Kuqa – Day 71

Kuqa is a city that was once the home of the ancient Buddhist Kingdom of Kucha and one of the most famous Chinese Buddhists. The fourth-century Kuchean linguist Kumarajiva lived here for forty years until, in 386 CE, he was imprisoned by a Chinese general who had been sent with an army to bring him to the Chinese capital of Chang’an. Instead of sending the famous Buddhist back to his emperor, the general declared a new state, became a warlord and held Kumarajiva prisoner, the general not being a Buddhist but loathe to give away such a valuable person. There he remained until a new emperor had overthrown the old one and requested the general-turned-warlord to send Kumarajiva to Chang’an. He refused and only after the new emperor sent an army to take Kumarajiva by force was he freed from his prison and traveled to Chang’an to take up the position of ‘National Teacher’.

Over the years, giant monasteries were built here, but there isn’t much to show of them now.

Our friend came to pick us up early to visit his house. He owned a KTM 640 adventure, and even though he hadn’t used it very much, he wanted to sell it to buy a BMW 1200GS. He used to work at the local waterworks, but has quit to start up an automotive accessory business.



We had a nice home-cooked lunch, and sat around chatting before we drove out of town to Subashi monastery ruins, while the harsh winds whipped sand into our eyes. Xuanzang, another famous Chinese Buddhist monk stopped here in 630 AD on his 17 year pilgrimage to India and back.



We drove around in red-tinged sandstone hills nearby, an area known to our host as he used to work around the area for the pumping station, but we had to turn around after our route was blocked by a dam under construction.

A day earlier, Lulu had noticed that the top bolt holding her triple-tree to the frame had come loose and fallen off somewhere on the rough roads of the G217. I thought it was important that we get it fixed as soon as possible but we weren’t able to find a fastener that fit. The mechanic had a look at the bearings, tightened the bottom nut and was confident we shouldn’t have too much trouble with it. It still nagged at the back of my mind though.



While Lulu’s bike got tended to, I went out and bought a big adjustable wrench so I could fix my back tyre if I needed to. My lazy-as**d approach to the possibility of breaking down would have to take a back seat.

Later, after dinner, we met the guys who gave us such a great welcome party the night before and we went to KTV to finish off the day.