I just read in the ICOMOS evaluation that this site sees an unbelievable 20 million visitors a year. This might make it the most visited WHS (not including major city centers). I visited it on a cloudy day in October 2007, as part of my Grand China Trip.

I walked all around the lake, a trail of about 10km. And busy it was! For some parts, it was as if I had joined some public hiking event. Lots of groups of schoolchildren, all dressed in similar training suits which are the Chinese version of school uniforms.

The lake is very typical of Chinese landscape architecture - it all looks very familiar, and you can see sights like this around all of East Asia. It's nice to do the walk, but the scenery is so very Chinese it is hard to get a feel for it as a westerner.

Hangzhou is located in the east of China, not really my favourite part of the country. There's not a lot to see in this modern town beside the lake.