Kuqa lies on the northern rim of the Taklamakan Desert, in Xinjiang, at the southern foot of the Tian Shan, and it has been a stop on the Silk Road for two thousand years. Known in Chinese chronicles as Kucha, it was the capital of an oasis kingdom that grew rich on trade and became a major centre of Buddhism in the first millennium. Its musicians and dancers were famous across Asia, and the monk Kumarajiva, born here in the fourth century, became one of the great translators of Buddhist texts into Chinese. Today the Uyghur town has a rebuilt old quarter, a big mosque, a Sunday market and a good deal of melons, apricots and grapes.
The great monuments lie outside town. The Kizil Caves, about sixty-five kilometres to the west, are a set of Buddhist cave temples cut into a cliff above a dry river, decorated with murals that include blue, green and white pigments from lapis lazuli, and that are among the earliest Buddhist paintings in China. Closer to town, the ruined city of Subashi and the Kumtura caves reward those with time to spare. The landscape is stark: yellow earth, red cliffs and scattered poplars, with the pale line of the Tian Shan to the north.
The Duku Highway, which ends here, is one of the great mountain roads of China. It crosses the Tian Shan from the green meadows around Nalati, high in the range, through snowy passes and deep canyons, and descends in a long run to the desert oasis at Kuqa, passing red rock gorges and glacier-fed streams. The road is usually closed by snow from about November until spring, and landslides and rockfalls can block it at any time, so check conditions locally. Fuel stations are sparse in the mountains, so fill up before you leave Nalati or at the larger towns, and be ready for checkpoints and ID inspections that are common in the region.
I should say plainly that foreign visitors cannot normally ride their own motorcycles in China without special permits, a Chinese driving licence and a licensed guide, so this is a route to plan well in advance with a specialist, if at all.
Kuqa has about sixty-eight thousand people in the urban area, with plenty of services. Try the lamb kebabs, the flat bread called nang, and the sweet local apricots in summer.