I arrive in Suzhou to spend a few days with my cousin before heading to Beijing. Suzhou used to be a relatively small, sleepy suburb of Shanghai famous for its World Heritage gardens. In recent times though, it's now famous for something completely different. The car that you drive, the computer you use to the drill that you dust down every Bank Holiday weekend - probably some part of each has been made or assembled here in Suzhou. I stay just out of town on SIP. Until recently, the only SIP I knew was the School Improvement Plan but I now knew it also stood for Suzhou Industrial Park. It is really an industrial park like we know though but more like a mini city - a league of nations.
I spend the first few days exploring the famous gardens and some of the ancient buildings in the town and, as I wander around, I cannot get my head around the extremes. Where my cousin lives it really is modern-day China totally Westernised in every way. We go out to a Western restaurant on the Friday evening and watch a laser and water show on one of the splendid lakes. Yet, in the blink of an eye, you see the other side of this country where people are huddled together in shacks trying to make a living by selling whatever they can.
One minute you see young Chinese families enjoying life at a mini Alton Towers and the next minute you spot an elderly fisherman trying to catch his next meal using traditional fishing methods.
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