Was almost arrested! Seriously! Normally the western factor means I get extra special treatment... but on occasion, it's the opposite. Had the ultra-corrupt police in Laos & Cambodia but this was all together different...

First, have to admit, when the Cairo hospital staff started me smoking again, did try to quit... but haven't been able to yet. And Nairobi has the strictest non-smoking rules I've ever seen. Even worse than LA! You're only allowed to smoke inside huts in fenced in areas. Very leper like!

So anyway... asked a security guard outside a shopping center where I could smoke & he directed me around a corner. Got around that corner & double checked with another security guard that it was the smoking area. A few minutes later...  a pimped out car driven by a guy with tatoos & two others in the car pulls next to me. The front seat passenger asks me to come by the window. I tell him I can hear him just fine where I'm standing. We go back & forth a few times & then he puts on a hat... it looked a little like a police hat but with the tinted windows wasn't sure. (And besides, earlier that day 3 officers offered me 20 Euros for sex! So not digging the cops right now.) I then asked the security guard that was still there to escort me but as I was getting him the two passengers get out and ready their automatic guns!

Then the harrasment begins... did I know I wasn't allowed to smoke there? No, I was told I am allowed to smoke here. By who? By this security guard. The security guard confirms that's true & but then the police say they can't take his statement, only someone at the police station can. They want to take me to the police station & if the guard shows up, good for me, otherwise I'm out of luck. Then they want my passport... I know better than to show corrupt police a passport, they take it & hold it for ransom. (Normally carry a photocopy but didn't have it.) So I lie & say it's at an embassy where I've applied for a visa. Then they want to search my car. But I don't have a car, I took the bus. After 30 minutes (which felt more like an hour!) they finally say they'll let me off with just a warning.

The next day while waiting to file a complaint against the officers, found out it's a common trick to plant drugs in someone's car & then ask for a lot of money to not arrest them. And... intresting... while waiting to file this complaint, someone in line was there to file a complaint against the officer taking complaints! Sure the complaint will do nothing, but it made me feel better~

TIA (This is Africa)