If you’re up on Chinese geography, history or culture, you’ve heard of Hangzhou. If you’re like the rest of us mere mortals, there’s only room in your brain for, like, five Chinese cities and those spots are already taken.

There’s no geography shaming over here on this slice of the internet.

Here are some reasons the city of Hangzhou may be familiar to you:

• It’s the tea capital of China (longjing tea is from here)
• The G20 summit was held here in 2016
• The city was the capital of two of the Chinese dynasties (Song, Tang) back before Mongol invasion
• Global tech giant Alibaba is headquartered in Hangzhou

If those little factoids don’t ring a bell, no worries, because today we’re going for a little adventure in Hangzhou

I went to Hangzhou for work and these days, it’s why lots of people come here, for meetings or conferences with one of the many tech companies popping up near the hallowed streets of Alibaba. But Hangzhou is also known as a weekend getaway from Shanghai (just an hour away by train), and it attracts all kinds of travelers from around the country.

If you’re not in town for work, the big attraction is West Lake. The lake is actually man-made, but it was created to appeal to the Chinese love for parks and gardens. Covering a few square miles, you can bike the full way around the lake, or base yourself in the old part of town and just walk on portions of the walkways, which extend nearly the entire way around.

In the height of the summer, when the temperature in Hangzhou borders on that of a lava field, the lake is most active at night.

When the sun sets, families take to the streets. Kids bounce around the paths, and splash in the water. A combination of leisurely walkers and bikers somehow make room for each other on the paths. The trees, decorated with lights, illuminate the city at night and make for a magical experience.

During the heat of the day, the shallow creeks and tributaries that surround the lake are brimming with families, keeping cool in the shade. I make it sound idyllic but it’s honestly nuts. There are so many kids screaming and going nuts with water guns. Oh and don’t forget the cars, which somehow crowd in on roads that really feel like they should be walking paths.

My visit to Hangzhou was short, but started with a visit to a local tech company (located next door to one of Alibaba’s buildings, as if the success will rub off). Our group of sixty people then moved to our hotel for the night, where my company had organized some team building activities.

I was all worried about trust falls and color wars, but in China, team building mostly means PowerPoint presentations and big meals.

Those out of the way, small groups split away to explore West Lake at night. I really enjoyed walking on the pedestrian path in the middle of the lake, with the trees sparkling. Despite the late hour, vacationing families seemed in no hurry to leave. My group got bikes from the city bike share program to pedal around for a bit, and then we stopped for a break where any self-respecting American would – McDonald’s.

We just really needed ice cream, okay?

The next day our huge group took a hike, walking up a long trail to the village of Longjing (home to the famous tea). It’s about ‘halfway up the mountain’ from the lake, although from the village you can’t actually see water. The little river/creek running parallel to the path told us we weren’t far away from the lake, but I was too hot to ask any more pressing questions. After another huge meal, with dish after dish spinning in the center of the table, it was time to head back to our home cities.