Turpan is a random oasis in the middle of the Xinjiang Provience (mostly covered in desert) that specializes in grapes, some pretty cool looking mountains, several ancient cities, and old buddhist grottoes. The Mogao Grottoes are located in a different area but are some of the coolest Buddhist paintings and sculptures I have seen; unfortunately (for the better) you are not allowed to take photos. However the grottoes are caves in the side of stone cliffs where each cave was dedicated to different parts of Buddhism, the caves were decorated top to bottom with very beautifully detailed descriptions of events. Pretty awesome to see such great art that is so old.