We took the chairlift up to Dailuo Hill where crowds gathered round one of the smaller temple courtyards. The air was thick with incense smoke from joss sticks and everyone was eating. People practically clambered over each other not so much to get inside but to have their names engraved on cheap badges and medallions. Men with ponies touted for customers to ride them back down into town.

In taking a footpath which contoured along the ridge in and out of forests, we had some of the best views across Taihuai. One building in particular stands out - and quite literally above - the rest: the Great White Pagoda of Tayuan Temple. This is Wutai's landmark and its bulbous outline appears on everthing from tickets to restaurant menus. As a kind of spiritual heart even the most casual visitors drop by for a dose of good karma.

Before we could even think of doing the same there was the minor problem of getting off the hillside without backtracking. The most promising paths seemed to end abruptly and no doubt we'd taken a wrong fork. Finally we scrambled down through the trees and emerged covered in leaves and twigs at the bottom - to some very strange looks from the locals.

Wutai boasts several bottle-shaped pagodas but the Great White is the largest and one of the oldest. At 56 metres tall, its gilded top is hung with 252 copper bells that chime in the slightest breeze. The interior is said to contain ancient statues of Buddha brought over from India. Wutai's temples contain a couple of real oddities and one of them can be found here. In the 'Hall of Scriptures' stands a two-storey, hexagonal library (book shelf doesn't really do it justice). With thirtythree decorative tiers, and wider at the top than the bottom, there's room for 20,000 texts. Best of all, the whole thing once turned much like a giant prayer wheel. Monks can't do this now because the mechanism has seized up.

After dropping by a tiny restaurant to fill up on dumplings and beer, we headed for another oddity in the nearby Louhou Temple. Entering a hall, one monk beckoned us over to an elaborate altar. He climbed down steps, unlatched a door and began cranking a rickety wheel. As we watched in amazement, the altar's large wooden lotus opened its eight petals to reveal yet more statues. This was the famous 'Buddha in Blossom', said to have been built by a pair of Tibetan lamas in the 1790s. The tranquil atmosphere was broken by a rush of tourists anxious to see the famed lotus close. One day soon hawkers will be selling miniature plastic replicas outside.

The low hill rising in the centre of town is called 'Spirit Vulture' peak and with a name like that who can resist climbing it. Pusading Temple is perched on the top, its yellow-tiled roof gleaming in the sun like a sort of beacon. Like many of Wutai's temples and monasteries, 108 steps lead the way. A local guide explained we all have 108 kinds of worries; for each step counted and climbed, one worry is cast off. It was worrying to hear I might have so many unknown worries stacked away inside.

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