diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
index 174707fb..0cef42ba 100644
--- a/VERSION
+++ b/VERSION
@@ -1 +1 @@
-Version 1.99.4 (2011-12-16 11:30:50) stable
+Version 1.99.4 (2011-12-16 11:40:28) stable
diff --git a/gaehandler.py b/gaehandler.py
index d33b7155..29d8e238 100755
--- a/gaehandler.py
+++ b/gaehandler.py
@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@ logging.basicConfig(level=logging.INFO)
 
 def wsgiapp(env, res):
     """Return the wsgiapp"""
-    env['PATH_INFO'] = env['PATH_INFO'].encode('utf8')
+    env['PATH_INFO'] = env['PATH_INFO'].decode('latin1').encode('utf8')
 
     #this deals with a problem where GAE development server seems to forget
     # the path between requests