Wudangzhao Lamasery, about 70 kilometres northeast of central Baotou in a narrow valley flanked by yellow sandstone cliffs, is the largest and best-preserved Tibetan Buddhist monastery in Inner Mongolia. A complex of six major assembly halls and dozens of supporting buildings spreads across the hillside, its whitewashed walls and gilded roofs standing out dramatically against the ochre cliffs behind.
The monastery is architecturally in the Tibetan style — flat roofs, deep window reveals, exterior walls painted in bands of white and terracotta — but set in a landscape that looks more like central Mongolian steppe than the Tibetan plateau. The combination is striking. On ordinary days the complex is quiet enough to explore at leisure; on festival days (the main ones fall in the lunar calendar's first and sixth months) the monastery fills with monks, pilgrims, and visitors from the surrounding region for multi-day ceremonial gatherings that include cham ritual dances. Admission around ¥50; the 70-kilometre drive from Baotou takes about 90 minutes.