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COEX Aquarium COEX Aquarium, Seoul Korea

Discussion in 'South Korea' started by Simon Hampel, 3 Nov 2003.

  1. Simon Hampel

    Simon Hampel Administrator Staff Member 20+ year member

    Joined:
    18 Oct 2003
    Posts:
    4,024
    Location:
    Sydney, Australia
    Was in Seoul for work last week, stayed at the COEX Intercontinental hotel, which is right near the COEX Mall, and the COEX Aquarium (you wouldn't have guessed, would you !)

    The COEX Aquarium costs 14500won to get in (that's about AU$18), and I probably spent about an hour wondering through the displays. I didn't exactly dawdle - I had some time to kill before we were due to catch our bus to the airport, but I didn't want to be late !

    The first part of the aquarium was dedicated to local marine life - and the displays were a little tame in my opinion. It made it a bit less interesting given that the only information given in english were the names of the fish - all the descriptions and details were in Korean.

    The second part of the aquarium was a special feature on Amazonian marine life - they had a special indoor environment set up to look and feel like you were deep in the Amazon jungle. Quite well done, and some interesting fish.

    The final part was some of their larger tanks with sharks, and some with tropical fish, and they had the ubiquitous "moving walkway" at one point where you could see sharks swimming all around you. It was a little disappointing - nowhere near as good as many I have seen in other aquariums.

    Their tropical fish displays were quite good - very bright and colourful. I loved their Neon display, and they also had a tank full of rather hungry looking Piranha which made me feel rather nervous.

    Good jellyfish displays, several types of eels and morays, and a rather creepy octopus.

    Overall, I thought it was quite good, but I have been to better. If you do happen to be in Seoul around the COEX area, and have some spare time, you should definitely check out the COEX Aquarium.

    I will upload some photos when I've got around to extracting them from the camera.
     
  2. Simon Hampel

    Simon Hampel Administrator Staff Member 20+ year member

    Joined:
    18 Oct 2003
    Posts:
    4,024
    Location:
    Sydney, Australia
  3. Nigel

    Nigel Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    23 Jan 2004
    Posts:
    733
    Location:
    Wellington , New Zealand

    Too bad they dont do too well with running their zoo ! The zoo is huge ( about 3 times Melbourne zoo size ) and it looks like it had been designed by a professional group . The trouble was that the zoo authorities put too many animals in the enclosures , and dont do much in the way of maintainance . There was no grass in enclosures where you would expect it , just alot of mud and hoof prints etc .
    The walk in buildings did not have adequate ventilation -- the stench hit you as you enter .
    A zookeeper hurled a yardbroom at a zebra . The zebra then charged at the keeper . Alot of visitors shout at the animals to make them move .
    For such a large zoo it was a disappointment .