We wondered off with our tickets to try and get into the station which looked just like a human cattle pen which funneled people into the station building. The big bill boards indicated the waiting area you were meant to go to for your train (It seemed that there were about 4 trains scheduled to leave from any one given waiting area). There were guards controlling who goes into the waiting area as you should only really be hanging around there upto 2 hrs before your scheduled departure.
About 30mins before departure, they annouce which platform your train is meant to be leaving from and open the platform for boarding, at which point you see a mass of people zip over to the gates usually dragging huge pieces of luggage with them. The train to SuZhou was a rapid service - there didnt seem to be any other option - not that that's a bad thing, and looked very much like the Japanese Shinkansen...
The carriage and seat number was clearly written on the ticket so all we had to do is find our place and sit in it. The trains were in pretty good condition and you had a nice reclining seat to yourself with a fold out table thing. we also noticed that there was a water dispenser (presumably for making your self a flask of tea for the journey) at the end of the carriage. The scrolling LED display in the train is kind enough to tell you in Chinese and English useful info like the places the train stops at and the current speed from time to time.
The train station was a mess of people either trying to get a taxi or trying to sell you day trips. We managed to weasle our way out and walk down in the general direction of the Master of the Net Gardens [网师园] and caught a taxi the rest of the way (much faster - China is ridiculously large). The garden was beautiful with lots of little buildings in it and a myriad of stones dotted about the place. It did seem a bit empty but it was a nice place to walk around and wasn't crowded at all.
We also wondered into the Twin Pagodas [双塔]...and found a funky doorway
