Run!

As I hopped into the car from Karakol to Cholpon-Ata, I gave my friend Johnny from Bishkek a call. He said he’d wanted to go to Cholpon-Ata also and said he’d come down so we could meet and catch up.

We meet in the evening, Johnny and his friend Mahsad (Max), with myself and two of the girls I’d met, Alina and Chinoura. There’s a great nightclub not far from Cholpon-Ata in the Golden Sands Resort by the name of Nirvana. Prior to going to the club, we stop for a quick beer in Cafe Pirate. One beer turns to two, some vodka, dinner, more drinks and some dancing.

When it’s time to go to the club, the bill comes (2300 som) and when I tell Johnny and his friend to cover part of the bill they say that they have no money. The guys had the nerve to suggest that I’m shouting everyone for the night. I don’t have any intentions of paying the entire bill, he’s not willing to cover his half of it, so we’re left with only one option. I tell everyone that since Johnny’s not willing to pay part of the bill, we’re going to run. We grab our things and get on the dance floor. I say the word, we walk to the side, and everyone runs.

The staff didn’t notice what was happening, and after a few metres, I stop to see that girls haven’t been caught. Johnny and his friend say they’re not stopping and run all the way to the car. When the girls and I finally meet up, we decide to take a taxi to the club, only to bump into Johnny’s car with his mate who offer us a lift.

We get in the car, and start driving to the girls’ houses from where we plan on splitting from Johnny and his buddy. Along the way, I tell Johnny we should return to pay the money. He says he will go pay once we are dropped off. Given that at this point he’s a drunk, aggressive professional fighter I decide not to risk a fight over half the bill and give him 1000 som to cover myself and the girls.\

When we arrive at the girls’ apartments, we get in a big argument as it’s clear that he’s not going back to pay the bill himself, won’t return the money to me and says that if we go back together to pay the bill, he’ll leave me there. With few bargaining chips, I decide to leave the situation be for the time being, watch him drive off with my money, and watch Chinora’s mates chase after him for a fight.

I tell her to call them to return since they don’t know who they’re messing with and when they eventually do, they give me a lift to my guesthouse, where we call it a night.

The following morning, Johnny, having sobered up and realised he was a prick calls me to apologise, to meet up and return the money. When we meet and I get the money back, I tell him we still have time to go pay the bill. He says he’s never paying that bill because he has no plans of ever returning to that cafe.

An hour passes since we' part and Johnny’s on the phone. His friend who he bumped into at the Pirate cafe, who happens to work as a security guard for the Golden Sands Resort is being chased up for his friends name for the bill. Johnny tells me that he’s on his way home and that he’ll send his money to the cafe via taxi, while I should go in and pay my half in person.

Smelling the setup and not trusting the rat for a second, I decide to let him sweat a bit and don’t head to the cafe or get in touch with the security guard.

The following day I call Johnny once again saying we should go to pay the bill together. I can tell he’s nervous as we both know that he' doesn’t know where in the town I’m staying, and has no way of chasing me up to pay the bill that he is now stuck with.

In the afternoon, I head to the cafe, give them my share of the money, leave them with my telephone number, Johnny’s telephone number and that of his friend the security guard.

The following day, I get a call from a police man telling me I split on the bill at the cafe and that he’s managed to track me down using his great detective skills and that if I don’t pay the bill, I’ll have problems leaving the country. I tell the policeman that he didn’t track me down, since I had left my number with the manager, that I’d paid my share of the bill and that there will be no troubles when I leave the country since apart from my first name and number, he knows no other information about me.

We end the call, I forward the number to Johnny for him to sort out his share of the money and leave it at that.

The policeman calls five minutes later that he’s organised to get the remainder of the money, that I had paid and that’s it’s pretty shit the way I was setup to pay the whole bill by Johnny and his friend. He tells me that the cafe is run by a family member of his and that I’m welcome back at any time, a complete turn around from five minutes ago when he was threatening problems with the border police.

I thank him for his invitation, end the call and put a close to yet another one of these crazy adventures I face in my travels.