June 2024 - Hong Kong & Macau [VNL 2024]

Continuing my adventures round the world to watch sports, this time it was Hong Kong for Week 3 of VNL 2024! It's been awhile since we last visited HK and air tickets were pretty cheap - around $350 per person on SQ for round trip! 

Day 1

Our flight was really early at 7.25am, and we were somehow assigned front row seats so yay for extra legroom but boo for the lack of storage space and the screen being so far.

We landed early and immigration was super smooth, and we were on our way in a taxi to Holiday Inn Golden Mile Hotel on Tsim Sha Tsui. We arrived around noon but luckily managed to check in early and headed out to explore the malls around. 

K11 Art Mall is just opposite so I grabbed a salad to-go from Marketplace, which is the equivalent of Cold Storage in Singapore. Then went for lunch at Lan Fong Yuen - the main outlet is at Central but it's apparently super crowded. This branch at TST wasn't too crowded. Food was typical cha chaan teng stuff, but yummy. We had the grilled chicken with noodles and grilled pork cutlet set, as well as the french toast. Apparently they're famous for their milk tea but it was not to our liking at all. Luckily the yuan yang was more suited for our tastes.

 

Had some time so decided to queue for the famous sourdough egg tarts from Bakehouse. There was a queue but it moved quite fast and we were in the shop in less than 15min. Got a box of 6 sourdough egg tarts and some pastries to have between the vball matches. We had the egg tarts fresh and they were indeed SO GOOD. Highly recommended.

Went on our way to Hong Kong Coliseum which is just one stop away on the East Tsim Sha Tsui line. The first match was Turkiye vs Thailand, which was 3-0 as expected.

 

Second match at 8.30pm was Brazil vs Poland which was a highly anticipated match as both teams were undefeated so far! Brazil dropped the first set but luckily pulled through with the win!

The match ended quite late and I waited around for the players to come out and then for the coach to leave so it was past 11pm by the time we returned to the hotel. 

Day 2

Itinerary of the day was to walk around Harbour City, starting with breakfast at Espresso Alchemy which has a branch in one of the malls. They have a rule of one order per person so we had the smoked salmon and egg mayo sandwich set, omelette with toast set and blueberry cake, and each of the sets came with a drink. Ordered so much but it cost less than 40 bucks! Food was pretty good too so very worth it.

Harbour City is apparently the biggest mall in HK, but it's all branded goods which isn't of much interest. We ended up walking to the Ocean Terminal Deck for harbour views.

Tried egg waffles from Manny Pancakes which is pretty famous (HK egglets in Sg have always been one of my fave snacks).

Then continued walking to Avenue of Stars. I can't believe its my fourth visit to HK and first time visiting Xing Guang Da Dao! Also saw the famous Bruce Lee statue and walked around K11 Musea. 

Michelle Yeoh's handprint

We stopped by our hotel to drop off our shopping, then headed to Yat Tung Heen (1 Michelin star) for the weekday Dimsum deal. Ordered the baked char siew bao, siew mai, fried beancurd with mushrooms, xiao long bao, fried turnips and this fish soup with veg, dried seafood and tanghoon thingy for daily veg intake. My parents particularly loved the fish/veg/dried seafood broth!

 

Then it was time to head to the Coliseum again for Brazil v Germany. The previous match between Thailand and Bulgaria was a 5 setter so we were let in late and Brazil was already entering for their warmups. Brazil dropped 1 set but pulled off the 3-1 win. Waited around the fan meet area and was actually quite close to the players, though I didn't get anything signed because I didn't even prepare anything nor was I prepared to squeeze haha. 

My favourite player!

Middle blockers Thaisa and Diana

Macris, Brazil's setter!

GABIIII

As the tickets for the 5pm and 8.30pm matches are sold together (and tickets were not cheap at over 100 bucks per person), we stayed for the next match which was Turkiye vs Dominican Republic.  Hopped over to Fortune Metropolis nearby for a quick snack at Pacific Coffee but the vanilla latte was terrible lol. 

DR surprisingly won the first set, but Turkiye came back in the next 3 sets and won the match. 

Day 3

Started the day at Australia Dairy Company, one of the most popular cha chaan tengs. There was a short queue when we went but we were seated immediately. We ordered the breakfast set which includes toast and scrambled eggs, macaroni soup and a drink (got the hot milk tea), as well as french toast, cold milk pudding and an iced yuan yang. Not a huge fan of the macaroni but everything else was soooo goood. Particularly loved the milk pudding. Again, the milk tea wasn't to our tastes, though we realised it comes unsweetened and you gotta add your own sugar. Yuan yang was good! My advice would be to just get yuan yang and not bother with the milk tea. 

Next stop was the West Kowloon Cultural District. It was a sad and rainy morning so it wasn't great for sightseeing, unfortunately. 

Decided to visit the HK Palace Museum, and got discounted tickets (only 5 sgd/pax) for seniors/students. For some reason, all the schools decided to have excursion trips that day or something because there were throngs of kids from kindergarten age to teenagers. We spent slightly more than an hour there. 

Then headed to the Coliseum as Brazil's match was the first of the day at 130pm. Brazil v Bulgaria with my fave (#9) as starting setter. The first 2 sets were 25-11 :O Absolute massacre. In the last set, Brazil was leading and at match point and somehow Bulgaria chased and it was 24-23 and the crowd was getting really excited haha. Thankfully Brazil managed to close it to end it at 3-0. Another interview with #9 right in front of me. 

Headed to the Mongkok area after. First stop was Kam Wah bakery to try the bolo bun and pineapple tart. This was the traditional HK egg tart, not the portuguese style. Still yummy. 

Walked past Ladies Market and Sneakers Street. Ladies Market was as disappointing as ever haha we're not fans of fake branded goods. Next stop was Ming Wah bakery for more traditional bakes. We weren't the biggest fans of these bakes though.

Went to Langham place for old times sake (we stayed there the previous trip), and finally to One Dim Sum for an early dinner. I read online that there's always a long queue, but we went early so we didn't have to wait. Another array of super yummy dim sum at a very affordable price. 

Wanted dessert so we dropped by Star Fifteen to get walnut paste and red bean paste!  

Went back to the hotel early to rest after two super tiring days previously, while I went to the gym for a run. I was deciding between two hotels for the trip (first criteria was 2 queen sized beds in a room which is very rare) and booked Holiday Inn because they had a gym haha. It isn't 24h though, but at least it's well equipped. 

Day 4

No Brazil VNL matches so I planned a day trip to Macau. We had actually been there before 10 years ago, but I don't remember very much other than staying at The Venetian. 

First, went to Urban Coffee Roasters just opposite our hotel for coffee and a light bite.

Then headed to the China Ferry Terminal about 15min away by walking to catch the only ferry from this terminal to Macau (Taipa) terminal which is at 9.30am on Turbojet.

Arrived in Taipa an hour later and planned to take the bus to Coloane village, but realised I didn't have enough change for the bus fare. So we tried to get change by buying something at the convenience store, and didn't realise we could pay 18 bucks together instead of 6x3 so the woman was so annoyed when I kept asking for more change lol. Caught a glimpse of the replica Eiffel tower from the bus.

We took bus 26 to Coloane village, aka birthplace of Portuguese egg tarts! (at least in Macau). Of course, first stop was Lord Stow's Bakery. We decided to eat at the sit down cafe and ordered a bunch of other items. The famous egg tarts were indeed amazeballs. The crust was super crispy and flaky while the egg custard was smooth and sweet. We also tried their croissant and kouign amann. And got a salad to balance out all the richness from the pastries. Decided it wasn't enough and we decided to grab another egg tart and a canele from the bakery. 

 

Walked around Coloane Village which is quite picturesque, though it kept raining intermittently. 

Took the bus to Taipa area, and since it was raining, we decided to go to the museum first and learn some history about Macau. 

  

Tried the famous pork chop bun from Tai Lei Loi Kei which was just next to the museum. Yummy! 

Next stop was Rua do Cunha which is a mega food street. Stopped at Koi Kei bakery which specialises in food souvenirs and spent like a hundred bucks there. They give so many samples so you just keep getting enticed to buy more and more haha. Amazing marketing. And then we realised we needn't have bought it so early because they have like a gazillion outlets in Macau!

Finally, headed to the other side of Macau which is the peninsula. Visited Senado Square, which had a pretty fountain. 

Decided to try the other famous egg tarts in Macau which is Margaret Cafe e Nata. Unfortunately we had to wait quite awhile as the egg tarts were being baked, so it was literally piping hot when we bought it, and pastries tend not to be as crispy when its soo hot.

Finally headed to the Ruins of St Paul, but because of the delays from the intermittent rain and the long wait, ended up barely missing the entry time for the mini exhibition :( Oh well, still managed to take pics with the ruins! 

Dinner was at a traditional Portuguese restaurant called Mariazinha. They served a bread appetiser which was really different from usual bread but I liked it very much. We had the roasted piglet and salted cod for mains, sauteed veggies as a side and the portuguese sponge cake with egg cream for dessert. Very satisfying!

Ended the day with a bus ride to the Outer Harbour Ferry Terminal for the 9pm ferry ride to Hong Kong Ferry Terminal which is at Sheung Wan (HK island), so we had to take the MTR back to our hotel.

Day 5

Final day! Morning itinerary was the Central area on HK island, and our first stop was Fineprint cafe for breakfast. It's super hipster and tiny with only one large communal table and barely like 10 seats with free seating. Luckily we managed to get seats although it was really cramped. Tried the half/half toast with avo on one and tomato on the other, and the breakfast bowl with fruits, granola and their famous ricotta cheese. SO GOOD. Flat white was decent but the mocha was more like hot choc. Honestly, none of the specialty coffee in HK was really impressive, plus they're all ridiculously expensive. A normal cup of flat white easily costs 7 bucks. 

Walked around and explored Central after that - mid levels escalator, Lan Kwai Fong and Central Mall. Then headed to Vission bakery to get some bakes for sustenance between the matches and next day's breakfast. They're famous for the matcha danish I think, which was sold out when we were there but it was fine because I don't like matcha haha. Instead, we went for the banana bread, almond croissant, kouign amann and banoffee puff. Amazingly, the bakes stayed crispy even after we kept them for a few hours. 

 

 

And since there was a Bakehouse outlet nearby, couldn't help getting the sourdough egg tart again and decided to try the choc doughnut as well. 

Headed to Halfway Coffee which was a 10min walk away at Sheung Wan, purely because they serve their coffee in aesthetic cups haha. I tried the brown sugar latte which was not bad, though it was so expensive! This cost nearly 10 bucks :O

Our last Michelin star food stop of the trip at Yat Lok Roast Goose! There was a queue, but it moved very quickly. As usual, be prepared to squeeze and share the table with others. We ordered the quarter goose with leg, bbq pork/chicken rice and dumpling with noodles. I tried the roast goose in my previous trip so I knew it was good, but also pleasantly surprised by the other items we tried as well. 

Headed back to Tsim Sha Tsui to do our final food souvenir shopping! Bought too many boxes of Jenny Bakery cookies, as well as lao po bings from Hang Heung and more snacks from Kee Wah. 

Then it was time to head to the Coliseum again for the last day of VNL Week 3! Big match between Brazil and Turkiye. I initially couldn't get tickets for this match, but luckily the organisers opened up another round of ticket sales and I managed to snag some tickets, though these seats were Cat C so much further and at the end of the court instead of the sides. Luckily the view was still pretty decent. On to the match itself, I was expecting a thrilling 5 set so imagine my shock when Brazil won the first set 25-14, then the second set 25-14 as well! Turkiye was just not in form the entire match. Brazil managed to close it in the third set and sailed to a 3-0 victory, remaining undefeated with a 12/12 record in prelims.

 

Since the exits was super near the bus boarding area, I waited around and got a really good view of the teams leaving/arriving. Saw Team Turkiye and Brazil leaving, as well as Team China and Poland arriving for the next match.

Melissa Vargas from Turkiye

Turkiye's Captain Eda Erdem with Coach Santarelli

Team China entering

My fave, Roberta!

Bye Gabiiiii

Since the match ended so quickly, there was still some time before the next match at 8.30pm, so we ate up our bakes from Vission (super yums), then went to the food court at the mall to get some veg caifan thing that surprisingly tasted pretty good. Also bought milk tea, before finally going back in for China v Poland. 

I was wondering why so many people were holding signs of "2" then realised it was a battalion of Zhu Ting fans haha. Unfortunately, she didn't play at all. Again, I expected a thrilling match but Poland's reception was not on point China's reception, defense, blocking and attack were all on fire, so yet another surprising 3-0 match.

It was so quick that it ended before 10pm, so we could head back earlier which was good since our flight was at 8am the next day. 

Really enjoyed my trip. So much yummy food in HK and so happy I got to watch 4 Brazil victories. Unfortunately, Brazil lost in the semifinals of VNL against Japan, but will be rooting for them in Olympics!