Return to Seoul: COEX Aquarium and Bonguensa

Well, this is almost it. I’m back in Seoul for one night. My flight home is tomorrow. To make the most of the afternoon, I visited COEX Aquarium.

I also unexpectedly visited a temple, Bonguensa, primarily for no reason other than it was there.

I leave tomorrow, but this isn’t my last entry for this trip. My flight isn’t scheduled to depart until 7:05 in the evening. Then, after a flight that’s supposed to take 13 hours and 25 minutes, Air Canada tells me that I should land in Toronto 25 minutes after I leave Incheon Airport, the international airport serving Seoul.

The wonders of a rotating Earth and the ensuing time zones.

(As is always the case with air travel, times are subject to change without notice.)

Despite having both the morning and a part of the afternoon to sightsee tomorrow, my current plan is to publish only one post then.

The last post, so to speak, will include both my Seoul and full trip summaries. I don’t know if I’ll have time to finish and publish it at the airport. If not, I’ll either splurge on in-air wifi or publish it when I get home.

COEX Aquarium

“But, Joel,” you’re saying. “You went to the Seoul Aquarium when you were in Seoul at the start of your trip. Why are you going back?”

I have three points in answer.

1. I didn’t go to the Seoul Aquarium. I went to a Seoul aquarium. As far as I know, there’s no such thing as the Seoul Aquarium. That was a different aquarium from the one I visited this afternoon.
2. There is also no such thing as too many aquariums. Admittedly, that’s hyperbole. If you visit aquariums two or three times a day, every single day, you could likely derive some benefit from evaluating your life choices and possibly seeking professional help in doing that.
3. Why are you asking me questions when I’m not there? What point is there in talking to yourself like that? Perhaps you should discuss that, too, with your therapist.

The other aquarium I went to before was the Lotte World Aquarium. It was in a giant mall, the Lotte World Mall.

This one is the COEX aquarium. It, on the other hand, is in, how should I put this? It’s in a large mall. Yes, that’s how I should put it. It’s in the Starfield COEX mall. COEX is an acronym for Convention and Exhibition (Centre). It’s a huge convention centre. I don’t know if the mall is directly attached, but it’s definitely close. I couldn’t help but see it.

What is it with Seoul putting aquariums in malls?

COEX Aquarium is what one of my guidebooks calls it. My other guidebook and my walking tour app don’t mention it at all. But the name on the front of the Aquarium in the COEX mall doesn’t say “COEX Aquarium.” It says “Sea Life COEX, Seoul.“

Now you’re saying, “But, Joel. Don’t I remember you going to a Sea Life Aquarium already on this trip?”

Why, yes. Yes, I did. Thank you for paying such close attention and remembering. It’s almost as if you care. But you probably should still talk to someone about your habit of asking me questions when I’m not even remotely within earshot of you.

I was at a Sea Life Aquarium in Busan. I was as surprised as you were to find that branding on the aquarium here.

My guidebook told me that the Sea Life Aquarium contains Korea’s largest shark habitat. I question that. Korea is on a peninsula. It’s surrounded on three sides by an ocean. Are you telling me that sharks don’t enter Korean territorial waters? I suspect Korea’s share of the ocean is Korea’s largest shark habitat. But maybe I’m wrong.

Sea Life COEX, Seoul, is not an aquarium that believes in saving the best for last. Immediately past the tickettaker, there’s a small jellyfish tank. Then there are a few more jellyfish tanks of different sizes just beyond that. Way to ruin the suspense, COEX aquarium. But thanks.

So, Sea Life COEX beats the Lotte World Aquarium hands down. The latter doesn’t have any jellyfish. At least it didn’t when I was there. Maybe it will read my journal entry and correct its reprehensible deficiency.

Sea Life COEX, Seoul, has lots of fish in addition to jellyfish in tanks of varying sizes, including one tank that’s fairly large with a glass tunnel through it. The tanks are spread out over two floors. Most of the fish are beautiful.

Sea Life COEX also has four different types of Axototls. I’ve expressed my wonder at those seemingly missing link creatures in these pages before. So I’ll leave it at that.

In addition to fish, the aquarium has turtles, penguins and otters.

Among the fish, it is home to a wrasse. I remember seeing a wrasse in an aquarium, or anywhere else, only once before. It was at the S.E.A. Aquarium in Singapore. The wrasse is almost* impossibly light blue and has such exaggerated features, including huge lips, that it looks almost cartoonish. The first time I saw one, it instantly became my favourite fish.

The wrasse variety in Singapore was a Napoleon wrasse. The one at the COEX aquarium here is a humphead wrasse. But it looks similar and is equally lovable.

My decision to visit Sea Life COEX, Seoul, was a good one, I’d say—well worth my dwindling time here in Seoul.

More pictures from Sea Life COEX, Seoul:

Bonguensa Temple

It took a transfer between two metro lines to get from my hotel to the COEX aquarium. The stop where I had to get off on the second one, i.e., the stop close to the aquarium, was called Bonguensa.

In the station, there were directional signs telling me where each of the many exits would lead me. Two I noticed were COEX Mall and, at a different exit, Bonguensa Temple.

I paid attention to the COEX Mall exit sign because that’s where I wanted to go. The Bonguensa Temple sign intrigued me because I figured that if it not only has a subway wayfinding sign pointing to it, but has a station named after it, it must be something special.

I searched for it in both my guidebooks. It’s cool that you can do that with ebooks. It would have been even cooler if either of the guidebooks had mentioned Bonguensa. They didn’t.

Then I tried my walking tour app. Bonguensa was an unknown entity to it, too.

I began to think that Bonguensa Temple might not be worth visiting after all. But I tried one more source. I opened up my TripAdvisor app and searched for it. I found it.

TripAdvisor rated it as 4.4 out of five based on 1,354 reviews. (If you look at it now, those numbers might have changed after more reviews came in.) That seemed worth it. Besides, I was pretty much right there.

After I got back to my hotel, I had the bright idea of searching the web for Bonguensa Temple. I found both a Wikipedia entry and a site for the temple. So, there are a couple of sources for you if you want more information

Part of the TripAdvisor description said that, “It’s impossible not to be moved by the beauty and serenity of this enchanting temple.”

The entrance was anything but serene. It fronts on a busy street. When I was there, a traffic cop was busy blowing his whistle at cars incessantly and loudly.

There were also a lot of visually loud decorations, particularly near the entrance, but also farther into the compound. They were festive and not at all unattractive, but definitely not serene. I think they are for the upcoming Buddha’s birthday celebration, so they’re probably temporary.

Plus, the temple is set in an area with high-rises and the massive COEX convention centre, all of which are visible from most spots in the compound.

But that is being too negative. The temple halls are handsome, and they climb partway up a peacefully forested hill.

On a plateau, there’s a large plaza paved with modern paving stones. Toward the back of the plaza, there’s a truly giant standing Buddha stone statue. The statue stands on a cubic pedestal, with fierce guardian figures carved in relief on its side. As part of the pedestal, stone columns form a circle around the cube.

Smaller, but still large, standing stone statues are arranged in a semi-circular, or maybe roughly semi-circular, arc behind and to the sides of the giant Buddha. Behind that, also in an arc, there are stone shelves, multiple rows high, that must contain thousands of small stone Buddha statues.

It’s an impressive and dramatic sight.

On the plaza in front of the giant Buddha, there’s a square, made of I don’t know what material, for praying. You have to take your shoes off if you want to go on it.

In addition to the prayer halls in the compound, there is a pavilion with three objects hanging from its ceiling: A large Buddhist drum, a large Buddhist bell, and a large, fierce-looking, colourful fish sculpture. (A picture of it is below.)

From the COEX Aquarium to a fish sculpture. This post has come full circle, and it’s time to end it.

See you tomorrow (or whenever I manage to post it) for my final entry of this Korean trip.

More pictures from Bonguensa Temple: