Journey up the Mekong

The number one thing that I wanted to do in Hanoi (see my main post about Hanoi here), was visit “Train Street.” If you’re the sort of person who is reading this post, you probably already know what Train Street is, but just in case you don’t, it is a section of train tracks in the Old Quarter of Hanoi where trains pass through multiple times a day just inches from the businesses along the tracks. It has been this way for as there were businesses there, but has become kind of a phenomenon since Instagram where people can see the exciting videos of trains zipping by inches from packed cafes.

I don’t know when I became aware of Train Street but as soon as I did, I had to go. I love trains and I like weird things, so this seemed perfect for me. The difficulty is figuring out how to do it. I had an old Lonely Planet this showed me roughly where the Train Street access was, but it was an old book and since about 2019, the police have really clamped down on tourists visiting Train Street. I’m not aware of anyone actually being killed, but you could see that there’s a possibility if someone would not fall the rules.  And there are stories of close calls, usually from tourists trying to take the perfect shot and waiting too long to leave the tracks.  The other difficulty in visiting Train Street was figuring out when the trains pass and on which day. This is something that changes, so I scoured the Internet looking for a recent post from someone who had been and I just hoped that their information was accurate.

I walked along the train tracks by “224 Lê Duẩn Street” (this is the small street along the tracks; not the larger Lê Duẩn Street running parallel) until I found an access point up onto them. This was a part of the tracks where there were businesses only on one side of the tracks. I sat down and had a coffee trackside. But there were two problems: one there was a policeman who yelled at me anytime I attempted to take a picture of the train tracks; and two, the tracks only had businesses on one side, so it didn’t give that atmosphere that I was looking for.  I decided to abandon my post and walk further down. (The header image on this post if of this side of the tracks.)

I did walk further down, and I found another access point, however when I tried to walk up the hill and across the tracks I was stopped by police officers. One woman grabbed my arm trying to pull me up onto the tracks to take me to her cafe, while the policeman grabbed my other arm and tried to pull me back down. I shook them off and yelled “get the fuck away from me” before walking away.

At this point, I was feeling dejected. Maybe it wasn’t possible to visit Train Street anymore. Or maybe the whole experience was just too unpleasant. I was walking along, and I turned a corner, and I saw what looked like a little repair shop, but I saw a picture of a train and an arrow and some little steps and I decided to follow it. I walked through the repair shop and up the stairs and found myself in a cafe along the train tracks at a perfect spot. It looked just like how I imagined with two-story rows of businesses on either side of the tracks just a foot or two away. And lots of hustle and bustle.  This was near where “224 Lê Duẩn Street” meets “P. Khâm Thiên” street. Right about where the yellow star is on this map.

The proprietor of the cafe was happy for business, and I was happy to have found a good spot for the train. He also had a train schedule posted on the wall and I could see that I was only about 45 minutes away from the next passing. I sat down and ordered several coffees and enjoy this car. Other tourists came and sat at the tables, and we chatted a bit which was fun. Also fun was just watching all the people on the tracks posing for pictures, shopping for souvenirs, and enjoying the atmosphere. It felt very festive. If I had had to sit there for an hour or more waiting for the train, it wouldn’t have been a hardship.

At a certain point, a siren went off and people began herding the tourists off of the tracks. Everyone obeyed. Then we heard it coming. The train snaked around the corner and came close. I mean it really came close. It was less than a foot away from my head as it zoomed by. It was really cool. This was not one of these things that you do and you kind of think “OK well that’s something that I’ve done.” I loved this I thought it was exciting and different and while normally I would be irritated that there were so many tourists there, in this case I didn’t, it just added to the fun.

I actually ended up going back to Train Street (although a different quieter part of it) the next day as part of the motorcycle tour that I went on, but this time where I had to find it myself was much more fun.

So many of my very memorable travel experiences involve trains, whether it’s overnighting on former Soviet trains, or riding on top of the iron ore train in Mauritania, or smoking cigars with locals on an overnight train in Myanmar. There’s just something romantic and exciting about them. And so this was another experience to add to the list.

I’m not going to bother posting the train schedule, because I’m sure that changes. If you want to visit Train Street I think the best thing to do is find the access points on a map, but then try to find the most recent information that you can from social media or blogs about what time the trains go by. Obviously, I can’t speak to what the security situation will be. The police seemed pretty set on keeping tourists out, but the business owners keep finding ways to let them in.  But I think it is definitely worth doing for as long as they allow it.

The next day, my final one in Hanoi, i would go on an excellent motorcycle tour.