On my travels...

I'm in Huzhou....I assume it's somewhere near Shanghai, as I happened to notice that was on the massive sign on top of the airport when I landed....

One evening, I was taken to one of China's 5 great lakes...it was so big, it had it's own horizon...I was convinced it was the sea. Anyway, they have built a huge development by the edge - houses, apartments, shops, hotels, restaurants....needless to say, most of them are empty (most of the massive number of new buildings here are - warning!!) but there's a super-trendy hotel that spans the 'harbour' and changes colour at night...it's like a cross between a tasteless Christmas display at Harrods and a Coldplay lightshow...I'm told it costs 100 grand a month in electric bills to keep it all going - which perhaps explains why the rooms there are 3 times as much as anywhere else. I assume the curtains are very thick so the bloody lights don't keep you awake at night...

On the water there are 'fake' old Chinese 'junk' boats....they had me fooled, and it looked fab as the sun went down - strangely emotional actually : and fresh air, which was good, as I took huge gulps of it thinking how much my kids would like it there.

I sent them photos and a video of the lights changing on the hotel - they said "Swaggyyyyyyyyy" and such like...