Hanoi Train Street

 Hanoi - After our Pho Cuon lunch, we took a grab taxi to Hanoi most dangerous street - Hanoi’s Train Street is Vietnam’s surprisingly most famous street.  It’s a tiny narrow street hidden in one of the back streets of Hanoi and surrounded by high narrow houses packed closely together. These families’ backyards are the railways where the train passes a few times per day. 

the railway tracks

A photo on the infamous train track

The reason I wanted to come and see how close the train was when it passes us and it was literally a meter away from the houses. The safety line (marked with yellow color) is only about 20 centimeters away from the homes, and that’s the line you shouldn’t cross when the train is coming.

Before the train arrives, tourist was walking up and down the tracks - taking photos. But all of sudden, a loud airhorn sounded and a man shouting in Vietnamese to get all tourists off the tracks.   The tourist went scrambling back to their chairs to get a good view of the passing train.

The cafes are nicely decorated and colourful to attract the tourist.  They are so vibrant, full of flowers, art, paintings, and all kinds of decorations. You can sit down just a meter away from the tracks, or even choose a spot upstairs where you get a higher perspective of the passing train.

Willy cheers to the passing train

Our drinks 

In October 2019, visiting it as a tourist was presumably banned because of the railway operators’ previous problems. What caused the final ban was when the train had to make an emergency stop to avoid hitting tourists.   But the covid pandemic changed everything, businesses and cafes were allowed to operate once again.   I was to say very fortunate to be here to see this train passing.