… why does Gasim wander off into the desert without his camel? I don’t get it.
He didn’t walk away. He fell asleep, fell off the camel and since nobody noticed, he was left behind.
ETA: the group couldn’t turn around to find him without putting themselves in danger by lingering on that spot of the desert.
That explains it. And now I realize why I didn’t get it. I fell asleep for a few minutes while watching, and when I woke up…
Another LoA question. When they all start off across the Nafud to take Aqaba from the land, where did they start off at? Longitude and Latitude, please.
I think they started from somewhere near Medina, but I’m not sure exactly where.
I do know that they used the Wadi Sirhan region as a base, having paid an enormous amount of gold (something like 6,000 pounds of it) for permission.
Perhaps Lawrence’s Revolt In The Desert would contain the exact information you seek. There was an excellent new edition published earlier this year.
Which, FYI, is neither funky nor cold.
Lawrence
Lawrence of Arabia
He’s an English guy
He came to fight the Turkish
This is correct. During the night ride you actually do see one man (don’t know whether it was Gassim) fall off of his camel. The camel contentedly continues walking, and the guy, awakened by his fall, has to run to catch up and climb back onto the saddle. Ali also has to remind Lawrence against falling asleep. “Be warned, English. You were drifting.”
What’s next the one armed violinist.
Good thing you were not on a camel, my friend.
And why do they call the camel the Ship of the Desert? 
Because it’s full of Arab semen!
Because it was written.
in the screenplay.
I think that’s more like “viciously”, “snidely”, “Sneakily”, “Like A Bastard” or something rather than “contentedly”
Truly, for some men nothing is written unless they write it.