Many people want to come here," my guide, Rashid Juma Othman Al Thamimi explains as we bounce along in our 4x4 over the rocky desert nearly an hour and a half west of Doha. "But it is too difficult to get here."

I smile and nod my head wondering why anyone would even bother. The desert in the south is a pleasure to visit. With its soft, milky sand, periwinkle blue Inland Sea and sublime view of Saudia Arabia's peach covered mountain tops, the southern desert is a walk in the park by comparison to this jolting experience.

Here for as far the eye can see, the sand forms the strangest Dr. Seuss-y peaks that look like the fluffed cream atop a cappuccino. They are nearly as hot, I discover, when I venture out of the jeep to snap a few shots on my now melting point and shoot camera. A study in white, the photograph, I am sure, will be indescribably lovely, but not precisely what my editor had in mind for his four-color newspaper.

"Don't worry so much," my guide, a Qatari native, assures me. "You will see something so beautiful in Areal-Al-deep. It is where they filmed that great movie about Qatar." Just then I see it. Off in the distance there is what looks like a fairytale fort expertly landscaped with pineapple-like palm trees. As we bounce a little closer over the rocky boulders, the details of this fantasy sand castle come clearer.

"This is a recreation of an old Qatari village," Al Thamimi explains. "It was built by Qatar Television for a movie that was broadcast last year during Ramadan. Every night for 30 days, it played for 45 minutes. Everyone saw it. It was a great movie."

We pull our jeep up outside the white-walled fortress. Outside we find two men, the area's caretakers who protect the miniature village from mischief-makers. Seated on small rugs, the men are grilling chicken on a hibatchi, smoking sheesha on a hookie pipe and listening to Arabic music on a boom box that has clearly seen better days.

"Welcome," they say as we approach the recreated village. "Would you like to see where they filmed the movie? I think in English you would call it "Son of Fox. Or maybe it is Son of Wolf." My guide and I agree, thank the men and set off on our mini-tour, through this tiny town.

"This is where horses and camels eat," Al Thamimi explains, pointing to a trough. "I don't know the word in English. It is a like a restaurant for animals," he continues with a laugh, knowing his words are hilariously funny.

We continue to stroll around the village, through the blacksmith's shop, into the beautiful mosque, to the meeting room where villagers 200 years ago would have met to discuss local business and tell stories among themselves.

"The film was about two warring families," Al Thamimi explains. "Both were very powerful with many members, dozens of animals, lots of money. Each family was very powerful. To make the movie, they hired locals to play the villagers. Just outside these walls they staged the war."

To accurately recreate the village, Qatar Television paid attention to every detail. Every building, every door and every palm leaf-thatched roof was lovingly designed to accurately represent the lives of Qatar's people and the architecture of the countryside two centuries before.

Scaling the town's spiral staircase to the lookout spot is a scary experience. Winding up to the top, I think I am home free until I see the wooden ladder that awaits me half way en route to the viewing platform. I toss off my three-inch heels, tuck my notebook into the waistband of my long khaki skirt, literally shove my camera into my bra and start to scale the ladder.

I can't decide what is worse: the fact that anyone who cares to can see up my skirt or that I am terrified of heights and fairly certain that I will trip on my way down.

"Be careful, Regina," Al Thamimi calls out. Startled to hear his voice and worried that my guide is directly under the ladder with a prime-time ant's eye view of my quivering legs, I look down to find no one there. Relieved, I continue up and choke out a response, "I'm fine, Rashid. I love ladders."

The view from the top is worth the trip. Standing up there across from the proud white minaret that sprouts up to the now mandarin sky, I see a world few at this conference will ever experience. In the distance, a flock of sheep waltz around the blustery desert, crying out to the world. They sound like a room of crybaby kindergarteners, squabbling over toys. To the right, some camels mull about, striking poses like bored fashion models, awaiting their next look-see.

My guide and the caretakers talk quietly down below. Perhaps Al Thamimi is giving them news from Doha. The men haven't left this compound in the last year and they appear to be eager for information about the world outside. Confident that I'll get my fill of good news and bad upon my return, I breathe in the humid air, luxuriating in the peace and silence of a simpler world, when man's world was smaller and price was determined at the point where supply met demand.