[forester]

This travelogue dates back to September 2018, more than a year before when the epidemic that’s turned out to be a serious blot and threat to mankind – Coronavirus – ever came to the picture.

I was invited to attend a technology summit on ‘Digitalisation and Industry 4.0' in the manufacturing sector by a leading tech giant and it was organised on the sidelines of the China International Industry Fair (CIIF) 2018 – a massive breeding ground for industry professionals and business folks from around the world to network and showcase new technologies.

My trip was a short four-day visit between September 18 and 21 (Friday) to the business capital Shanghai, and while I could have extended it over the weekend, I chose not to as I had huge concerns about being able to effectively communicate due to the stark language difference.

Since the invitation was rather on a short notice, I was asked to submit my online application for the ‘Express Visa’ service, which although is a little expensive compared to the regular Visa process, expedites the procedure and can be extremely useful for business travel or exigency cases.

Express Visa process for China –

I applied for the Visa on September 10 (Monday) with a duly-filled printout of the visa form downloaded from the Embassy’s website and had submitted it along with my passport and a cover letter from my employer. What made things easier for me was that the mediator agency which was taking care of all the logistics for my travel sent across someone to collect my documents so that I didn’t need to go to the Embassy myself, and moreover, I believe that a valid US visa on my passport would have increased the chances of approval as well.

On September 17, my passport was returned and I was allotted a single-entry visa for a 30-day duration to the People’s Republic of China. By this time, my flight tickets were booked and I was scheduled to depart on China Southern Airlines (CZ) bound to Guangzhou from New Delhi, at 11:55 on September 18.

It was supposed to be a 5 hours and 15 minutes flight to Guangzhou from where I had my connection to Shanghai on China Eastern Airlines (MU). The only discomforting factor in this whole transit was that I had a rather SHORT layover of 1 hour and 50 minutes to switch planes.

Planning before departure

Like a lot of people on the forum, travel gives me solace and the thought of exploring a new place / country is always exciting. However, this time around, I was a little nervous. There was this underlying fear in my mind, majorly owing to the possible language issues that I could face in a country as huge as China, and to make matters worse, the regular means of communication – WhatsApp, FB, Gmail and the entire Google suite – are non-existent in China.

As a result, I and my wife (we had just been engaged then), who’s a Computer Science teacher and much more tech-savvy than me, started looking out for other alternatives that are predominantly used in China for the very basic need of humans - communication – in my phone.

Just like the majority of the world uses WhatsApp as the basic tool these days, China literally runs on WeChat – their answer to Brian Acton’s invention. But, unlike WhatsApp, which would need you a total of five minutes to go to the Play Store (Android), download the app, install and get going, this thing was tough, at least for someone sitting in India and trying to do it on their phones.

So, WeChat requires someone already on the platform to invite you to join and only then can one become a member of the family of millions of users. While the app is available on the Google Play Store, and this led us to try and try harder to log in and get chatting, we finally realised that there’s no other way than getting an invitation.

We approached my wife’s maternal uncle, who lives in Thailand and has his business in China to send us the invite, but unfortunately, we were still unable to install and make a new account on WeChat. I am not really sure if the process is still that cumbersome, but we had to give up.

I was now thinking to show up in China and install the app on my phone by taking help of some locals there. Yes, we literally couldn’t find a way out and even the agency couldn’t help either.

Thank my stars or whatever, while boarding my flight from IGI T3, I installed Skype on my Google Pixel XL, and logged in to my existing account and added my wife. I had not used Skype for a while and the last conversation I had was sometime in March 2017.

China Southern experience and landing in Guangzhou

The flight experience was decent with a full house and food being alright and par for the course. Of course, I preferred a vegetarian meal to keep things on the lighter side, given the anticipated non-vegetarian days that lay ahead.

Like we have our Amul girl, the mascot for China Southern is pretty cute too!


I watched a couple of nice Hindi flicks and really liked the Sonakshi Sinha-starrer 'Noor'. I have a habit of looking at the flight information every now and then.


We touched down at Guangzhou Terminal 2 as per the scheduled ETA – 19:40.


However, given the size of this giant airport, the plane kept taxiing for about 15 minutes before arriving at the allocated gate.

I don’t know about the hundred other passengers, but by the time we parked to disembark, I had started worrying as I had my next connection in exactly 1 hour and 30 minutes.

A herd of people alighted and if my memory serves me right, all foreign travelers were supposed to go through a Biometric / health scan before then going to the immigration area. Everything around me was scribbled in Chinese with English subtitles and I had already received my ‘cultural shock’ that I was dreading about.



There were scores of people ahead of me waiting in the chaotic que and trying to understand what the Biometric machine wanted, which finger, how long to be pressed – everything was being displayed mainly in the Chinese language which made the process cumbersome.



It was 20:15 and I was still in the que when finally some lady from the airport staff came to the passengers' rescue and got the line moving a little faster. She was guiding individual passengers in sign language and as I neared my turn, I was constantly trying to peep and follow the steps being followed by the person attempting it at the front.

By the time I got done with the Biometric, it must already be 20:25 and thankfully, the immigration process was smoother.



I had successfully entered China with my passport stamped, and now, the task to find way to the domestic terminal and interchange into my next flight to Shanghai had begun. Luckily, I just had a cabin stroller that I was dragging along with me.

How I missed my first-ever flight in China

As I got walking inside the airport, I came to realise that finding one’s own way is not going to be a piece of cake. It was 20:30 and I was getting a bit anxious as things were looking confusing and a lot difficult than what I had expected. I approached two staffers at an airline’s customer desk to get help, but using English language in China would hardly get you anywhere.

Nonetheless, one of the ladies guided me in sign language to go downstairs, and I quickly rushed to find a huge baggage claim area. I was panicking as my next departure was in less than 60 minutes and not being able to figure out anything quickly, I took the escalator upstairs again to now ask another gentleman about how to make the transition.



I was luckier this time around as the fellow knew English and asked me to go down, head out of the gate and take the underground Metro train to the domestic terminal. The only big question in my mind at that time was how to take a train ticket, which might have killed even more time, which I just didn’t have to lose at this point. “No ticket,” he responded and I sighed.

I immediately whooshed towards the escalator and then started running to the exit gate when I spotted a signboard with a train symbol and a downward arrow. It couldn’t have made me more cheerful in this time of distress. I ran towards the signage and saw two downward escalators and a baggage scanning machine.

I put my bag through the X-Ray scanner, cleared security and rushed down to the platform.


The next train was about to be there in 2 minutes and I was continuously checking the time on my phone to keep a tab on my boarding.


I took the train...


...and was just looking at the station map placed above the doors. It was a short one-stop ride from Airport N (Terminal 2) to Airport S (Terminal 1).


As soon as I de-boarded at the next station, I was again amazed to see the sheer scale of things.


I must have landed up at minus 3 and was staring at a giant escalator to reach the ground level.


As things would stand, I was frantic and was struggling to find the China Eastern counter upon reaching the main check-in area. A look at the flight information screen and I was pretty sure I'd be in trouble.


After a lot of going helter-skelter through a rows of numbers and alphabets, I finally saw the airline’s counter and could see the last two passengers checking in (probably for a later flight), and some of the lights being turned off too.


As soon as I reached the desk and swiftly showed the ticket on my phone, came the shocking reaction – a shrug, a negative nod and a lady and a gentleman together trying to tell me that I have overshot the boarding time and that the gates have now been closed.

What a bummer! I literally get shocked and take a look at the world clock on my phone. It was 22:50. I was five minutes late! Had it been India, I would still have stood a chance to check-in and also be allowed to board the flight. But, in Guangzhou, the gates close 45 minutes prior to departure, a whole 20 minutes earlier than what we are used to.

I requested them in English if I could speak to the ‘Manager’. They were able to understand this term and went in to call someone senior to speak to me. The senior official from their support team showed up at the counter and I pleaded him in all means to allow me to board the flight. I requested him to escort me to the flight as it would still be preparing for departure.

I pushed my luck as far as I could, but there was no relent from the other end. I even said that I don’t have enough cash to book another flight or phone connectivity to get in touch with my family. I could understand that the manager in his capacity couldn’t have done anything else even on empathetic grounds. I finally let go.



I had missed the first ever flight of my life, and that too while being abroad and in the People’s Republic of China! It took some time for me to soak that in and during that time, I just switched on the WiFi on my phone and tried connecting to the airport network.

Since everything was written in Chinese, I had to take help of the person at the information desk to patch me up on the network and as soon as I was online, I saw a stream of Skype messages from my wife flowing on my screen.

She was checking if I had reached Guangzhou safely and I texted back the harsh words - “I missed my flight to Shanghai.”

She immediately called me on Skype and I told her the ordeal. We decided to reach out to the agency coordinating the logistics for the trip. Since I had not taken any international roaming pack on my Airtel number or an international SIM card for that matter, I had no means of contacting the lady from who had been facilitating my tickets and Visa. The only option left was for my wife to reach out to her and let her know what had just happened.

It is in such an hour of despair that your loved ones come to your rescue, and my wife came out to be a true saviour for me. Back home, she was now the mediator between me and the agency, coordinating all communications and transmitting minute-by-minute updates.

As she was updating about my current status to the lady, I quickly searched for the next flight options to Shanghai. For this, I again requested the staff managing the information desk, and lo and behold, we are stuck at another language barrier.

I was trying my level best to speak in one-worded English and let the folks know that I wanted to check the flight options, but, we weren’t getting anywhere. At last, the person at the desk took out his phone, switched on the translator app and held it in front of me to talk.

Now, I could see some progress! Though it ended up being a tedious process, this was the best way to overcome the humongous language challenge that I faced. Unfortunately, the next flight out of Guangzhou was at 07:30 in the morning and the last train had already departed at 20:30. So, here I was, stuck at the Guangzhou airport, with no means to reach Shanghai well in time before the conference started the next day at 10:00.

It was close to 10pm in the night and I was feeling extremely hungry by now. Having given up on all hopes, I decided to take a seat at one of the kiosks in the F&B area, and order a meal while waiting for further communication from my wife.



I was lucky to have found a simple-looking vegetable sandwich along with a glass of cold coffee!


I sat there to quench my thirst and douse the hunger, connected the power bank to charge my phone and started conversing with my wife on Skype through text as the call quality was really poor owing to a dozen people using the limited bandwidth of the free network.

She was awaiting updates from the travel agency about booking a new ticket. Meanwhile, as I got done with my meal, I moved to the information desk to inquire about my overnight stay options near the airport as well as get some currency exchanged for the dollars that I was carrying.

I was fortunate that it was still only late afternoon in one part of Europe and the travel desk at the host company was working for the day. While my wife had told the agency about the time-consuming Biometric process and the language constraints leading to the flight getting missed, I wasn’t really sure if they would book a new ticket.

The next update she gives me is that the company has agreed to book me on the morning flight and I need not book the ticket myself at the airport. It breathed a sigh of relief. Now, the next issue was my accommodation for the night.

As my wife was coordinating regarding the same, I again reached out to the information desk, which told me about a few budget hotels nearby and the timings for the free shuttle service. It was 22:54 and the next bus was scheduled to depart at 23:03. If I wait, the only next shuttle would be an hour later.

Without a second thought, I paid the RMB 200 (approximately Rs 2,000) charge and booked a budget hotel some 15 minutes from the airport, which was inclusive of a to-and-fro shuttle service. I called up my wife to update and asked her to convey the same to the travel team in Delhi.

My first-ever electric bus ride

I exited the airport and got into the designated shuttle which was an electric mini-bus and was itching to reach my hotel quickly and get some rest for the day before I start the next one again quite early. I took the front-row seat and as we started moving, I started observing the scenery all around.



It was really fascinating to see well lit buildings and the wide roads as we passed through a couple of flyovers and underpasses before entering a sort of a residential-commercial area. The hotel was located at a corner and there was a market situated adjacent to it with a few eateries still open. I thought to myself that I would come back after checking-in to grab a quick ice cream or something.

A total of three of us passengers got off the bus and we qued up to check-in one by one. I got a key card to my room and the WiFi password. The manager also took our flight details for the morning and told us the timings at which the respective shuttles would depart. Mine was at 05:30.

Meanwhile, as I was attempting to connect my phone with the WiFi, I could see the driver of the electric shuttle bus putting it up to charge.


The EV fast-charger placed outside the hotel’s main-gate. Neat!


China is way ahead of a lot of countries when it comes to going electric and my journey hadn’t even started yet.


Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to connect to the WiFi and I asked for help and the manager called up one of the bell boys to help me out. This fellow was instructing me in Chinese and fed up by now, I just handed over my phone to him and requested him to do the needful.

As he was trying to connect my phone, we took the lift and moved to the second floor where my room was located. I opened the door, and was in for a sweet surprise.



For a measly sum, this room had a lounge area with a proper sofa-set, a bedroom, bath as well as a balcony with a view of the street and the market!


I can never even imagine in my wildest dreams to get such a hotel for so cheap in India! That’s China’s value-for-money quotient, and I had just got a first-hand experience of it.


It took the staffer quite a while to successfully get the internet working on my phone and finally when it was done, I opened Skype to update my wife about my whereabouts. She told me that the lady from the agency wanted to speak to me and had already tried doing that but I was offline.

I called her up and she told me that the company wanted me to go to the Pullman near the airport and would have reimbursed me the amount against the bill. I told her that I was happy to be where I was and it was completely okay to not worry about any payments. I had saved enough time by not waiting any further at the airport and for a good night’s sleep this seemed quite a solid option. I apologised for the trouble and thanked her for cooperating and for booking the new tickets, which she had already shared with me on Skype.

After chit-chatting with my wife and thanking her for all the coordination during the last few hours, I quickly headed out to have a look at the market and get some snacks. At this hour, it was sort of a lonely lane but I could see people still having a smoke or grabbing a bite at the few restaurants which looked like they were about to down their shutters for the day.

I was observing the parked cars and entered in a supermarket and got myself a pack of dry cakes. This would come handy in the morning for breakfast I thought. For that itch of something sweet, I then went inside a cigarette shop and got a cup of chocolate ice-cream. I finished it while on my walk back to the hotel, came into my room, and called it a day.

My first-ever First Class experience

[forester]

I woke up at sharp 05:00 and showed up at the reception in exactly half-an-hour, where a shuttle was already waiting with all the passengers for the early morning flight sat in their places. It was a diesel bus this time around. I made a few transit friends in the bus who could speak English.

As we entered the airport, I bid them goodbye and walked up to the China Eastern counter. I showed my ticket on my phone and the lady redirected me to the next station with a red carpet.



I went up and put my phone and passport in front of the well dressed and politely-speaking woman and when she gave me the boarding pass and pointed out the gate and seat numbers, I finally gazed at the seat allotted to me.

7A! So, this was a seat in the first class and see the difference, one could board until 15 minutes prior to departure!


I went up to the security check and with a dedicated section for first- and- business-class passengers, it was seamless!



Security hardly took me 5 minutes and I was free.


Now, I had an option to also use the China Eastern lounge before boarding my flight.

I went into the lounge,


, used the automated loo...




...had a quick and healthy bite,


and walked up to the gate well in time.


Saw a few car advertisements on the way.


Now as I stood in the que for the priority boarding, a window seat in the front portion of the cabin awaited me in the flight.


I settled down and a welcome drink was served with the hostess also quickly handing me over the Menu card for choosing my options for the breakfast on-board.


Since I just had a nice meal, I ordered a couple of light things for the sake of experience after taking off!


We were up in the air in no time.

Bye bye Guangzhou!


An aerial view of the city.


I flipped through the in-flight magazines, and dosed off for the rest of the journey.

Reaching Shanghai

I landed at the ‘Pu Dong’ airport in Shanghai after a two-hour flight.


I was supposed to go to the other end of the city where my accommodation was booked at Primus Hotel. I had two options either to take a cab or get into the Metro.


Since I was already late for the conference, I chose the former and reached the taxi area outside the airport. When my turn came, a lady police officer directed me to get into the Volkswagen and let the driver know the details. I had carried a printed sheet with the hotel’s name and address on it both in English and Chinese.

I swiftly handed it over to the driver who was sitting inside a Plexiglass compartment, which separated him from the rest of the cabin, and keyed in the location details on the Baidu Maps running on his phone.


We were on our journey to the hotel and it was supposed to be at least an hour and 15 minutes long. I started observing the traffic and the infrastructure and clicked a lot of pictures whenever I spotted a good car or an establishment.

The the Jetta for the Chinese market, is it?


A VW airport cab. VWs are pretty popular in China.


A giant elevator installed by Mitsubishi Electric.


China is massive when it comes to its infrastructure. Huge buildings are spread over vast amounts of lands, and that’s probably the reason why it doesn't generally feel congested here even though it's the most-populated country in the world.


However, there were quite a few similarities with India. I could see speeding truckers driving by with their windows rolled down.


Unlike any European country, the trucks had semi-worn tyres and were in a tattered shape too.


Spotted this freshly-produced lot of BMWs being shipped on a lorry.


Some Chinese van.


A Hyundai.


And a Nissan Teana.


Finally I reached the hotel, which was located in the vicinity of the Hongqiao airport (pronounced as Hong-Shao) from where I had my return flight.


I checked-in, dressed up in formals and immediately rushed to attend the conference.

[forester]

A room tour

From the budget hotel in Guangzhou, this was a welcome change. It was a proper five-star property.


Welcome note!


The bath.


Some Chinese porcelain art decor.


The king's bed!


The view from the room was pretty great too.


Some cold meat that I couldn't handle much.


So, desserts were my glimmer of hope.


Later in the night, I had Sushi for dinner; quite honestly not to my liking. I believe the pungent and strong soy sauce marred the dish for me.


I headed out of the hotel for a quick stroll after dinner. I was putting up near the National Exhibition and Convention Centre (Shanghai).


The traffic density at this peak hour was quite similar to India.


Also, chaos and mayhem, like we are used to back home.


A major chunk of the two-wheelers on the roads are electric.


There were a couple of full-sized electric buses too.


The penchant for bling!


Look, a speed camera.


The hotel looked beautiful at night.


There was this AMG on a promotion display in the lobby.


I went to my room and crashed for the night.


Day 2 in Shanghai

The next day started-off pretty early and I got free from my meetings by around lunch time. I had the rest of the day to me and without wasting any time, I quickly decided to head out and explore the city.

I reached out to the reception to take help on the places of interest and sightseeing and one gentleman recommended me to go to Lujiazui.


He asked me to go to the 'Bund' by the Huangpu River and the Oriental Pearl Tower in Lujiazui and later go to Nanjing Road for shopping and dinner. He guided me the way by writing down the names of the respective Metro stations on a piece of paper in English and handed it over to me. I got myself a few more Chinese Yuans exchanged against the dollars and was good to go.

As I stepped outside the hotel, it started drizzling and I quickly went back to my room to pick up the hotel umbrella. I headed out towards the Metro station which was like a 300-metre walk from the hotel.


I took a single-journey pass and hopped on to the underground train to Lujiazui.


The Shanghai Metro map.


I exited the station into the IFS Mall.


It was a nice place to be and there were stores of some high-end renowned brands.




I was window shopping!


Then I spotted this bakery and got reminded of Hyderabad's famous Karachi Bakery back home.


I got myself a red-bean stuffed bun, and poor me, didn't like this either. It was too chewy and very differently sweet in taste!


I regretted that I should've ordered an ice-cream instead from the shop next door. Nonetheless, this beautifully done wall at the outlet made me smiling again.

A postcard from Shanghai!


Contd...

[forester]

Then I headed into an Apple Store in the basement.


Saw this on one of the walls inside the mall, so had to take a picture. Yours truly in beast mode!


I exited the mall directly from the Apple Store...


...and came out to the World Financial Centre with skyscrapers all around.


This indeed looked and felt like a true-blue business hub.


I could see the Oriental Pearl Tower through the sky walk.


And I spotted a Tesla!


Before heading any further, I saw a Disney store on one side of the sky walk. And, the kid in me gleamed with joy!


Safe to say that I did venture inside.


And, it was a different world!


Any Marvel fans in the house?!


A kid would love being here. A paradise for sure!


Then I headed out and walked up to to the Huangpu river and it had started raining again by this time.


There was a colorful jogger's park on the riverside and I had a lovely time.


The Bund is across the other side.


Like many would recommend, the best time to be at the Bund is after sunset to have a great view of the city lights and the skyscrapers of the financial district when they get lit up. But, due to paucity of time and since it was raining, I decided not to go across the river and instead head to the Oriental Pearl Tower. I think there's an underground tunnel to cross the river.

I started walking back towards the tower...


...and bought the tickets to the Oriental Pearl Tower. I think I paid CNY 220 right till the top.


All the info about the 351-metre-long Oriental Pearl TV Tower.


The tower's complex has a lot of eateries and electronics shops and some photo-booths for the tourists too.


The foot of the tower.


The gate to enter inside.


As you enter, there's this elevator to the first floor.


And that's where the wait for reaching the observatory at 259 metres. It was a l-o-n-g que ahead of me!


As we got moving up the tower, there were different levels to explore.


First up was the sightseeing at 90 metres.


We were taken up in a glass elevator.


I could go outside to the open balcony and take pictures of the fabulous-looking, well-lit Bund!


But, what everyone was waiting for, was this, the glass observatory at 259 metres!


Oh my gosh! The glass floor tricked the brain like how and gave me goosebumps!


It was raining heavily and the view outside was surreal!


Contd...

[forester]

The HSBC tower right there.


It took me immense courage to go to the floor. The best I could do was sit down!


I was enjoying so much here that I just grabbed an ice-cream and stuck around for some more time.


Then, I was supposed to head to the last and the topmost level - the space capsule at 351 metres.


I landed up in a futuristic zone.


This level is done up in the theme of a space station.


There were some astronauts defying gravity...


...and some sci-fi too.


Honestly, if you do plan a visit to the Oriental Pearl Tower and unless there's a kid accompanying you, it's better to skip this last floor as the main fun element is at the glass observatory itself.

Anyway, after spending a good 1.5 hours inside, I headed out.

Spotted this in one of the lobbies. I've been fortunate enough to have been to two of the tallest buildings in the world so far!


I came outside the tower, and that's how it looked at night!


I went inside this Xiomi store in the compound.


Sitting in the heart of China, Xiomi has a much more elaborate portfolio including items like this below.


As I exited the store, it started raining and I rushed towards the Metro station to get the train to Nanjing Road.

It was a short ride...


...and I came out to this lovely sight in a busy market.


It was quite a busy street full of people roaming around and showrooms of top brands.


Interestingly, Nanjing Road is also famous for all the lanes situated adjacent to it that house loads of shops selling counterfeit products - first copy of the top brands in fashion, sunglasses and electronics. Moreover, one must also be really careful of their belongings while jaywalking as snatching is quite prominent here too.



While I was window shopping, by now I was extremely hungry and looking for some good food! I was struggling to find any outlet with some decent chicken as I wanted to have a hot meal.

After an endless search, finally ended up inside this Burger King in a food court.


Burger King was a real savior for my hungry soul as even McDonald's in China primarily serves beef.


I had a filling meal...


...and me being me, topped it off with a chocolate scoop!


Then I started walking towards the other end of the road to enter the train station from the other side. I saw a few cars and parking bays on my walk.


That's how people park their cars in this part of the city.


Some more bling!A BYD this time around.


Yes, a little bit of English-Vinglish would go a long way, China!


I crossed this beautiful junction...


...and before entering the train station from the other side,


I crossed the famous People's Square, which looked majestic at night.


I reached my hotel, packed up my suitcase and had a good night's sleep, all set for heading back to India the next morning.

So, that sums up my beautiful China sojourn. It's indeed a beautiful country with helpful people and infrastructure of massive proportions. I would definitely love to explore other parts of China once the prevalent Coronavirus pandemic subsides and everything comes to normalcy. Life, does find a way. Till then, thank you and good luck, China!

[Rudra Sen]

Mod note: Thread moved to Travelogues. Thanks for sharing.

[ChiragM]

Nice travelogue forester. Never been to China but its on my list of places to visit. Its going to be while for international travel to restart after the coronavirus pandemic. Lots of nice places to visit and unique experiences as well.

Burger King was a real savior for my hungry soul as even McDonald's in China primarily serves beef.

Wonder what a vegetarian like me would do. Should be manageable, somehow.

[vibbs]

Nice one forester. I was in Shanghai a bit closer to Corona. December 2019. Although it was not my first time to Mainland China, it certainly was the first time to Shanghai.

I must say, Shanghai looks beautiful at night. Back in 2012 when I was in China, I could not help but realise the gap in Infrastructure between China and India. Come to 2019, I think the gap has widened. China is huge and the infrastructure is massive.

One thing which I felt everyone misjudges China on, is the food. Back in 2012 and even now in 2019, I really enjoyed food in China. Not everyone eats wierd things there.

Language is a concern, though upmarket restaurants and food joints in cities like Shanghai should be ok. But I was amazed at the number of non-chinese speaking Mandarin.

[avingodb]

Originally Posted by ChiragM

Wonder what a vegetarian like me would do. Should be manageable, somehow.

Shūcài, wú ròu 蔬菜，无肉

this means vegetables only, no meat. I make do with this much and you will also find Subway stores and Pizza Huts and more places with vegetarian options on the menu.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Did you self quarantine, Mayank?

Just kidding. Lovely travelogue! China has been a dream destination, but I'm not sure if I'll take it up for a few years to come - even if I'm able to somehow afford it. Beyond Corona though - Language definitely seems to be a bigger barrier than I had imagined - your airport experience was truly shocking! I thought at least such places will have a good amount of English speaking people for assistance.

Its a holiday for me today on account of Good Friday, and your travelogue was an excellent way to spend the afternoon. Thanks and keep sharing.

[nandrive]

Nice photos. Shanghai has a 30 km maglev train track from shanghai pudong airport. Do not miss to take a ride next time. If I remember correctly round trip costs around 500 INR. It goes crazy speeds.

[forester]

Originally Posted by ChiragM

Nice travelogue forester. Never been to China but its on my list of places to visit. Wonder what a vegetarian like me would do. Should be manageable, somehow.

Thank you, Chirag. I do hope you go there one day and regarding food, yes, you will be able to manage, albeit it's not going to be a piece of cake (pun intended!)

Originally Posted by vibbs

Nice one forester. I was in Shanghai a bit closer to Corona - December 2019. I must say, Shanghai looks beautiful at night. China is huge and the infrastructure is massive.

Thank you, @vibbs. Yes, Shanghai does look amazing with all those lights on! I totally agree with your observation - this country is massive and changes your perspective about scale completely.

Originally Posted by vibbs

One thing which I felt everyone misjudges China on, is the food. I really enjoyed food in China. Language is a concern though.

It's good to know that you didn't have much trouble. As far as I am concerned, while I am a non-vegetarian, I cannot bear the cold meat served in China as well as in some South East Asian countries. One needs to be really experimental to try the local food! Yes, language is another concern as well.

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Did you self quarantine, Mayank?

Just kidding. Lovely travelogue! China has been a dream destination, but I'm not sure if I'll take it up for a few years to come.

Language definitely seems to be a bigger barrier than I had imagined - your airport experience was truly shocking! I thought at least such places will have a good amount of English speaking people for assistance.

Haha, quarantine? I've locked myself up for almost a month now!

Thank you, Sujai! Glad, you liked it. I do wish that you make a trip to China with your family in the future when things normalise. Yes, language is a challenge and while it might be tough initially, one will be able to understand things better and find a way if the stay is longer. What I can say is that things are huge but not complex.

In my case, lack of time to comfortably board the next flight caused all the trouble at the MASSIVE airport.

Originally Posted by nandrive

Nice photos. Shanghai has a 30 km Maglev train track from Shanghai Pu Dong airport. Do not miss to take a ride next time.

Thank you, @nandrive. Wow! That's really fascinating! Thank you for sharing. I think this would be a great experience and a cheaper alternative to a cab right after stepping out of the airport!

[kunaldhami]

In Shanghai, I stay at one of this Villa, Bang Opposite Primus. There is pretty decent Indian restaurant also in this area which home delivers.




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[Silver Knight]

Well written and was really enjoyable to read. It was like a running commentary with lots of pictures. Great effort and thanks a lot for sharing. By the way which phone camera you used to capture the pics? Photos have come out really well.

[forester]

Originally Posted by Silver Knight

Well written and was really enjoyable to read. It was like a running commentary with lots of pictures. By the way which phone camera you used to capture the pics? Photos have come out really well.

Thank you very much, Silver Knight. Glad you liked it! All pictures are from my gen-1 Google Pixel XL. Simply, the best phone I've used so far!