Nairobi

I arrived in Djibouti from Eritrea and found a cheap flight to Nairobi leaving the next day. This seemed far more preferable to spending a minimum of seven days on a bus to get to Nairobi and so I took the easy option. I arrived at the airport and got mobbed by loads of touts but shook them all off and got a taxi to very nice hostel. The first thing that struck me was how many travelers there were here, but that was very welcome after meeting very few people in Eritrea.

Within a few hours of being in Nairobi I managed to get myself some work as an extra on a Russian film set being shot in the Shaba national park in the north of the country. We drove up the next day, but our drivers spent ages sorting stuff out in Nairobi and we didn't make to the park in time to stay at the plush lodge and instead stayed an ok hotel in Isiolo. The drivers took two girls with them and we were fairly sure they had stalled us on purpose so they could stay with the girls.

We got to up early the next and made it to the film set and we all got kitted out as Russian soldiers. We were all given guns as well and one guy was handed a machine gun with live ammunition in it. We were then told that we wouldn't be able stay at the lodge in the evening and would have to go back to Nairobi. We weren't too pleased about this especially as we hadn't made it to the lodge the night before so we formed a union and refused to go on set unless we could get accommodation at the lodge and get paid more money. Our little mini-strike worked and our demands were met.

The scene we were in involved us chasing an imaginary monkey around. It was a fairly short scene but took all day to shoot. I think it may be the most boring job I have ever done. It was however good fun to be on a film set and the in evening we stayed in the lodge and had a swim in the pool and then had great food at the buffet. The best feed I have had since I've been away.

I'm back in Nairobi now where I have caught up with Dan the crazy cyclist again. Dan broke his shoulder in Ethiopia when he a had a crash on his bike. After the crash he was stoned by an angry Ethiopian mob and then put in jail for murder despite the fact no one was dead. He managed to bribe his way out and got his shoulder fixed up in Nairobi. He has been working at an orphanage here, while he recuperates, which I went and visited. Other than that I have just been relaxing in my hostel, drinking Tusker beer and eating well while I decide what to do next.