I've been riding scooters in Ho Chi Minh City for several years now and they're amazing for getting around the city. Really cheap to run and convenient to park. However, one of the disadvantages is that, just like bicycles, they do get punctures. Usually, something will cause the puncture and when you come to use your bike at the end of the day or in the morning, the tyre is flat. This is exactly what happened to me this morning before work.
In this situation you then have to push your bike and hope you are near one of the repair men who work on the streets with their own little mobile shops. So, this morning when I got a flat tyre I pushed the bike and luckily there was a repair man on the street at the end of my apartment block. Below are some pictures of the man repairing my puncture.
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| Filing it down to make it smooth |
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| Hitting it with a stick |
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| Checking for holes with water |
The process is pretty much the same a fixing a bicycle tyre and they're very good at it. They get the tube out and look for a hole. This morning my tyre had a nail sticking in it. He put one of the plasters over it. Banged it with a stick then put it in some water to check it was fixed. After this I was on my way again.
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| His air pump |
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| View from my seat where I waited |
The whole process took about 10 minutes and cost me 35,000 VND (about £1.20). I gave him 50,000 VND and he was very happy.
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