Don't let me paint the wrong image here. It is definitely not as glamorous as it sounds. When I say that I have worked in 27 different countries this generally means I have seen the airport, a few roads, a hotel, and an office somewhere in the world.
But, every now and then you get a chance to get out and have a look around. In fact, you need to make time to get out and look around - even if it is only in the dead of night.
Recently while working in The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia I was invited by a colleague to go out into the desert to meet one of his friends. He was a wonderfully interesting character who gave me an English copy version of the Koran which I treasure.
But it was on the way there that we came across something truly intriguing. Traveling along the desert road we saw a herd of Camels, with a small group of men. We drove off-road to see what they were up to.
There we met Darfer, a traditional Bedouin guy who had recently set up camp, corralled his camels, and was about to settle down for the evening. This was a fascinating experience for me, time stands still in some places in the world.Being a traditional guy he immediately invited us to sit with him and his boys and to drink some of his Camel's milk, (An acquired taste I'm afraid, but nice) and we began to talk about him and his experience of life.
We were in the north of the Eastern Province, somewhere near the Kuwait border, and he was telling us he recently arrived there after walking from down around the UAE border, a distance of hundreds of miles, if not more. But this was his life, wandering through the desert with his camels and his boys.
As we spoke he told us that the camels had been passed from father to son for around 15 generations. When we sat and thought about this it made his camel herd probably older than the USA, and definitely older than my country of Australia.But things were changing; his son had recently taken up a role in one of the industrial giants from Saudi Arabia, and he wouldn't be taking on the herd or continuing the tradition of his family.
Moments like this are priceless.
On one hand you find yourself humbled by the ancient traditions, steadfast way of life, and the austere character of this man; and on the other hand saddened by the impact of modernization on his way of life. Wiping out traditions and institutions (his herd) that were older than many countries.
And people ask me why I travel...
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