Long ago, I had the pleasure of being in a two car convoy in the Syrian desert looking for a particular castle deep and isolated in the desert (we were Foreign Service). We had the galley draft for Monuments of Syria as a guide. We were somewhat lost.

Over the horizon, we could see dust, then as the dust got closer, we could see a huge herd of camel headed straight for us. So we stayed put, ought to be interesting.

Probably about 300 camels. With two Bedu kids driving them. The oldest maybe 15 or 16 or so. The other probably about 14 years old. They stopped to gawk at us, just as we were gawking at them.

"How many camels do you have," we asked. They shrugged. "Where are you coming from?" we asked. They pointed behind them. "Where are you going?" They pointed in front of them. Then the oldest urged his mount forward, and we watched them disappear over the desert horizon.

Syria was one of the most interesting places in the world to visit before it came to its present heartbreaking condition.