HK CNY Parade Show(reserved seat), Wishing Tree and Dim Sum tasting

The assignment of participants to their guides and buses from the Kowloon Hotel was tumultuous. This could be regulated by providing participants with information in advance. Kevin, our guide, then managed the process very well and also made sure that no one got lost, even in the biggest crowds. 1.5 hours for the Wishing Tree and temple is generous but doable. The Dim Sum dinner was good and varied. We had a great seat in grandstand B for the parade. However, I would recommend choosing category A (it was unfortunately sold out). All the parade's actions are clearly oriented towards A. Certainly the most relaxed way to enjoy the parade.

We spend a lot of time on the bus since the distance from the starting point to the Wishing Tree at "Lam Tsuen Temple" is relatively long. It takes 45 minutes to get there from TST and the same amount of time to reach the second visit, the West Kowloon Cultural District Park, which is really of no interest. Then, we have to take the bus again to go to the Tim Ho Wan restaurant, which takes another 15 minutes, located in the high-speed train station. The meal ends at 6:30 PM, and we take the bus again to get as close as possible to the parade. So, in total, a lot of bus rides. Some people did not come at the start of the tour and joined the group at 5 PM at the Tim Ho Wan restaurant, which I think was a good idea. The visit to the temple was too long; 1 hour would have been sufficient instead of the 1.5 hours allocated. Throwing a plastic orange into a plastic tree does not require 1.5 hours. The dim sum offered at the Tim Ho Wan restaurant were ten in number and represent well what can be found in all dim sum restaurants in HK. Our stands to watch the parade are located at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Promenade Bridge, next to the clock. Knowing that the entire area is closed to traffic, we had to make our way from the top of Tsim Sha Tsui to our seats, which leave much to be desired as we were in the open wind, facing the sea. So, plan to bring good coats to cover up, as well as hats or hoods, because the sea wind is really unbearable at 9 PM and very cold. Otherwise, the guide was relatively friendly and informative. He deserves 5 out of 5. In short, this tour needs to be rethought as I saw elderly people struggling to keep up with the pace.

The visit to Wishing Tree and the Dim Sum were good and the Guide was friendly and full of energy. BUT at meeting point it turns out 4 tours were involved by same company and unless you were on their list they dismissed you and said it was someone else without any guidance to whom, and then in a very dismissive attitude brushed you off. they all work for same company so should have worked as a team and helped more. The biggest disaster was trying to get us from the Dim Sum to the seating. we got on a bus that got stuck in a jam and eventually had to let us off just 100/200m from where we started and then everyone had to fight through the length of Canton Road to get to the area for seating to find out that we had difficulty finding the entrance. even our guide didn’t know! The parade and seat were good and is the only bright part to the whole episode.

Our tour guide Jackie was quite nice and helpful, he made sure that we arrived at the CNY Parade on time! The food was nice!

great to see the floats. a bit rushed getting to the parade grounds