Even though we share almost 3,500 km of land border with China, the two countries are incredibly different in almost every way—culturally, socially, and beyond.
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Introduction
Last month, I had the opportunity to travel to China for a short business visit. While I never intended to turn this into a travelogue, mostly because of the short duration and the nature of the trip, what I saw and experienced turned out to be a real eye-opener. This was, without exaggeration, one of the most incredible trips I’ve ever taken. Even though we share almost 3,500 km of land border with China, the two countries are incredibly different in almost every way—culturally, socially, and beyond. The border being a bit hilly probably played a role in that too.
Of course, there are some common threads, like giving importance to family, respecting elders, and honouring traditions, traits we share not just with China but with other South Asian countries as well. But beyond that, we are complete opposites in so many ways. The trip was far too short to claim any deep understanding of the country or its people, but I do hope I caught at least a tiny glimpse into their world through my brief stay and interactions with my colleagues there.
Before the trip
First and foremost, the biggest hurdle for the trip was getting a Chinese visa. The rejection rates were incredulous. From what I could gather, the Chinese embassy was rejecting about 60% of visa applications without offering any explanation. I had to apply multiple times before mine finally got approved. Honestly, it almost felt like a lottery. I had to submit all the necessary documents along with our passports. Needless to say, being without a passport for however long they decided to take their sweet time processing it is a bit of a punch to the ego. But at long last, I won the lottery. I mean, the visa was approved.
With that done, I jumped through the rest of the corporate hoops to get everything ready. It’s better to use a prepaid forex card loaded with Chinese Yuan instead of your personal credit card, as the conversion rates and convenience fees add up frighteningly quickly. I’d also advise against activating a roaming plan on your regular SIM. Instead, go for an international SIM like Matrix. Even though Airtel does work in China with an international plan, the connectivity is quite poor. The Matrix SIM was decent. It worked fine in mainland China, though not in Hong Kong. Outgoing international calls took forever to go through, but internet speeds were surprisingly good.
Also, China is heavily cashless. Very few people use physical currency, and getting change can be tricky. Use either Alipay or WeChat. International forex cards can be linked to both. Their system is similar to UPI, with QR code-based payments, and it’s quite good. That said, I’ll admit with a bit of pride that our UPI is way better.
Another point to note is that Google services don’t work. That means no Google Search, no Translate, no Maps. Don’t bother downloading offline maps on Google Maps either, the data is outdated and public transport info is missing. Apple Maps is fully integrated with Gaode, the local map provider, and it’s extremely accurate. It even shows bus timings, subway routes, and which exits to take at metro stations. Android users can manage with Gaode Maps too. The interface is in Chinese, but you can get the hang of the basics pretty quickly. A spoon and fork icon means food, so that’s all you really need, right?
And yeah, Facebook, WhatsApp, Reddit, none of these work. Unless you have a VPN. Free VPNs are slow and unreliable. I got a one-month subscription to Surfshark VPN and was really impressed with the speed and reliability.
Coimbatore to China
The most tiring part of the journey was getting to China. From Coimbatore, I had to take three flights: Coimbatore to Chennai, Chennai to Hong Kong, and finally, Hong Kong to Shanghai. Adding up the flight times, layovers, and the time zone changes, it ended up being around 26 hours of continuous travel. The first leg from Coimbatore to Chennai was on IndiGo, while the other two were with Cathay Pacific. I have to say, I was really impressed with their service. Both flights, an Airbus A350 and an A330, were clean and very comfortable. There was sufficient legroom, fully functional in-flight entertainment with a wide selection of movies, and excellent meals with plenty of dietary options such as Kosher, Halal, Jain, and more. The crew were friendly and helpful too, which made the long journey a lot more bearable.
The comfortable familiarity of Coimbatore airport was a nice way to ease into the journey. As a true-blue South Indian, I just had to have one last ghee roast dosha from Annapoorna before setting off. Priorities, after all.
Night had fallen as I approached Chennai. Based on the shape of the roads and the distance left, I’m guessing it was Kanchipuram town.
Landed at Chennai airport. Even though there was a terminal change, it was within walking distance. There are multiple travelators along the way, which made the walk a lot easier. The Cathay Pacific counters only opened after 10.30 PM, so I had plenty of time to kill walking around the terminal.
Everything proceeded smoothly once the counters opened. Several staff members expertly managed the queue. Cathay has a strict luggage policy, 23 kilograms per bag, which caused some trouble for a few passengers. Since I was specifically told about this by our travel desk, I had split my luggage between two bags to avoid any issues. It was around 1 AM when we boarded the aircraft. It was an Airbus A350, neat and well maintained. The in-flight entertainment system had a nice collection of movies, as well as a live map. But I was more interested in the flight cameras. There was one somewhere in the front near the cockpit, and another on what I assume was the tail.
A very interesting and beautifully made flight safety video was shown before take-off, which included all the basic safety instructions set in the backdrop of Hong Kong culture, instead of the crew showing how the belt and jacket worked.
We were served in-flight meals after some time. While the meal was hot and extremely tasty, the timing was ghastly. I was woken up from a deep sleep by the crew serving food. And the time? 4.30 goddamn AM! Apparently, it was 7 AM in Hong Kong, their normal breakfast time. But my body was very clear about one thing, it was still solidly sleepy time. My phone and watch happily confirmed that.
The food, to be fair, was absolutely delicious. Naan, chicken curry, mashed sweet potato, fruits, and yoghurt. No complaints on that front. They also had a choice of beverages, including tea, coffee, juices, soft drinks, and even liquor. Unsurprisingly, there was only one particular ethnic group that kept asking for liquor, even at this ungodly hour.
We landed at the Hong Kong Chek Lap Kok International Airport around 9.30 AM local time. The airport is located on an island, and I really enjoyed watching the landing. Hong Kong is a Special Administrative Region of China and follows a "one country, two systems" style of governance, with its own government, currency, and set of rules. From the air, it looked stunning, with hilly islands scattered across the sea and tall skyscrapers lining the coast.
Once we landed, something surprising happened—everyone waited patiently until the cabin crew announced that the exits were open. Not a single person stood up before that. Unbelievable, right?
The Hong Kong airport is huge! I had around four hours to kill before my connecting flight. I’d downloaded some movies to pass the time, but I ended up wishing I had more layover time instead. The airport is beautiful (not Changi-beautiful, but still), and it’s almost like a shopping mall in itself. I had a great time just roaming around. Free Wi-Fi is available, and thankfully, WhatsApp and other sites are not blocked. There are clear signs everywhere showing the different gate locations and even the walking distance to each one. After wandering around for hours, I ended up taking an underground metro train back to my gate.
Soon, I boarded the final flight to Shanghai Pudong Airport. This was a comparatively shorter journey of around two and a half hours. Needless to say, the lack of sleep and the 17,000 steps (as per my fitness tracker) at the airport were catching up to me. Still, I managed to enjoy the flight and even squeeze in a movie. By around 4 PM, we landed at Shanghai Pudong International Airport. After landing, we had to fill out a form that included details like our visa number, local contact, place of stay, and duration of stay. There was also a row of ATM-like machines where we had to scan our passports, give our fingerprints, and get our photos taken. The rest of the immigration process went smoothly. Outside the airport, I soon found the driver sent by the hotel and started the final leg of the journey.
The plane taking a turn over the iconic Yangtze river.
My destination, Suzhou, was about 140 kilometres from Shanghai. Back home in Kerala, that would have easily been a four-plus hour journey. Here, it took around one hour and twenty minutes. The roads were excellent, with wide six-lane highways, and the traffic discipline was fantastic. Maybe not Middle East level fantastic, but still leagues ahead of us. The driver consistently maintained speeds of 120 kilometres per hour without any drama.
What really blew me away was the automobile scene in China. There were so many brands and models I had never seen before. I even managed to spot the much-hyped Xiaomi SU7 electric sports car. And yes, a large percentage of cars on the road were electric, including my taxi.
At long last, I reached my destination by around 7.15 PM. After meeting up with a colleague over dinner, I autopiloted myself onto the bed and passed out for the night. 26 hours without sleep had finally caught up with me.
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