Vietnam:
Did you know there is a street in the world where the train almost touches the houses? The train track has been here for over 100 years. In fact, the government even closed it for a while, as it was overrun by tourists taking selfies. Amazing, right?
Do you know where we need to travel in order to see Train Street?
AROUND 3 P.M. and 7 p.m every day, a train hurtles through a series of narrow streets in Hanoi’s bustling, maze-like Old Quarter.
Drying clothes are carried inside, children ushered indoors, and bikes pulled to the side of the road just before the train speeds past, with a couple feet of clearance at most on each side. In some places the train is mere inches from the buildings.
The street’s residents press tight to the walls or duck into nearby doorways with a startling nonchalance and go right back to walking across or sitting on the tracks as soon as the train has passed.
The railroad tracks take up nearly the entirety of the “train street,” as it’s been dubbed by the increasing trickle of tourists that come to glimpse the startling sight. The train passes the narrow road early in the route that connects Vietnam’s capital to Ho Chi Minh city in the south.
In 2019, the Hanoi municipal government and its local transit authority had ordered cafes strewn alongside the train tracks to close. They have since reopened.