A one-hour train ride to the southeast from Shanghai will find you arriving in the municipality of Hangzhou. This destination isn’t typically on most itineraries for China, but it’s well worth a visit, if only for the UNESCO-inscribed West Lake (Lake Xi).

Legend has it that the lake was formed through the competitive efforts of a dragon and a phoenix. The mythical creatures painstakingly polished, each in its own turn, a pearl that fell from the heavens and transformed into the lake when it hit the earth. An associated myth maintains that a golden bull, residing at the bottom of the lake, would spew water from its mouth every time the lake threatened to run dry. While both the dragon and the phoenix are still represented by two of the surrounding mountains where they continue to watch over their prized jewel, the bull has been overtly represented with a very real half-submerged statue just beyond the official UNESCO monument.

With calm waters surrounded by lush deciduous forests and pencil-thin pagodas peering from the peaks of low hills, this is a place made for temples and quiet, reflective walks. Lily pads abound. And sacred islands dot the lake’s surface, often joined together by stone bridges, creating a labyrinthian path without walls.

One is prone to wander without intention and take whimsical turns, often finding that the starting point has become the destination. It is a series of islands, after all.

To reach the islands, you will need to take one of the wooden hop-on-hop-off boats that moor along the lake’s outer shore. The boats themselves are an imitation of the temples found throughout the site, red lacquered and stilted with curved golden shingles and wide-eyed dragons wrapping themselves in ecstasy and triumph around the banister. The boat ride is a beautiful and serene journey of only 30 minutes, and the cost is negligible.

Do be aware, however, that smoking is ubiquitous in China. And the boats, temples, and walkways throughout this holy place don’t escape that. If you find the smoking annoying like we do, just try to position yourself upwind and think happy thoughts.