Part one was all about the excitement of seeing Hong Kong on screen; now it’s time to talk tactics. In episode one of season 20 of The Apprentice, Lord Sugar sent two fresh teams into the city with a fiendish shopping list and just eight hours to get it done. Watching them zigzag across town, miss obvious shortcuts and ignore local clues, we couldn’t stop asking the same question: with a bit of Hong Kong know‑how, how much better could they have done?

In this second part, we break down their day item by item, look at where they went wrong (and occasionally right), and map out the smarter routes they could have taken. Nine items, one city, eight hours – here’s how the task could really have been won.

Reminder of the shopping list:

1. Shrimp paste – specified as “10 x 300g brick”

2. Mahjong set – “hand painted”

3. Baby corn – “4 catty, picked today”

4. Chinese calligraphy brush – a brush for Chinese writing (around 20 cm).

5. Dragon boat head – a wooden dragon head fixed to the front of a dragon boat, required to be about one metre in length.

6. Golden pineapple

7. Erhu

8. Ding ding illustration

9. Tea cake – “labelled 2005”

You can read more information on these local items in Part 1 of Following the Apprentice trail.

Part 2: What the teams did…

Stanley

OK, Stanley. This is where many of you will remember that both teams made the trek out to the south side of Hong Kong Island – and both successfully secured the dragon boat head and ticked it off their list. The dragon boat head wasn’t bought in the market at all, but down at Stanley Beach, which makes perfect sense given that’s where real teams train and store their boats.

Crucially, the candidates weren’t battling for seats on the bus like regular visitors – they had private vehicles for the whole task. That should have made their day far more efficient, cutting out the waiting and walking time that comes with public transport. However, it didn’t help that the girls’ team famously managed to lose their driver, and basically lost the task trying to reunite with him.

The Wong family seem to have the arts and antiques cornered in Stanley Market!

Once they’d gone all that way, they could easily have picked up several more items in the same area. Stanley Market is packed with Chinese arts, crafts and souvenirs, while just beside Stanley Plaza the Tin Hau Temple area is where you’re most likely to find the golden pineapple as a paper offering used for worship. Between the market stalls, art and calligraphy stands, music and curios shops, and tram‑themed souvenirs, they stood a good chance of finding a ding ding illustration, an erhu, a Chinese calligraphy brush and that elusive golden pineapple without having to criss‑cross the whole city.
The trade‑off, of course, is still time. Even with private vehicles, Stanley is a long way from downtown, and it’s even longer once you factor in getting across to Lantau Island and up to the Big Buddha later in the day. In an eight‑hour task, that’s a serious chunk of the schedule spent on the road, even if the area itself is almost a one‑stop shop for several of the trickier items.

Where we would have gone for: Shrimp paste, corn, dragon boat head and golden pineapple offerings

Ap Lei Chau Main Street

OK, so here is what they could have done – and the girls were SO close! In Aberdeen, the teacher at Mulberry House Kindergarten actually pointed them in the right direction, but where she told them to turn right, they turned left and ended up completely lost instead.

From Aberdeen, they had two very straightforward options: hop on the little kaito ferry across the water or jump back in their car and drive over to Ap Lei Chau. If they’d done that, they would have been in exactly the right neighbourhood for several of the items on their list. Ap Lei Chau is home to working fishing communities and a very abundant wet markets, and this is where they could realistically have sourced the shrimp paste, a dragon boat head, and found four catty of baby corn picked that day.

We found exactly these items in about 30-40 minutes.

Ap Lei Chau is also home to a large fishing community with plenty of specialist boat builders, marine supply yards and at least three Dragon Boat Associations. Whilst Stanley wasn’t a bad shout for this item in our opinion, this area crucially could have been lucrative and saved so much time.

It’s also worth noting that the Aberdeen Wholesale Fish Market – where they actually ended up, only to find it closed – was never going to be the right place for bricks of shrimp paste. That kind of fermented product is sold through a very different network of shops and producers, not straight off the wholesale fish floor.

And finally, the Golden Pineapple offering…

We would be certain that almost any temple would stock them. This is the Hung Shing Temple we walked into next to the Ap Lei Chau wet market. That would have been four out of the nine items ticked off already.

Central district

With more items still to track down, half the girls headed to Central in search of the mahjong set and baby corn – though quite why they didn’t pick up the vegetables around Peel Street and Graham Street (which they definitely walked through!) remains a mystery. In the end, they did manage to secure the mahjong set at Glocal Mahjong in PMQ, but not without a struggle; even finding the right unit number in Hong Kong’s high‑rise maze seemed to throw them off. Full credit, though, for negotiating an impressive 50% discount with the owner. That’s a note to ourselves for next time a guest asks where to buy a set – it is clearly it’s worth singing very nicely.

Where we would have gone for: mahjong, ding-ding illustration and tea cake

Hollywood Road, Central

Glocal Mahjong would have been our first choice for the hand-painted mahjong set too, simply because it’s the most commercially accessible option. If you’re after a truly traditional, hand‑carved set from a specialist workshop, you’re usually looking at a six‑month pre‑order and a price tag in the thousands, which doesn’t exactly fit an eight‑hour Apprentice budget.

While they were in the neighbourhood, there were several other smart wins they could have picked up. PMQ itself has a tea shop inside, and Hollywood Road, Peel Street and the surrounding lanes are dotted with excellent tea merchants – including Wing Yuen Tea House on Peel Street that would have been ideal for the 2005 tea cake.

This same Central–SoHo grid would also have been perfect hunting ground for the ding ding tram illustration. Between Bookazine, Goods of Desire (G.O.D.) and Lion Rock Press, there are countless prints, cards and souvenirs celebrating Hong Kong’s beloved street scenes. We actually found a great ding ding illustration ourselves in the Bookazine on Lyndhurst Terrace – proof that, with a little local knowledge, the teams could have turned this compact area into a highly efficient one‑stop shop.

Kowloon… we think!

The boys’ team did at least head in the right direction by ducking into a stationery shop for the calligraphy brush, but came out empty‑handed. Their luck got even worse when the shop owner sold them paper from a brand called “Pineapple” – not quite the auspicious golden pineapple paper offering that was actually on the list.

Photo credit: BBC. Can we leave now? Please?

They did, however, manage to secure an erhu for around HK$475, which is an absolute steal for a traditional instrument. Because they were so pleased with the price, they didn’t want to be rude and rush the owner while he insisted on tuning it for them… very polite, very British – and very time‑consuming in the middle of an eight‑hour race.

Where we would have gone for: erhu and calligraphy brush

Yue Hwa Department Store

We have to admit it: on the erhu, the boys would have beaten us hands down. Our natural first stop for a Chinese instrument like that would have been the Yue Hwa Chinese Products Emporium in Kowloon, where the cheapest erhu we saw recently was around HK$2,800 – roughly five‑and‑a‑half times what the boys paid!

On the calligraphy brush, though, we’d have clawed back the win. Those are stocked in abundance at Yue Hwa, with perfectly good brushes starting from about HK$80. In other words, they nailed the bargain instrument, but there was a much easier (and cheaper) path to ticking off the brush.

The finish: Ngong Ping 360 cable-car and Big Buddha

The final rendezvous at the Big Buddha made for beautiful television – but as a practical end point, it was a nightmare choice.
Because half of the girls’ team managed to get themselves lost in Stanley, the other half of the team reached the meeting point just before sunset, but the rest didn’t arrive until well after dark.

You also cannot simply drive up to the Big Buddha by private car unless you have a special permit for the restricted access roads, and those licences are extremely hard to obtain. That leaves the Ngong Ping cable car as the only genuinely fast route – and that stops running around 6:00pm – so from a local point of view it was the worst possible place to finish: high risk of missing the last cable car, and almost guaranteed late arrivals if anything ran behind schedule. For anyone planning a real‑life visit, the remaining options outside cable‑car hours are bus or a pre‑arranged taxi hire, both of which take significantly longer.

The one unqualified triumph of the finale was the boardroom itself. The showdown took place in Hong Kong’s newest statement skyscraper, The Henderson, which only opened at the end of 2024 and has already become a striking new landmark on the skyline.

In the end, the numbers told their own story. The boys’ team finished with three correct items (erhu, tea cake and dragon boat head), spending HK$3,195, plus HK$38 on an incorrect purchase, for a total of HK$3,223 including transport. They failed to secure five items, picked up one fine, and had half the team arriving late at the final checkpoint, adding HK$4,040 in penalties – bringing their grand total to HK$7,273. The ladies’ team fared even worse on the scoreboard, ending up with just two correct items (mahjong set and dragon boat head) and spending HK$3,200, while missing seven items on the list. With half the team arriving over two hours late and one fine on top, they racked up HK$7,000 in penalties, taking their final total to HK$10,200 – and two of the women ultimately heard the dreaded words and were fired in the boardroom.

Harsh as the outcome was, there is at least one silver lining: every single candidate still got to experience Hong Kong up close – from markets and temples to beaches and skylines. We can only hope that, despite the stress of the task and the pressure of the cameras, they managed to enjoy even a little of what makes this city so unforgettable.

We couldn’t help but tune in for episode one of the brand-new season 20 of The Apprentice, where Lord Sugar sent the two opposing teams off to Hong Kong for the classic shopping task. What an incredible way for the candidates to kick off their journey – thrown straight into one of the world’s most exciting cities, with a list of tricky items and a ticking clock.

Of course, the best part for us was watching the teams try to navigate the city and hunt down their shopping list. We were literally shouting at the TV, desperate to tell them which direction to take, which vendors to ask, and which district would have saved them precious time and dollars. When you know Hong Kong well, you can’t help but think how different their day would have been.

Nine items, one city, eight hours. Could it be done? Absolutely. With the right route they could have ticked off the whole list with time to spare. Here is how we would have done it!

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The Shopping List

Shrimp paste

Tea cake (labelled 2005)

The briefing describes a “tea cake, labelled 2005. The “tea cake” on the list refers to a compressed disc of tea leaves, most commonly associated with aged pu’er tea. These cakes are wrapped in paper printed with the tea’s origin and year, which is why a “2005” label matters: like wine, older vintages can be more prized and more expensive. For Hong Kong, where yum cha, tea appreciation and tea trading have long histories, a tea cake isn’t just a drink – it’s a collectible piece of culinary culture that reflects time, terroir and tradition.

Ding ding illustration

The episode refers to a “ding ding” related item – Hong Kong’s famous double‑decker trams are nicknamed “ding ding” after the sound their bells make. An illustration of a ding ding – whether a poster, print or postcard – captures that instantly recognisable slice of Hong Kong life.

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Read on to Part 2 to see our analysis of where the teams went…

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The spirit of the Horse and Lunar New Year

The Horse in the Chinese zodiac symbolises speed, vitality and freedom, and years ruled by this sign are seen as full of possibility and momentum. People born in Horse years are often described as sociable, adventurous and independent – the friends who rally everyone together, book the trip and somehow squeeze three experiences into one afternoon. That same spirited energy runs right through Hong Kong during Lunar New Year, when the city comes alive with colour, incense, flowers and food.

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A festival born from legend and the farming calendar

Those same elements live on in Hong Kong today in the form of red lanterns, spring couplets on doorways, incense, drums and lion dances in the streets – all meant to sweep out bad luck and invite in a fresh start.

In a Horse year, that sense of renewal feels even stronger, because the Horse is associated with movement, freedom and charging confidently into the future.

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Is Chinese New Year a good time to visit Hong Kong?

In a word, no. Among all the festivals on the Hong Kong calendar, Chinese New Year is the one that truly stops the city. Families meet up for reunion dinners, businesses close, and the usual bustle of the city gives way to family time at home, temple trips and lots and lots of meals.

Whilst there are things to do like the Lunar New Year Parade on the first day of the holiday, and the 23-minute firework display on the harbour on the second day… other than this visitors who don’t have family connections may be disappointed. Our recommendation is to visit the week BEFORE Chinese New Year to experience the excitement ahead of the actual dates such as the flower markets, street calligraphers letting you make your own meaningful banners (fai chun), and markets full of red and gold decorations.

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Soak up the pre‑New Year buzz in old Hong Kong streets

In the weeks leading up to Lunar New Year, traditional neighbourhoods transform into living shopping lists of festive essentials. Wander through markets piled high with tangerines, melon seeds and towering boxes of cookies, and you’ll see why locals spend so much time preparing – it’s as much about the atmosphere as the snacks.

This is the perfect time to join our Lunar New Year Shopping Tour in Causeway Bay and let our excellent partner @explore_hongkong tell you what all the foods, flowers and lucky decorations really mean. You’ll learn why kumquats symbolise “gold”, how to choose the right couplets for your door, and which treats every Hong Kong family stocks up on before the big day.

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Visit temples for Horse‑worthy good luck

No Lunar New Year in Hong Kong is complete without a temple visit. Locals head to Man Mo, Wong Tai Sin and other temples to burn incense, thank the gods for the past year and ask for blessings in the one to come.

During the Year of the Horse, many people will focus on wishes related to career moves, travel and bold personal changes – all themes connected with the Horse’s dynamic spirit. Join our one of our private tours to watch fortune sticks being shaken, see how locals make offerings, and learn the etiquette so you can participate respectfully.

If this is your year, be sure to make a special offering at the Wong Tai Sin Temple to ensure that everything runs smoothly for you!

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From temples to track: the Jockey Club’s CNY Raceday

While placing a bet is part of the tradition for many Hongkongers, the whole event is really about “trying your luck” for the year ahead, enjoying the festival atmosphere and soaking up another facet of local culture. At Hong Kong Greeters we don’t advocate gambling, but we love helping guests understand why an afternoon at the races – complete with drums, lion dances and New Year decorations – sits right alongside flower markets and temple visits in the local CNY playbook.

One very Hong Kong expression of New Year optimism is Chinese New Year Raceday at Sha Tin Racecourse, organised by the Hong Kong Jockey Club.

Ask us if you would like to include this visit in one of your tours, because as an overseas visitor, there are also special areas to take advantage of that only you can access!

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Bring Horse energy into your own year

Whether you’re a Horse yourself or just borrowing its bold energy for the year, Hong Kong is an inspiring place to set your intentions for the months ahead. Between temple visits, harbour views and shared meals, you’ll have plenty of moments to pause, reflect and decide what you want your “gallop” through the year to look like. 恭喜發財 (gung hei faat coi) or Happy Chinese New Year!!

Hong Kong’s Jumbo Floating Restaurant began life as a symbol of prosperity and spectacle in the 1970s and ended with a mysterious capsizing in the South China Sea in 2022, while under tow to an undisclosed new home (rumoured to be Cambodia). For decades it was a near‑mandatory stop on Western visitors’ itineraries, a place to try Cantonese banquets, be handed chopsticks for the first time (with knives and forks quietly available), and soak up a fantasy of imperial China against the very real backdrop of Aberdeen’s fishing community.

From fishermen’s barges to a “floating palace”

Floating restaurants in Aberdeen grew out of fishermen’s barges from the Pearl River Delta, where people added simple stages and kitchens so fishing families could host banquets, sing, and socialise without going ashore. In the 1920s–30s, Hong Kong fishermen began operating similar boats, at first serving only the fishing community, then gradually opening to city dwellers and tourists as word spread about fresh seafood eaten right above the water where it was caught.

By 1952, the Tai Pak Floating Restaurant was operating at Aberdeen, eventually seating hundreds and helping establish the idea that eating afloat, among moored junks and sampans, was part of “real Hong Kong.” These restaurants offered both an accessible luxury for locals celebrating weddings and banquets and an exotic, lantern‑lit world that early Western visitors felt they “had” to experience when Asia was still a long-haul, once‑in‑a‑lifetime trip.

Building Jumbo – fire, rebirth, and VIP guests

In the early 1970s, herbal tea magnate Wong Lo‑kat decided to outdo Tai Pak with a vast new floating palace called Jumbo, built at Kowloon Chung Hwa shipyard for around HK$14 million and decorated like a Qing‑style imperial palace. Before it could open, a welding spark triggered a catastrophic four‑alarm fire on 30 October 1971, destroying the nearly finished structure and killing 34 people while injuring dozens more, a tragedy that forced a complete rebuild.

Macau casino tycoon Stanley Ho stepped in, bought the project in 1972, and poured roughly HK$30 million into a new Jumbo, which finally opened to the public on 19 October 1976 and would later be grouped with Tai Pak and Sea Palace under the “Jumbo Kingdom” banner. In its heyday, Jumbo hosted royalty and celebrities; among the most famous visitors was Queen Elizabeth II, who dined there during an official visit, helping cement its image as the place to go in Hong Kong for a showpiece Cantonese seafood banquet.

Tourists: Movies and Instagramable Moments!

From the late 1970s through the 1990s, Jumbo became a must‑do for Western visitors, especially when travel to mainland China was still restricted and Hong Kong acted as a “South Gate of China.” Tour groups would pile into sampans or tour boats, step onto the dragon‑guarded gangway, and be ushered into vast banquet halls where, for many guests, this was their very first encounter with live seafood tanks, dim sum trolleys, and the slightly daunting gift of chopsticks placed at each setting.

Jumbo’s theatrical interiors—golden dragons, carved wood, and bright neon—made it a natural film location. It appears (or is strongly associated) in:

• Bruce Lee’s “Enter the Dragon” (1973), which uses Aberdeen’s floating restaurants as part of its Hong Kong sequences.
• The James Bond film “The Man With the Golden Gun” (1974), widely cited as featuring Jumbo or its sister floating palace, reinforcing its bond with the 007 mythos.
• Steven Soderbergh’s “Contagion” (2011), in which modern Hong Kong stands in for a global outbreak’s origin, with Jumbo providing a visually iconic backdrop.

Decline, closure, and the South China Sea

Despite surviving the Asian financial crisis and later global downturns, Jumbo struggled in the 2000s as tastes shifted and operating costs rose, and by the late 2010s it was no longer the guaranteed money‑spinner it once had been. The 2019 protests and then the Covid‑19 pandemic dealt the final blow; Jumbo ceased operations on 3 March 2020 after posting years of losses, and its long‑time backer Stanley Ho passed away shortly afterwards in May 2020.

In June 2022, with no clear rescue plan in Hong Kong, the owners arranged for Jumbo to be towed out of Aberdeen Harbour to an undisclosed overseas yard, widely reported as somewhere in Southeast Asia. On 18 June, while passing near the Paracel (Xisha) Islands in the South China Sea, the vessel reportedly encountered “adverse conditions,” took on water, and capsized; the company initially said it had sunk in water over 1,000 metres deep, later clarifying that it had capsized and salvage would be extremely difficult, with subsequent reports indicating it ultimately sank and parts of the wreck lodged on a reef.

What’s left of Jumbo today?

Physically, the famous barge is gone from Aberdeen, but fragments of its story—and even pieces of its fabric—live on around Hong Kong.

For visitors today, the spirit of Jumbo survives in a few key ways you can point out on tour:

• Aberdeen itself, where guides can explain the old network of floating restaurants, the fishermen’s lifestyle, and show archival photos of Jumbo Kingdom in its neon prime. To explore more and taste some authentic fisherman cuisine, we do run a monthly immersive trip to Aberdeen. Link here for more information.
• The Central Harbourfront, near the Hong Kong Observation Wheel, where themed costume photo booths continue the tradition of “dressing up” in Chinese outfits—an echo of the old souvenir costume photos taken on Jumbo’s ornate staircases and throne chairs.
• Pop culture: screenings of “Enter the Dragon,” “The Man With the Golden Gun,” and “Contagion,” along with local films that used Jumbo as shorthand for “Hong Kong glamour,” allow visitors to time‑travel back to when a dinner at a floating restaurant was the highlight of a first Asia trip.

📢 Exciting News! Amy Overy, Founder of Hong Kong Greeters, Discusses the Future of Tourism on TVB Pearl Magazine

We are delighted to share that Amy Overy, the visionary behind Hong Kong Greeters, recently made an appearance on TVB Pearl Magazine to delve into the ever-evolving landscape of the post-COVID tourism industry. In this engaging interview, she offered valuable insights into a range of topics that are shaping the future of travel and tourism in Hong Kong.

Changing Visitor Preferences
One of the key points highlighted during the interview was the shift in visitor preferences in a post-pandemic world. With a focus on safety, unique experiences, and authentic connections, tourists are seeking more personalized and immersive journeys. Amy discussed how Hong Kong Greeters is at the forefront of catering to these evolving needs by providing customized and memorable experiences for travelers.

Training Challenges
Amy also touched upon the challenges faced by the tourism industry in training and nurturing talents. She emphasized the importance of equipping tour guides with the skills and knowledge required to offer exceptional experiences. Hong Kong Greeters, under Amy’s leadership, has been actively involved in addressing these challenges and providing high-quality training programs for guides.

Kai Tak Cruise Terminal
Additionally, the interview shed light on the Kai Tak Cruise Terminal, a vital part of Hong Kong’s tourism infrastructure. Amy discussed its significance in attracting cruise passengers and the potential it holds for further enriching the tourism experience in the city.

We are incredibly grateful to Melissa Gecolea and TVB for their support in promoting the growth and development of the tourism industry. Their dedication to highlighting industry insights and trends helps create a brighter future for Hong Kong tourism.

For those interested in English-speaking tour guide training courses, the interview also unveiled essential information about upcoming training dates in the industry. If you are interested in becoming a tour guide, please email amy@hkgreeters.com.

To watch the full interview and stay informed about the latest developments in Hong Kong tourism, follow the link below:

📺 Watch the Interview on TVB Pearl Magazine

Thank you for being part of the journey to discover the vibrant world of Hong Kong tourism!

#HongKongTourism #TVBPearlMagazine #DiscoverHongKong #HKTB