Kizil is a Turkic word meaning red, and the name suits the landscape around these caves, where bare ridges of rust-coloured rock stand over the Muzat river on the northern edge of the Taklamakan Desert. Between about the third and eighth centuries, Buddhist monks cut hundreds of caves into a sandstone cliff here, some as cells to live and meditate in, some as halls with a central pillar around which pilgrims could walk, and covered the walls with murals. This was the kingdom of Kucha, a rich oasis state on the northern Silk Road, and its artists blended Indian, Persian and Chinese styles into something distinctive.
The murals are the point. They show scenes from the lives of the Buddha, legends of earlier lives, musicians, dancers and celestial beings, painted with minerals imported from far away, including lapis lazuli from Afghanistan, whose deep blue glows in some caves. Kucha was the birthplace of Kumarajiva, a monk and scholar who in the late fourth century was carried away to China and translated Buddhist scriptures into Chinese, shaping the religion for centuries. The caves suffered badly over time, from natural decay, from iconoclasm and in the early twentieth century from European expeditions, which cut murals out of the walls and shipped them to Berlin, where many were later destroyed in the Second World War. What remains is partial, but still beautiful.
The riding in Xinjiang is on a grand scale. The highway south of the Tian Shan range runs through enormous distances, with snow peaks to the north and bare desert to the south, and traffic is thin. A famous road crosses the Tian Shan north of Kuqa, with long climbs and tight bends through gorges of red rock, though it is closed for months each winter. Wind and dust are common, and summers are hot, with winter nights very cold. Spring and autumn are the best seasons.
Kuqa, a town of nearly seventy thousand, lies thirty-six kilometres away by the data and has fuel, restaurants and hotels. Services thin out quickly outside, so take fuel and water whenever you pass a station. Foreign visitors to Xinjiang are subject to checkpoints and permits, so carry your passport and check the current situation before you plan a ride. Lamb kebabs, flatbread and sweet melons are the local food, and the grape arbours in the villages offer welcome shade.