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For the second year in a row, the annual Chinatown CNY bazaar has been cancelled in light of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

However, one event that remains ever popular is the annual River Hongbao (RHB) festival.

RHB 2022 will be held at Gardens by the Bay from Jan. 30-Feb. 6.

All tickets sold out for several days

Slots for pre-registration and booking of time slots began on Jan. 19, at 11am.

However, according to the comments section of a Facebook post by River Hongbao, several online users found themselves unable to book a time slot, with some days quickly snapped up as soon as they were released.

One commenter said that for him, the tickets for the date he wanted were gone "within minutes."

Another ranted that when he had called the hotline for assistance, it had been jammed.

When he finally managed to get through, many dates were already fully booked.

Other commenters also shared problems with the website, which appeared to be buggy from being overloaded.

Problems include either being unable to select their time slots or date of choice, resulting in some questioning if the slots were already full.

More time slots have been released

River Hongbao has since commented on the same Facebook post to update that more tickets will be released over the next couple of days.

It also thanked members of the public for their support and patience, and added that interested individuals can check the website again for more tickets.

When Mothership checked the availability of timeslots for the River Hongbao on Jan. 20, it appeared that some previously unavailable time slots are now up for grabs.

However, slots for Jan. 30 and Jan. 31 remained fully booked.

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Top image via RHB website