The desert does different things to different people.
Some fear the emptiness, some dread the loneliness, while others find happiness and serenity.
None more so than HRH Prince Alwaleed, for whom the dunes are just another location from which to play the role of international dealmaker, global peacebroker and world philanthropist.
Shortly after 2am on Thursday April 19, at the end of a series of meetings that spanned over 12 hours, myself and photographer Francisco Fernandez were preparing to leave his desert camp 100 miles north of Riyadh.
It had been a long, challenging, fascinating but draining day.
We were glad it was all over.
We were shattered.
"Where are you going?" asked Prince Alwaleed.
"Home," I replied.
"I have a flight to catch back to Dubai.
It's a long way from here.
" He looked startled.
"But it's only 2am! The day isn't over yet.
You see, you can live your life at 120 miles an hour, and that's pretty impressive.
But it's not good enough.
Unless you live at 150 miles an hour, the world will pass you by.
" No danger of that happening for the prince.
Moments later, his courtiers arrived with three hours of heavy reading material and documentation that needed his urgent attention.
And then to bed, at 5am.
In the space of one day, I counted 573 separate people that he had met, over 200 phone calls taken, at least 100 text messages sent, and countless pages of newspapers, magazines and official documents read.
It is an incredible, mind-blowing daily routine that he has followed for 25 years.
And it is one that, for the first time ever, he had just allowed the outside world to pry into.
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