The Train Street, Ha Noi, Vietnam

We didn’t get enough time to get out of the spell we were bound by Ninh Binh – On our way back we were reminiscing the tranquility we felt in the boat ride, the sceneries we were part of, and the images refused to get out of our minds eye. En route to the hotel, we admired the neatly laid out paddy fields, lotus fields and other vegetable gardens without even leaving a square inch of land bare and unused. The lush fields stretched to the horizon, indicating how fertile the land was and they were so well managed, its as though some one took out a large ruler and drew perfect squares and rectangles, that they looked so prim and proper. 

The fields had dirt paths running alongside the emerald green paddies which reminded me of the rice fields at Chalakudy, my moms place in Kerala.  Heart of hearts I was longing to meander through those paths with no care in the world, like once it was. The sun was shining right above these fields and made them glisten and shine, and as we were looking out of the window of our bus, it started raining and the smell of the soil brought in more nostalgia.

Most dwellings on the country side were concentrated in one place and then there were vast expanses of these fields and paddies and then we would come across another human in-habitation, with around some 50 to 100 concrete houses.  The houses were all concrete, at least two storeys high, narrow and had very less space around them, with clusters of these houses bunched together.  The specialty we noticed about these in-habitations was that each of these clusters also had a cemetery amidst the fields, with the tombs quite ornate and well looked after, most of them had offerings on them.

Look how I came in here to write about the Train street, and I am still in Ninh Binh and Rural Vietnam.

So we had some time left in the evening after we got back from the magical Ninh Binh and our plan was to go to the Train street because we don’t believe in resting up during a holiday like this.  And thankfully all 4 of us are on the same page about this.  Train street right from the beginning, sounded like a novelty for all of us. Quoted as one of the must see places in Ha Noi, I have myself watched videos of this place and found it completely incomprehensible until I saw that in reality. I am sure this is certainly a one-of-its-kind in the world. 

Terrifying Train Tracks (another expansion for TTT) of Vietnam

A store owner inviting customers into an coffee shop

Jay and Sudha, posing.  did you notice them twinning too?

Located in the old quarter of Ha Noi, we took the help of google maps and the maps provided by hotel to reach this place. Thank fully we could get to this place is less than 15 minutes from the hotel where we stayed and had decided to take a stroll, to get the feel of Vietnam on that evening. We were wondering how to find this place amidst all the cacophony, but you will know once you stumble upon it— it’s a railroad after all. Only that it’s a set of colonial era train tracks, where you would have actually expected a road, that is. An Instagram-famous railroad where tourists gather in hopes of the perfect picture. 

Jay and me posing

Twice a day in Ha Noi’s train street, a speeding train passes through a narrow street where people live, work and play. And we were there on a weekend and the train goes along 5 times and we could see the train passing by, though from a distance twice. Local residents were playing checkers, drinking beer, selling nick knacks on the tracks one minute, and the next they’ve scooped up their belongings and moved to the very edge to let the train whizz past.

Its business as usual for locals, by the way, and watching them sit in the middle of the tracks with their neighbors, some drinking beer and other cold and hot beverages sitting on low plastic stools, with kids and pets running amuck playing games, a random dog barking at us, while an older lady waters her plants in a flower box outside her home. The train street is lined with tall, narrow buildings, dilapidated and decaying. Women hang laundry lines and life goes on, despite their unusual predicament.

The babes on the tracks - quite a fancy!!!

The bright blue train passes through the street as it heads South to Hue and Hoi An, and this once local secret has become a popular sight for tourists. Foreigners, Instagrammers and amateur travelers like us get their cameras ready to shoot, locals move their tables back in to their front door and the train snakes past these narrow alleys. This is one place in Vietnam, where we found a large concentration of westerners.

trying to look eye to eye with a poodle - notice the fella's focus?

I also think this is one of my fanciest places to photograph in all of Vietnam. The babes and I had such fun posing on the tracks and just taking cool shots of the street, with railway track and houses almost blending into one. I also loved the way so many of the residents proudly display the Vietnam flag outside their homes, some thing you will see on many streets in Hanoi and around Vietnam. 

The entire street has been made tourist friendly and as little as 10 square feet space converted into a beer shack or a coffee shop with plastic stools and light weight wooden furniture being used for the make shift business points.

 

One last one on the tracks

We could only see the blue train pass by from a distance and not from the Train street, we were quite amused at what we saw. Ninh Binh and Train street were two ends of a spectrum with one being the quietest and the most serene in the world and the other making you feel so claustrophobic.

At the end of the day today, for no reason at all, the babes were ridiculously happy. or was it just the sense of accomplishment?