I remember,

summer of 2014 my family went back to China for vacation. We traveled from Yichan to Leshan by train. The entire ride was a haze and when we arrived at the Leshan station, a group of roudy bearded men suspiciously rushed us to get off. We did so quickly as the train was only stopping there for 5 minutes. When we walked out of the station, we were greeted with a hurd of middle aged men awaiting customers to ride their cars into the city. We were in the middle of nowhere and had no choice but to ask for a ride from a stubby man for 160 yuan. Getting into the old van, we noticed the old-fashioned lock on the door had been screwed off. My brother informed us of how he had read an article about the dangers of getting into cars like that. Something didn't feel right but we went along with it anyway. Throughout the ride, the driver is hastily looking at his phone and checking the rear-view mirror (I locked eyes with him several times). We had already driven for nearly an hour and it had gotten dark. When we asked how much longer it would take, he gave a vague reply of 30-60 minutes. Soon enough, we found ourselves on a winding dirt road of a dense forest, where it was pitch dark. There were no signs of other people except another minivan tailing behind us. Panic began to ensue and I felt a kind of deep, dark fear that I've never experienced. Yet, part of me wished something DID happen, just to see if the adrenaline and self defense classes could pull me through the situation. Although there was barely any reception, my cousin was able to call all the relatives we could think of. We arrived at our hotel safely shortly after. To this day, I think that weak cell phone signal was what had saved us.