We finally arrived in the infamous Xinjiang province, home of the Turkic Uyghur people. Turpan has long been the heart of a fertile oasis and an important stop on the Silk Road. For centuries it has seen the rise and fall of religions and empires, with early Buddhism shaping much of the region before Islam became the dominant faith.

Our stay in Turpan turned out to be one of the most memorable of our time in Western China. We found a warm and welcoming hostel run by the kindest owner, who spoke flawless English and made us feel right at home. Just a few doors down was a bustling Uyghur restaurant, serving up the best meat skewers we’d had anywhere in China. At our hostel we befriended a young Chinese traveler from Beijing, who joined us in exploring the historic sites scattered around the desert fringes.

One highlight was a visit to the ancient Buddhist caves, once filled with vivid murals that told the stories of early Central Asian Buddhism. Sadly, much of the artwork has been defaced over the centuries, first by religious iconoclasm, then at the eager hands of foreign archaeologists. At the start of the 20th century, German scholars carried out the famous Turfan expeditions (1902–1914), removing countless artifacts and paintings with the justification that they would otherwise be lost in China’s political upheavals. Ironically, many of those treasures met their end in the chaos of World War II, destroyed in bombings or looted once again.