If you meet others on a trip through the Asian deserts, you will be greeted kindly. Desert people know that life itself often depends on the kindness of strangers.
If you ask for protection at a camp, you will get a meal to eat. Be sure to wash your hands in water, if there is any, or if not, in dry sand. Eat well, for it may be many hungry days before you come upon another nomadic group of desert dwellers.