two), we played with all the awesome toys that stupid children normally hog.
This is Korea, so the games and exhibitions were guaranteed to be more modern and ten times better than in science museums back home. We spent a long time battling each other in Robot Soccer, then moved over to the simulation bike ride through Korea. We walked through a space tunnel and played with awesome mechanical contraptions designed to show off concepts like electromagnetism.
Having had our fill of fun, we left the museum and took a nature hike around the reservoir. Gorgeous; this was perhaps the most scenic park we’ve yet visited in Busan. The woods, the stream, the wooden path built high up off the ground, the peace and quiet. If you need a break from city life or just want to escape the presence of children, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better place than the Children’s Park.
Nice astronaut photo! Who knew that on the moon you’re not only 80% lighter, but 50% shorter? I like the star-tunnel photo. Robot soccer looks like fun. And the virtual bike ride must have been pretty scenic! What I also thought was great was that Rubik’s Cube made out of cartoon characters and sheltered by that abstract claw sculpture. Cool!
Gorgeous lush green forests! Your pictures always show Korea’s gorgeous green environments very well. Thanks for excellent writing and pictures! Which made me check the history of Korean forest and tree planting. Korea had the naked mountains throughout the country after the Korean war. In the early 1960’s, the president Park Chung-hee visited Germany and he was so impressed by two things in Germany, lush forest and autobahns. So Park Chung-hee was determined to start the nation-wide tree-planting movement and build the express roads. He was almost obsessed with tree-planting. He even supervised the tree-planting from the helicopter. In 1960’s through 1980’s, Korea planted 11 billion trees nation-wide and transformed Korea’s natural environments completely. The forest experts in the world say the success of Korean forest movement is the modern day miracle. Korea is praised as the only country which succeeded in the nation-wide forest movement after the world war 2. As for the express roads, Park Chung-hee built nice express roads beginning with Seoul-Inchoen, Seoul-Busan. He was so ambitious that he originally tried to build 20-lane express road for Seoul-Busan. Now Korea has the outstanding nation-wide express roads system, one of the best in the world. The rest areas along the express roads in Korea are much better than the rest areas along the US free-ways.
Hi there. I am Korean, and I was born and raised in Busan until I was 13. For most of Busan people, including myself, The Grand Children’s Park is a special place. Back in the 90s, almost every children and new-born babies went to this specific park. It used to have zoo and theme park, so for parents, it had everything to please their children. I also remember going there as a baby riding on my mother’s back, as a kindergartener, and finally as a schoolchild with my mates and my teacher in the 90s.Just a month ago, I had a chance to revisit the place after ten years of absence. The entrance was totally different, and there were no zoo and no theme park. The museum was pretty much the same except it was mordernized a bit, but guess what? Some of exhibits were the same ones that I used to play with when I was a child. I was so thrilled to see those again because it brought me good old memories.Ahhh The Grand Children’s Park! So much memories. :'(