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Golden Bauhinia Square aka the wilted cabbage square

Ok I'm sorry I know I shouldn't be funny about this, but really, it looks like a cabbage.  Have any of you see a real Bauhinia flower?  It is a pink flower that grows on a tree which is unusual and quite pretty.  Here is a picture from Flickr:

But somehow when they decided to make this the emblem for Hong Kong it turned into this:

It just looks too much like a cabbage.  I mean this one - the Napa Cabbage which is common in Chinese cooking in Hong Kong as well as in the north of China.

The not very square Square is only there to hold the Golden Bauhinia Statue which was presented to Hong Kong on the 1997 handover from Britain to China.

Located on the waterfront in Wanchai the square is actually quite a small area in an out of the way part of town, not a 'Square' in the European capital city sense of a "Grand Place" like in Brussels.  It is on the water front just beside, and greatly overshadowed by, the Hong Kong Exhibition and Convention Centre.  Which is itself quite a work of art/architecture and worth looking for itself if you have at all any interest in large impressive buildings.

There is nothing at all to see there except to look up at the Exhibition Centre or to look over the water to the East Kowloon skyline.  Neither of which is really worth the trip in itself.  You insist though you'll want to find an easy way to get there, and there basically isn't one. 

1. Take a taxi.  Really it is the best way.

2. Or, if you want to be adventures then you can get to the Golden Bauhinia Square by a interesting little roundabout ferry tour as follows.

Get to the TST Star Ferry Pier.  Either by taking the Star Ferry from Central Hong Kong if you are on that side of the harbour, or perhaps by walking there if you are in TST.  Then take the Star Ferry to Wanchai.  This is not the typical Star Ferry crossing so make sure you are going into the correct entrance to get to Wanchai.

Come out of the Star Ferry Wanchai Pier, turn right and walk along the waterfront for one minute then you turn right again and head out on Expo Drive into the harbour with the Exhibition centre itself on your left.  Go as far as you can, another 5 minutes walk, and you'll find the Golden Bauhinia Square in all it's glory.  Which isn't very much.

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