Experiences from the other side of the world

It was July 2011, we had just arrived to Beijing from a short trip to Shanghai to pick up some friends. We already felt like locals, so we decided to take the subway from the train station to our hotel near Tiananmen Square. We were 6 people: my 2 younger sisters, my mom, my sister’s friend and my boyfriend, along with 4 travel bags and 2 big suitcases, riding the Beijing subway, on a Friday at 7pm. What could possible go wrong?
We got into the subway through 3 different doors. Neither of us spoke Chinese, except my sister, but only because she has everything written down in her notebook. She and I were together and we were the only ones that knew the name and the exact location and subway stop of our hotel. The train was cramped in a way that no even New Yorkers have ever experienced. At every station we arrived, people were shoved into a train that had more than full capacity. This happened for around 10 very long minutes, until I heard some shouts in Spanish; it was my other sister asking me if this was the right stop. She was partially right, it was Tiananmen stop, but not our stop. I couldn’t see what was actually happening, until the next Tiananmen stop. My sister and I struggle to get out, stepping over every Chinese that was between me and fresh air; my bag was stuck between 20 legs and they would have to forgive me, but I pulled it out with all my strength, knocking some people down. Finally we were out into another madness, we even heard a poor girl screaming because the train’s door was closing and her friends were still trying to pull her out. It was pure insanity. The space cleared out eventually and there was no one left. Where were my sister, her friend, my mom and my boyfriend?
We started to get really worried; they had no idea where our hotel was. My other sister arrived in the next train and just like local Chinese girls, we pulled her out of the crowd. 1 more, 3 to go. The next train arrived with my boyfriend, since he is quite big, he had no problem getting out. 2 more were left; the ones that worried us the most. Around 10 minutes pass, when we saw them arriving from the train coming in the opposite direction; they completely missed the stop and 2 stops later they realized we were not in the train anymore, so they had to come back and find us eventually. We felt literally like ants trying to adapt in a different environment, where only the strongest and more sneaky ones survive the subway ride.