We arrived by train to Suncheon-si in the southernmost part of South Korea and took an Uber to our Airbnb. The place we had booked was on the outskirts of town, surrounded by farms. We had no idea we would be this far away from the center of town.

The owner of the Airbnb was a sweet lady who wanted to make sure we enjoyed our stay. Right away, she offered to give us a ride to town for groceries and showed us which bus to take to get back. Turns out it was all super easy to navigate. I also asked her about where to do laundry. Funny thing, her washer and dryer were in a cabinet on the porch, open to anyone passing by. More than that, the storage cabinet was full of all sorts of stuff. No lock, only a latch to keep the door closed. Whenever she saw me, she would point to the washing machine and tell me to use it. She was so worried that I hadn't done laundry.

My daughter was up early on our first morning and took off to explore the surrounding area. I was out the door shortly after her and headed in the same direction. There were fields of crops that gave way to reeds growing in a marsh. It was all so beautiful. I want to make a point here, though. We felt incredibly safe. My daughter out walking alone in the early morning hours. The unlocked cabinet with the washing machine and supplies. There are more examples, but you get the idea. We never felt our personal safety was at risk. What a fantastic way to live!

We met back at the Airbnb and headed to town for lunch. Suncheon hosted a Garden Expo in 2013, which is still a major tourism draw. When walking around town, it looks like the Expo is ongoing. The exhibition buildings are all still standing. And the southern part of the town is a massive garden park. It could take days to see everything in the garden park alone. To make getting around the gigantic park easier, there was something called a SkyCube.

We didn't give much thought to where the SkyCube would take us. It looked like fun, and we wanted to ride it for the experience alone. Getting to a different part of the park would be a bonus. I didn't photograph the SkyCube, but you can check it out here. Essentially, it's a monorail with driverless "cubes" that hold 6 people each. The cubes arrive at a station, the doors open, people get off, and others get on, then it takes off again.

By the time we got to the SkyCube station, it was late in the day. The line for tickets was short, and the line to board was even shorter. We hopped on board, and we were whisked away. The SkyCube is smooth, quiet, and somewhat futuristic. It was fun traveling above everything. Looking down on the streets and parks we had recently walked through. Then it seemed we were leaving the Garden Expo area and traveling south - toward our Airbnb.

Sure enough, the SkyCube dropped us only a short walk from the reeds growing in the bay near where we were staying. It was the same area my daughter and I explored that morning. Suncheon Bay is where we ended up. We spent a couple of hours walking the footpaths around the fifth-largest tidal flat in the world.

We took the SkyCube back to the garden park, expecting to be dropped off at a different station. Nope. We were back to where we started. Still, it was a fun adventure.

At the top. The pathways in the garden park went in every direction. In this photo, a stone stairway leads the eye to a sun-lit tree. As a photographer friend says, "It's the light; it's always the light."
Below, top. A small hill in the park was created with a spiral walkway to the top. I thought this would be a fun photo at the time, but too many people were on their way up or down the spiral path. Using four different exposures, I was able to create a person-free image. (No AI, only manual Photoshop cutting and pasting.)
Finally, the bottom two images. Oh, I can't decide. I want to include one of these images in my gallery. I can't figure out which one I like better. The first image is from my morning walk. I love the colors. The second image is from later that day. The detail is fantastic, and the tree in front of the mountain is perfect. I have to choose one. What do you think?