A Chinese Odyssey: The Long Voyage to China

Since there are no direct flights between the two neighbouring countries, we had to fly to Shanghai via Hong Kong

When I was invited by the Chinese Foreign Ministry to head a cultural delegation to China, I grabbed the opportunity with both hands.

I had been fascinated with Chinese culture since I was a child and I did have the opportunity to visit the country in the past, even attending a traditional wedding in the historic town of Baoding. Although I immensely enjoyed my time in China, the terrible air quality wore me down and I found myself exhausted by 4 pm on most days. Before embarking on this journey, I was well aware that initiatives undertaken by the Chinese government to clean up the air in Beijing and other cities were largely successful.

The biggest annoyance when it comes to travel between the two countries is the lack of direct flights from India to Mainland China. Before the pandemic, there was a direct flight from Bombay to Chengdu, with very good onward connections to other Chinese cities. Now, some in China joke that it is as difficult to travel to India from the country as it was in the days of the great traveller and scholar Xuan Zang who made the trip through the deserts and mountains of Central Asia in the 7th Century CE!

For our 2024 visit, though, it had to be via Hong Kong, the special administrative region of China, that has long served as a bridge between China and the rest of the world. Cathay Pacific has always been one of my favourite airlines, so there were no complaints when it came to the journey from my end.

The almost five and a half hour red-eye flight to Hong Kong was jam-packed. I was told by the crew that both of the daily flights connecting these great cities are always full. One of the joys of taking a “foreign” airline is getting the feel of already being abroad once you step in the aircraft. Cathay, like many other airlines, features the sights and sounds of its main hub (Hong Kong), in its in-flight safety video. It was also nice for me to listen to announcements in Cantonese, a language I dream of learning at some point in the future, given how fond I am of the culture of the Pearl River Delta.

Starved of sleep before the journey, I entered the realm of dreams to the sound of fine classical music within minutes of takeoff. I woke up just once to have a pao and curry Bombay dinner, before getting more shut eye. I guess the fact that I didn’t have a window seat made my decision to sleep even easier, not that it would have made a substantial difference!

Landing in Hong Kong and looking at the green mountains and the skyscrapers of the New Territories, I could not help but feel a sense of nostalgia. This is a city I had been regularly visiting since 2004 and the pandemic more or less put an end to that. The transit was too short to make a quick visit to Central and hop on the ferry for a harbour cruise.

The escalators at the airport give you a city feel as they make the same sound as the traffic lights. I also spotted a couple of my favourite Hong Kong bakeries in the terminal.

Before too long it was time to leave the passenger-friendly Hong Kong International Airport behind for Shanghai, once known as the Paris of the East, but now a megapolis that can more than hold its own with the greatest modern cities on the planet.

Mercifully, the flight from Hong Kong was not as jam-packed and I did have good company on board. The person sitting in the aisle seat (middle seat was vacant) was an English teacher in Shanghai and was more than happy to have some light conversations.

A smooth flight north, I didn’t get a glimpse of China until the plane commenced its descent. While the crew distributed the arrival cards, there was an announcement it was mandatory for non-diplomat foreign citizens to submit their biometrics at the airport.

As the plane landed, I got my first glimpse of the outskirts of the great city. The airport is away from the centre and our approach did not cross it. Ni Hao, my dear China, I said to myself as the plane landed.

Under normal circumstances, I’d zip past passport control, after biometrics and be on my way, but there were seven others, some of whom were intimidated with the prospect of fingerprint scanning, filling arrival cards and clearing border control. I waited patiently until everyone filled in their arrival cards and we moved towards immigration.

When the passport is scanned, their machines automatically make announcements in the language of the country of the passport holder. The instructions are for once again scanning the fingerprints, to ensure they matched what we gave before coming to immigration. With the Indian passport, Hindi was chosen as the default language. It was easy enough to see what we needed to do, but I feel for those from south India and some parts of the northeast who don’t understand Hindi.

The immigration officer (as was the case the last time I was in China) was friendly and smiled after he stamped the passport. I was happy to be made to feel welcome in this great country.

A fun time in Shanghai and other parts of awaited us!