Rustom had been instructed to meet them in Shanghai, but when they got off the ship, he was nowhere to be seen. Worried, they searched up and down the wharf, went to the General Post Office and finally to the Cook office, where by sheer chance Rustom appeared. Rustom had arrived from India two days before, but he had misplaced the name of their ship. He had spent a frantic two days awaiting Baba's arrival, doing everything he could to obtain information. His funds were completely depleted and he was about to wire Ramjoo in Nasik. He was overjoyed and relieved beyond measure to see Baba, who said it was his key that had drawn Rustom to the Cook office just in the nick of time.
All had lunch in their cabin and then went around Shanghai, visiting the hotel where Rustom was staying. Baba gave Rustom instructions and booked his passage to New York and Hollywood as his representative to supervise the work with Norina and Elizabeth on the screenplays This Man David and How It Happened. Before Rustom departed, Baba exchanged overcoats with him, Baba wearing Rustom's and giving Rustom his coat, which Baba said would keep Rustom safe. Rustom was concerned about his family and Baba promised to look after Rustom's children.
Baba had been very happy to meet Rustom and have him travel to America for the film work, but the next day Baba's health suffered, with bad "palpitations" of the heart. He was very anxious to return to India, and constantly discussed the possibility of flying back to India after a week's stay in Hong Kong.
Baba arrived in Hong Kong early in the morning on Saturday, 2 February 1935. Two Parsis, Rustom Desai and Rustom Pestonji, were there to welcome him. They had met Baba in 1932 when Baba's ship had docked at Hong Kong. They took Baba and the mandali to Pestonji's home in Kowloon where Baba had breakfast and was photographed. After meeting the families of both men, Baba boarded the Fushimi Maru , which sailed at 11:00 A.M. the same day.
Baba's cabin was uncomfortable, the food wasn't very good and his health was still unstable. He would have stomach pains one day and throat pains the next. Then he would indicate that he had pain in his mouth and then, on the third day, in his head. The pain would sometimes be throbbing in two or three places in his body at once. Baba was taken to see the ship's Japanese doctor on the 6th, who, after examining him, said there was nothing seriously wrong and gave him some boric acid water to gargle with for his sore throat.
They landed in Singapore in the morning on Thursday, 7 February 1935 and took a walk in the town in the morning and again in the afternoon. They met a local Bohra (Muslim) who treated them to tea and cold drinks. (Being a fellow Indian, he felt himself to be their unofficial host.) After dinner, they visited the New World amusement park.
The boat arrived in Penang at 3:00 P.M. on the 9th and anchored offshore. Baba and the mandali took a launch to the pier and then a taxi around the city. They returned to the ship around five o'clock and ship set sail two hours later.
Baba's tooth pain had become so severe that he decided to have a dentist remove a loose and aching tooth as soon as he returned to Meherabad. He stopped eating hardly any solid food and drank only bottled milk that the mandali had purchased in Singapore and Penang, and which had to be refrigerated. (Only condensed milk was available on board their ship.) Baba drank the milk with digestive biscuits three times a day.
At sea, Baba repeatedly sent Chanji to the captain with messages to do his best in speeding up the voyage to reach Colombo, Ceylon, as soon as possible. Chanji was also directed to give the captain some books about Baba, which he did.