The Bezeklik Thousand-Buddha Caves contain 67 caves, noted for their exquisite murals dating from the Northern and Southern dynasties (AD 317 - 589) to the Mongol Yuan dynasty (1279 - 1368). After a short tour of the Sugong Minaret, built in the mid-eighteenth century by the chief of Turpan Prefecture as a memorial to his father, it’s on to the Tuyuq Valley caves.