One night last week, I went out with my Dutch colleague and another Italian chap working at the Liaoyang customer's site to Anshan for dinner. Anshan is about 30 minutes by car from Liaoyang. We took a taxi there.
After dinner, we walked around the town which is larger than small Liaoyang. Then the two european guys decided to go to a pub nearby. I decided to go back to the hotel in Liaoyang on my own, letting them have fun on their own. That was around 1015pm.
I boarded a cab and instructed the driver to bring me back to my hotel in Liaoyang. He mumbled some arrangement to me but I had difficulty understanding his thick North-eastern chinese accent. We agreed on the price nonetheless. When we arrived near the toll station between Anshan and Liaoyang, I finally understood what he meant earlier; I had to change to another cab which is from Liaoyang so that both drivers do not need to pay toll. I thought that's fine, as long as I can still get to my hotel in Liaoyang.
To my horror, the new cab I boarded picked up two other strangers shortly after we crossed the toll station. My imagination started to go wild; I remember watching the missing personnel documentaries on channel 8 back home about how some s'poreans went missing after boarding taxis with suspicious people late at night in China. The stretch of road towards the hotel is dark. I began to pray quietly for protection that I would not be killed or robbed. To my relief and thankfulness to God, the 2 strangers turned out to be good people. I arrived safely at my hotel and the taxi driver then sent them to their respective locations. What a way the Chinese taxi drivers work! They will fnd all sorts of opportunities to earn more by packing total strangers into their cars to car-pool.
I am grateful to God for His protection and I learnt never to take taxis alone late at night in China.
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