Take a look at Ocean Current maps sometime [0].

It's easier to sail to and from Madagascar to much of Asia than it is to sail to Madagascar across the Madagascar channel.

[0] - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Corrientes-oceanicas...

I actually forgot that there is solid evidence now that Austronesians made contact with South America. So that's even crazier!

I believe more trade between China and the Mediterranean was transited via Indian Ocean trade routes than via the traditional Silk Road, though I'm hard-pressed to find actual statistics.

> I believe more trade between China and the Mediterranean was transited via Indian Ocean trade routes than via the traditional Silk Road

At the time there was no Suez canal. Going from europe to China by sea would mean go around Africa which was a challenge by itself.

No, you'd go overland in Suez and then go down the Red Sea.

Although there was a Suez canal at various times in antiquity, albeit one between the Red Sea and the Nile, not the Mediterranean directly.