Over the past several days we’ve been plagued by more & more back wheel issues. Our experiences with the bike shops along the route have been all over the map; from being shooed away before we could even try to explain the issue, to passer-bys stopping so they could help translate. Some tried, some didn’t but we never found a shop that had the proper tools. Admittedly, not bringing the tools to remove the cassette was a foolish mistake on our part. We didn’t need it in Africa, any bicycle shop in Europe would have them and we expected it to be the case in Asia. It’s not. Live and learn. On a side-note, one thing you should keep in mind before handling over your bicycle for repair here is that they are a nation of “doers” and Mr. Fixits. If removing the cassette means they have to take a hammer and chisel to it, then so be it. 
At any rate, by the time we got to Nha Trang, the wheel was unrideable so Spiros took an overnight bus to Ho Chi Minh City, got it fixed and returned the next day. Unfortunately, the fix was short lived; we broke another spoke the very next day. Its looking like the wheel we replaced in Bangkok is buckling under the pressure. So, its Mel and Bowman’s bicycle shop in Cape Town to the rescue. She’ll be bringing us a brand new touring wheel. Yeehah!
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