My car broke down a couple days ago. Radiator broke. I saw smoke coming out from the hood and it didn’t smell good. There’s no coolant left in the tank. Smart people may have it towed to the shop right away. I, on the other hand, took the risk of driving it to the mechanic without adding extra coolant, not even water. I thought it was calculated risk because the distance I drove before seeing smoke was about the same distance I needed to drive to the mechanic. It turned out to be a bad idea. Engine light was on two highway exits away from the shop and I saw smoke coming out just two blocks from the shop. Afraid of frying the engine, I pulled over, stopped the engine, hoping to let the engine cool off before I made the final dash to the shop. But the engine never started again.
Anyway, long story short, I got rescued by two “knights” with AAA membership. My car was towed to the shop in two minutes. Whether it was worth the risk and whether it was worth the favor to tow the car for two blocks are separate topics. After listening to me thanking them profusely, one of my saviors said that he was from Alaska and in Alaska, people stop to help people out because if you don’t, they might die.
That reminded me of one incident in Tibet. Yeah, that’s right, that’s why I’m posting this blog here. One time when we came back from Mt. Everest Basecamp, after the stuffy, scorching hot ride on the 110 km dirt road from EBC to Old Tingri, we were all tired and longing for a long shower in Shigatse. There was no running water at the base camp. I don’t think I washed my hands, let alone shower the night before. Just while we were thinking about shower and dinner, our driver (Gesang shifu – yes, in China we call our drivers “shifu”, just like Kung fu apprentices call their masters, like Kung fu panda calls his Shifu) pulled over alongside another car just returned from EBC . You knew because the other car was just like ours, covered with dirt from head to toe. Clearly the other car had some trouble. It had about 3-4 Laowai (expats) in it, looking just as tired and exuberant from an adventure as we were. Both Shifus spent about half an hour working hard on the broken car and it finally jolted a little. We took the guide from the other car in our car to offload the weight and continued on to Shigatse. But the other car eventually broke down again later. I found out that while we were having dinner and hot shower, our Shifu went back to tow the other car to the shop. I thought that the other driver must be our driver’s friend or relative or something. It turned out that they are just acquaintances. Tibetan people are awfully nice, I concluded. Yes, that’s true, but later I heard more about it. Gesang Shifu said that in Tibet, especially in winter, when you see cars broken down, you stop to help because if not, people may die. Besides, “do to others what you would want them to do to you”.
Tibetan cars are all well-used , beaten up by snow, dirt, wind, and just plain running non-stop. 10,000 mile cars are still considered new. Cars oftentimes break down in the middle of nowhere. That’s why every Tibetan driver is also half a mechanic – hence the name “Shifu”? So, dear readers, if next time you are privileged to visit Tibet and if your car broke down or you met other broken cars, a little patience and understanding goes a long way.
