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Family Field Trip: We embark on an Elephant Parade expedition!

Parties & PlayPost Category - Parties & PlayParties & Play - Post Category - IndoorIndoor

What’s the difference between a panda and an elephant? Well, apparently, it would appear to be their knowledge of Hong Kong weather! Whilst the pandas flash mobbed alfresco this summer, the elephants have sensibly decided to head for the dry and air-conditioned space of Hong Kong’s shopping malls. Therefore, despite the amber rain warning, my 3 year old and I were still happily able to head out on our family field trip to see the Elephant Parade and join a Storytelling Session at Pacific Place in Admiralty last Wednesday.

Pacific Place hosting Elephant Parade Hong Kong 2014 (12)Joined by another mum and her little tyke, and equipped with binoculars (oh yes, we took our elephant spotting very seriously), we begun on our expedition. The elephants are actually dotted across all five levels of the mall (with a couple hiding out at Three Pacific Place too), but we started by tracking down the herd hanging around the main entrance on Level 1. The boys were instantly taken by the spectacle – charging around the brightly coloured, tusked beasts, trumpeting with delight – and it was hard not to share some of their giddiness.

Colour Me Beautiful and Mandarin at CityplazaThe elephants are quite perfectly sized, not too big to make them daunting, but still with a lovely heft about them. To our surprise, you are actually allowed to (gently) touch some of them too. Created by artists and celebrities, the elephant designs range from the playful and fanciful to those with more serious environmental messages. There’s something for everyone, and by the time we’d explored all the floors (pausing briefly for a mid-expedition snack) we all had our firm favourite.

Patchwork Village by Prudence Mak of Chocolate Rain at CityplazaSo with our minds already full of elephants, we made our way up to Level 2 (near DAKS, shop 207), where we had reserved our places at the free, elephant-themed story-telling session. The intended audience for these sessions are children ages 3 to 8, although I still had my concerns about my active little boy managing to sit still for 30 minutes whilst listening to a story. I shouldn’t have worried though as our storyteller was entrancing, grabbing her young audience’s attention by using puppets and pictures and by acting her socks off (at one point she did a full roll across the floor) – and my son loved it.

IMG_1516 (2)The question and answer session at the end went slightly over his head, and there were a few ‘wriggly bottom’ moments, but once he realised there was a small packet of sweets up for grabs for a correct answer, he soon perked up and we all walked away very happy and wondering why shopping malls didn’t do this type of thing more often!

IMG_1526Finally, we made our way to the Elephant Parade Pop-Up Shop, just around the corner on Level 2. Here you can buy limited edition, hand-crafted replicas that are very charming indeed. There’s also an ‘Artbox Contest’ elephant which allows you to paint your own mini elephant and then submit your design for a chance to see it transformed into a full sized statue in the next Parade (to be held in Bangkok in 2015). With 20% of net profits from the shop going to theasianelephantfoundation.org, it provides a small way to repay the BIG elephant love.

Hits
Put simply: elephants, art, stories, for a good cause and FREE. You’d have to be a right old misery-pants not to love that!

Misses
Alright, so here’s the misery-pants bit… This isn’t a whole day out by any stretch of the imagination: searching for the elephants, having a snack and attending the story-telling lasted us about two hours. Also, the English storytelling session wasn’t brilliantly timed for us, as it ran from 12.30-1pm, clashing a little with lunchtime. This also meant that by the time we were leaving, Pacific Place was getting pretty busy – and so I’d suggest visiting the Parade in the mid-morning, when children have a little more room to roam, without you having to worry about them disappearing into a crowd.

Extra tidbits
The elephant fun doesn’t just stop there – Pacific Place is running a variety of competitions on Facebook and Instagram during the exhibition period. And if you want a slightly less scattergun approach to elephant spotting, you can pick up a handy map at the Pop-Up shop. Also, if Pacific Place isn’t convenient for you, the elephants are also parading at Cityplaza at Tai Koo Shing and Citygate Outlets in Tung Chung.

Want to get your hands on one of those full-sized elephants? Well, if your apartment and pockets are slightly bigger than ours, take your cheque book along to the Grand Gala Auction, where thirty of them are up for grabs!

If you are feeling hungry…
Being at Pacific Place, you really are spoilt for choice. We opted for The Petite Café on Level 4 due to their relaxed vibe, delicious smoothies and great range of freshly prepared sandwiches.

All the details: 

The Elephant Parade
Where:
Showing at Pacific Place, 88 Queensway, Admiralty
When: 1 Aug – 9 Sep, 2014
Website: www.elephantparade.com

Storytelling Sessions:
When: Every Wednesday and Saturday during the exhibition period
Time: 12:30pm (English) and 3:30pm (Cantonese)
RSVP: 2844 8988

See here for full details.

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