At the University of Michigan, I became friends with Harry and Daniel. We used to enjoy exchanging cultural tidbits from India and China, and have been talking about making trips to both countries. Eight years later, we finally made the China trip happen!

In October 2024, the three of us traveled to Macao/Shenzhen, Shanghai, and Beijing. Here are some photos and takeaways from my trip.

Overview

We focused our visit on three cities (Shenzhen, Shanghai, and Beijing). We also visited neighboring cities as day trips.

Macao

After arriving in Hong Kong, we drove in a hotel-limousine across the border to Macao.

Although both are part of China, they are both "Special Administrative Regions" (SARs) – this means that they have their own individual governments, laws, citizenship/visa policies, etc. Hence, there are strict border controls between the different administrative zones.

Cars can’t just drive across the borders – the car needs to be registered in each administrative region (which is not only expensive, but requires justification to the authorities). That’s why:

Very few cars use the newly-constructed bridge between Hong Kong and Macao.
All the cars on this highway had 2 or 3 license plates, one for each region!

At the Macao border, we were asked to step out and walk across the border. All cars have multiple license plates, one for each region that they are registered in (Macao / Hong Kong / Mainland China).

Macao felt like a larger, fancier version of Las Vegas, full of casinos, hotels, and shopping malls. Like Las Vegas, every casino is itself a hotel and shopping mall!

We stayed at the Wynn Hotel/Casino/Mall, and we could immediately feel the grandeur and luxury. Outside the hotel was a musical fountain with shows every 10 minutes.

We stayed at the Wynn Hotel/Casino/Mall. A musical fountain outside the hotel performed every 10 minutes.

Each of the hotel’s two lobbies featured massive rotating floral structures.

Every hotel/casino/mall we visited had some fancy attraction to draw in the tourists. Here’s the Galaxy Hotel (where I learned to play Black Jack and lost less than expected):

Giant chandelier at the lobby of the Galaxy Hotel.

Another part of the Galaxy hotel, featured a light & music show:

And of course, Macao has its own Eiffel Tower (The Parisian hotel), Westminster Abbey (The Londoner hotel), and Venice (The Venetian hotel).

Eiffel Tower at The Parisian — Eiffel Tower at *The Parisian*

The outside of The Londoner hotel resembles Westminster Abbey — The outside of *The Londoner* hotel resembles Westminster Abbey

The connector between The Londoner hotel and other nearby hotels features attractions like a post box and Platform 9 3/4. — The connector between *The Londoner* hotel and other nearby hotels features attractions like a post box and Platform 9 3/4.

The Venetian hotel, looks very similar to the one in Las Vegas — *The Venetian* hotel, looks very similar to the one in Las Vegas

For all its glitz and glamor, Macao’s residential areas look far more modest. It almost felt like a small town in India, slightly run-down, but far cleaner.

Macao was formerly a Portuguese colony, so all signs are in Chinese, Portuguese and English.

We also visited the Ruins of St. Paul’s, a picturesque ruin of a 17^th century Portuguese Catholic church.

According to Wikipedia, the church was constructed by Japanese Christian craftsment who were converted by Jesuits and expelled from Japan.

Shenzhen

We drove from Macao to Shenzhen, a tech hub in China (the "Silicon Valley of China"?). Since Shenzhen is in Mainland China, we again encountered a strictly-controlled border cross at Hengqin.

The crossing was interesting because the driving-side flipped — Hong Kong & Macao drive on the left-side of the road (like the UK/India), whereas Mainland China drives on the right (like Europe/US). Just past the border-crossing, an overpass allowed cars traveling in our direction to seamlessly move from the left side of the road to the right!

We continued to drive through Zhuhai to Shenzhen.

The city features high-rise apartments and offices, several vast parks, and a beautiful shoreline.

Shenzhen was very nice; it felt like a cleaner, upgraded version of Bangalore.

The parks were well-used. We saw people walking, relaxing, etc. This group of people was stretching to the sound of pop music (I think?)

The loudspeakers from the stretching group was drowning out a public Hulusi (gourd-flute) concert. — The loudspeakers from the stretching group was drowning out a public *Hulusi* (gourd-flute) concert.

In the same area was a group of kite-enthusiasts. We saw kites from all over Shenzhen throughout the day, even late into the night!

This park featured a short but steep hiking trail with pretty views at the top.

My favorite area was the ’Dating Corner’. Adults put up their own matrimonial profiles, grouped by gender and age-range. — My favorite area was the ***“Dating Corner”***. Adults put up their own matrimonial profiles, grouped by gender and age-range.

There were a bunch of older people walking around reading the profiles. We got a lot of stares, but surprisingly (to Harry), no one talked to us — probably because we were speaking in English (and I was obviously a foreigner) 😂 — There were a bunch of older people walking around reading the profiles. We got a lot of stares, but surprisingly (to Harry), no one talked to us.
*(Probably because we were speaking in English, and I was obviously a foreigner 😂)*

View of an apartment complex in Shenzhen from outside a restaurant by a pond.

Guangzhou

Guangzhou is the big old city next-door to Shenzhen (as though Shenzhen wasn’t big enough). Harry told us how modern Shenzhen was only built in the last few decades, whereas Guangzhou has a history spanning centuries.

The key attraction of Guangzhou was the iconic Canton Tower.

The tower is 1,975 feet tall, taller than Toronto’s CN Tower. — The tower is 1,975 feet tall, taller than Toronto’s *CN Tower*.

The view is impressive and the city is massive, but we didn’t really do much else in Guangzhou lol

The most stunning aspect of the tower was that it hosts amusement rides on its roof! This is a Sky Drop, featuring a 100-foot drop 😲 — The most stunning aspect of the tower was that it hosts *amusement rides* on its roof! This is a Sky Drop, featuring a 100-foot drop from 1,900 feet above the ground 😲

The other ride was a slow moving ‘bubble tram’ (😆) on rails beyond the edge of the tower’s roof, hence great views of the city.

We also visited the Guangxiao Temple. I enjoyed the peaceful atmosphere, and acted as a tour-guide for my friends since its structure reminded me of Hindu temples in India!

The temple has existed since ~300 AD. According to the temple’s guide-website, Bodhidharma stopped here and dug a well to fill his water bowl. — The temple has existed since ~400 AD. According to legend, *Bodhidharma* stopped here and dug a well to fill his water bowl.

Laughing Buddha statue at the temple — A lot of people pray at the temples, but most Chinese people aren’t Buddhists and don’t really believe in God. However, they continue to pray for specific desires/goals. (At least, that’s my understanding.)

Street outside the temple. At first glance, this looked so similar to Jayanagar, Bengaluru!

Shanghai

Shanghai – one of the best-known cities in China. But I liked Shenzhen better 😅. It certainly didn’t help that it rained for the entire duration of our visit there!

The famous Bund. We took in the dazzling lights all around us, the skyscrapers, the Oriental Pearl tower, and the Huangpu River.

All around the Bund, buildings were lighted to accentuate their architectures.

Shanghai was much more crowded than any other part of China we visited. Traffic police directed human traffic at narrow intersections with bikes.

An outdoor shopping complex outside a temple.

I insisted on walking through the touristy shops, and also bought souvenirs.

The Yuyuan Garden was built in the 16th century, and is one of the many traditional Chinese gardens we visited across the country. The gardens are known for their pavilions, ponds, and rock formations. — The Yuyuan Garden was built in the 16^th century, and is one of the many traditional Chinese gardens we visited across the country. The gardens are known for their pavilions and ponds.

A key feature of Chinese gardens is their rock formations, especially the presence of 'scholar rocks’. The more holes, the more aesthetically pleasing. — A key feature of Chinese gardens is their rock formations, especially the presence of ***‘scholar rocks’***. (The name actually translated to *‘spirit stones’*.)

Nanjing

Nanjing’s best "attraction" was the Nanjing Massacre Memorial. Curated and presented in the manner of a Holocaust Memorial, this museum presents the story of atrocities committed by soldiers of the Japanese Army after they invaded Nanjing during World War II. For various political reasons, Japan attempted to cover-up the situation in Nanjing, and the Chinese government continues to pressure Japan’s government to acknowledge and apologize for the incident. Like most popular attractions in China, free tickets need to be booked days in advance. However, unlike other attractions, foreign citizens are admitted without a ticket – presumably so that they may learn about the grave history of Nanjing.

The Presidential Palace was the office of the President of the Republic of China in the early 20^th century.

Like other traditional palaces, this model of the Presidential Palace consists of layered pavilions and offices with courtyards and ponds in between.

There were plenty of portraits of one of Modern China’s founding fathers, Sun Yat-sen.

However, the most memorable "attraction" in Nanjing: Bathrooms in the Deji Plaza mall! Each floor was themed 😂

Bonsai in the Chinese Garden themed washroom

The Mirror Lounge had a baby grand piano. Here, Daniel plays jazz piano to entertain washroom guests 😆

Zhouzhuang

Zhouzhuang is an ancient water town. Built in the 1300s, its canals and buildings are preserved as a cultural and tourist attraction. IMO this was the prettiest spot I visited in China 😃

Similar to the Presidential Palace (Nanjing), the mansions and houses are built in the traditional style – multiple layers of small buildings with courtyards in between.

We took a boat around the canals. Our pilot decided to serenade us with traditional Chinese folk songs while navigating the quiet, tranquil canal 😌

Beijing

As a city, Beijing was my least-favorite. The infrastructure felt dated, and the air quality was abysmal. (I tried not wearing a mask at first, but could feel particles in my lungs a few hours later 😢)

However, we visited iconic attractions and ate excellent food!

The Forbidden City was the palace and residence of several generations of Chinese emperors. In a sense, it’s a gigantic version of the Zhouzhuang mansions or Nanjing’s Presidential Palace, but far more imposing and regal.

One of the many parks around Beijing. This one features medieval-period Taoist temples where emperors would pray for good harvests.

We traveled 1 hour from Beijing and took a cable car to reach one segment of the Great Wall of China. This section is the most recently built, the wall isn’t actually continuous and wasn’t all built at the same time.

It’s built intentionally on steep hills/mountains, so the wall is actually much steeper than I expected. Walking along the wall involves climbing hundreds of extremely steps (it’s steeper than it looks) — It’s built intentionally on hills/mountains, so the Wall is actually *much* steeper than I expected. Walking along the wall involves climbing hundreds of lofty steps (it’s steeper than it looks in these photos).

The building outside Tiananmen Square has a massive oil portrait of Mao Zedong – 6 x 4.5 METERS, weighing 1.5 tons! — The building outside Tiananmen Square has a *massive* oil portrait of Mao Zedong – 6 x 4.5 ***meters***, weighing 1.5 tons!
The entire area is tightly controlled, with several ID and bag checkpoints (and, of course, throngs of domestic tourists). Opposite Tiananmen Square is a memorial housing Mao Zedong’s preserved body (yes, I saw him!).

The Bird’s Nest Stadium was constructed for the 2008 Olympics, and also hosted the 2022 Winter Olympics. They let us walk along the roof as well, with great views of the stadium construction and the city itself.

Inside the Bird’s Nest Stadium, some rehearsal of a March Past was in progress. Groups of people would march along the track, then do a mini performance. After a minute of listening, Harry did a double-take — he couldn’t believe that these performers were all bank employees from different branches of the Bank of China!

The announcer was saying things like: “Next is the contingency from the Nanjing branch. Make sure to visit for all your loan needs, we offer the best interest rates” 😂

Kun Opera

I loved so many parts of this trip to China, but the highlight for me was watching traditional Kun Opera in Beijing.

We watched a show of excerpts from classic operas at the Mei Lanfang Theater. — We watched a performance of excerpts from classic operas at the *Mei Lanfang Theater*. Each excerpt was ~1 hour long, narrating a *very* short story through song and dance.

It doesn’t seem to be super-popular: The auditorium was small and was only half-full. We were easily the youngest people there, and my friends were bored out of their minds. But I enjoyed every bit of it!
The plot for each can be told in 3 sentences, but the singing and dialogue take a huge amount of time 😂

This is a scene from Journey to the West, one of the 4 epics from China. — This is a scene from *Journey to the West*, one of the 4 epics from China. It tells the story of a monkey God, *Sun Wukong* escorting a Buddhist monk on a pilgrimage to India while fighting demons that are trying to eat the monk (to achieve immortality). *Sun Wukong* bears some similarities to *Hanuman* from Indian mythology.

Live music was played by an ensemble of traditional instruments. To the right of the stage, a digital screen showed captions of what the characters were saying. (Even if you know Chinese, it’s hard to understand song lyrics because they tones are important to distinguish Chinese words).

Listen to the actors speaking and singing in a drawn out manner – it takes them 3x time to speak their dialogues!

The women speak-sing in a specific style at a high pitch, rising sharply up and then down.

Insights

Vegetarian food

All of my Chinese colleagues told me to be prepared for a hard time finding Vegetarian food in China. This is because most Chinese people don’t really understand what constitutes a Vegetarian diet. However, I had too much good food everyday. (Depite walking much more than normal, I gained 5 pounds during this trip 😅)

In Shenzhen, Harry’s mom prepared delicious home-cooked meals over three days. She took the time to learn about my requirements, explain them to her helper-chef, and even cooked using separate woks and utensils to avoid cross-contamination ❤️

Being a vegetarian tourist in China isn’t too bad if:

You have a Chinese-speaker accompanying you everywhere. Harry would ask servers if they can customize some of their dishes, and they’d often consented.
You’re willing to spend [relatively] large amounts on Michelin-rated vegetarian restaurants. There are more of them in China than in the US!

The fancy vegetarian restaurants were all Chinese cuisine, sometimes adding creative touches to classic dishes. Each of these meals cost around USD$80 per person.

My favorite restaurant during this trip was Fu He Hui in Shanghai. — My favorite restaurant during this trip was Fu He Hui in Shanghai, a one-Michelin Star restaurant.

Fu He Hui’s menu seems simple, but the dishes involved complex and surprising presentation. They also served tea-pairings with the dishes, with ingredients I had never heard of before.

In another restaurant in Shanghai, the server showed us the ingredients that would be used for the 10-course meal. The chefs started working on them live over the next couple of hours as we ate! — In 无味舒食(思南店) ,Shanghai, the server showed us the ingredients that would be used for the 10-course meal. The chefs started working on them live over the next couple of hours as we ate!

In Wujie, Suzhou, the menu included a Jain-vegetarian-friendly section! 🤯

The menus at most Chinese restaurants are _long_, and usually contain pictures of each dish. This is 上蔬无瑕·创意素食, Nanjing. — The menus at most Chinese restaurants are *long*, and usually contain pictures of each dish. This is 上蔬无瑕·创意素食, Nanjing.

This is Mapo Tofu, a prototypical spicy Sichuanese dish. One of my favorite Chinese dishes, IMO it’s even better when it contains Sichuanese peppercorns (numbing spice). — This is Mapo Tofu, a prototypical spicy Sichuanese dish. One of my favorite Chinese dishes, IMO it’s even better when it contains Sichuan peppercorns (numbing spice).

King’s Joy, Beijing, is a TWO-Michelin Star vegetarian restaurant. (It was recently demoted from three stars.)

Other food I had in China:

Boba shops are aplenty in China... but believe it or not, none of them sell *boba* as a topping any more! Just 'healthy' toppings like whipped cream or pistachios.

I tasted 'Corn Juice' at a restaurant. It reminded me of sweet corn soup, but cold.

On Diwali, my friends suggested that we eat Indian food for dinner. Some servers were Indian, but the Chinese manager took good care of us. I was the only Indian guest, everyone else was Chinese.
The Indian servers also spoke better Chinese than English 😂 (their native language was Hindi)

The food was very good. Harry loves Indian food and was relishing it since he hadn’t had it for months while in China. He told me that most Chinese people in China don’t like Indian food because it contains too many flavors that they’re not used to.

At the Conrad, Beijing, I enjoyed eating Tianjin-style pancakes for breakfast. It tasted kind-of like godhuma dosa (wheat dosa) but with a crunchy rice cracker filling and vegetables, served more like a quesadilla.

National pastime: Cosplaying!

Something that astounded me: ~10% of all the women I saw in all “historical” tourist attractions across China were “cosplaying” (wearing elaborate traditional costumes and makeup). Almost all of them were accompanied by a shabbily-clad boyfriend/husband carrying a bag of stuff and a camera 😂

It’s almost like it’s a national pastime activity for women in China. I even saw a couple of French teenagers dressed up and taking photos in Beijing, accompanied by their father. (Because they looked clearly non-Chinese, they got a lot of attention from onlookers and plenty of appreciative comments.)

Transportation

Scooters

In Shenzhen (and other parts of China), it’s legal for scooters to share the pedestrian path!

Walking initially felt unsafe, but I got used to it after a few days.

Most of the scooters had this attachable cover on the handles to keep the driver’s fingers warm and dry during the rainy/cold seasons.

Trains

The train stations in China are enormous, and also tightly controlled. Just to enter the terminal, I needed to go through a bag check and ID check. We can only enter the platform (which is on a different floor) 10 minutes before the train departs, and they again do an ID check (since your ID is tied to the train ticket).

The all-electric bullet trains themselves are awesome. I was especially surprised that they were buttery-smooth on the tracks, despite speeding at 350 km/hr. The trick: Ballastless railway tracks, a technology developed in Germany.

Traditional railway tracks are elastic (they expand in hot temperatures), hence there has to be gaps between the rail segments. Ballastless tracks are inelastic and are set in concrete or asphalt, so there is no gap in the rails.