The great thing about living in Busan is there always being a mountain to climb, a beach strip to walk along or a park to cycle around. A favourite place of mine is Samnak Ecological Park; located in Sasang-gu, you can reach the largest park along the Nak-donggang River by either jumping on line 2 of the subway where you depart at Sasang station exit 3 and walk for 10 minutes or by taking one of the many number of buses that drop you off right outside the park entrance.

The park itself is extremely large; it spans 5 kilometres/3.11 miles of the Nak-donggang River, has built in sports facilities for badminton, baseball, basketball, football and tennis, a convenience store where you can buy a snack and a drink, an extra large swing for both adults and children to enjoy, a bike rental station, various pathways just to take in the scenes of nature as well as secluded, peaceful areas to just sit and chill or even enjoy a picnic, some enclosed under wooden structures, others just open and free to all on the larger grassy patches or land.

It also plays hosts to a variety of flowers throughout the year, displaying each season’s finest foliage. In spring the cherry blossoms make their long-awaited appearance, summer brings with it lotuses and sunflowers, cosmos come when the leaves begin to fall during autumn and lastly winter is not as bare as one would expect, as Samnak displays a large number of reeds, which some may deem bland in comparison to the previously stated flowers, but are still a pretty sight swaying in the wind.

My first visit to Samnak was at the start of summer last year. I got to see the lotus flowers in full bloom! They were stunning! Exotic pink petals splashed across thick green leaves, swaying in a gentle breeze that pushed them ever so softly across they water they called their home. What made the viewing even more remarkable was the lack of crowds; every single flower festival I have thus far attended in Korea has been absolutely heaving, full to the brim with people making the experience that much less enjoyable. Therefore, I found the lotuses all the more charming given I did not have to crane my neck around copious heads.

My most recent trip to Samnak was just over a week ago. The chill around the city has started to lift, spring is indeed on its way and I saw a sunny and surprisingly warm day as the perfect opportunity to head over to Sasang and take in as much of the spacious grounds as possible. As previously stated, the park has a bike rental station available, which is located just to the right-hand side of the main entrance. There are singles, tandems and even sheltered, two-seater, quadricycles. A quick handover of my identification and 3,000 won and I was on my way, cycling around the park for one hour, getting joyously lost amongst the last of winter’s golden reeds that blew ever so elegantly in the wind.

Every time I visit Samnak, the flat openness of the area never fails to surprise me; in fact, I like to view it as potentially the flattest and most open piece of land within the heart of Busan. Whilst I was cycling, weaving my way through the multitude of paths, I could look in any direction and see the park land stretch ahead of me, dotted here and there with trees, with a backdrop of the mountains in the distance. Never once did I feel I had reached an end point or the boundary line. It is such a freeing feeling really; to just continuously move forward, onwards and onwards without the sense of overstepping a limit.

Furthermore the spaciousness is such a contrast to my local neighbourhood of Seomyeon, where the roads are so narrow and long, with buildings piled on top of one another and swarms of people about their day, clogging the non-existent pavements. Ultimately, time spent in Samnak is a welcome escape from the hectic normalities of every day city life and I implore all residents of and visitors to Busan plan to spend some time there for Samnak has something for everyone after all!