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Saigoneer Chapter
Saigoneer loves trains, so for no particular reason, we’re bringing you along our loco-motion with a series of train-related articles, interviews, and essays in our #SaigoneerTrainChapter, read on!
Travel
The train connecting Vietnam’s largest cities takes 35 hours. Yet even after the first time I finished the trip, I was already coming up with excuses for why I needed to do it again. For me, the journey is much more than a chance for great views and time to reflect. It’s an exploration of life itself.
Travel
When Saigoneer first announced a few weeks ago that Vietnam’s railway network would be the centerpiece of our next themed article series, a number of readers joked in the comment section that who in their right mind would love Vietnamese trains.
Food Culture
♫ And the bún mộc on the train goes round and round. Rolling down the track ♫
Parks & Rec
“When you turn it on, the train is not only moving, but it can make sounds too. The sounds are so authentic that when I listen to it, I feel like I am sitting on a real train right now,” Minh Tú, a Saigon-based model train aficionado, shares with me the satisfied feeling every time he gets a mini train to run.
Saigon
Travelers arriving by train in Hồ Chí Minh City sometimes express surprise that the main Saigon Railway Station is located in Hòa Hưng, some distance from the central business district. In fact, this is the third railway terminus in a city where each successive station has been built further away from the river.
Saigon
The iconic Bến Thành Market is not the only Saigon landmark that has endured for more than a century. T he Vietnam Railways building at 138 Hàm Nghi, given its inauguration in 1914, is pushing the 110-year milestone in less than six months.
Hanoi
In many countries, urban metros are a mundane convenience — so ordinary that their users often take them for granted. But until the birth of Hanoi’s Cát Linh-Hà Đông Metro Line, residents of Vietnam had enjoyed no such air-conditioned, traffic-immune method of transportation.
Travel
Whether on the slow train carving its way through the Shan Hills near Kalaw, the Mandalay to Yangon Express, or the 4am train to Hsipaw that crosses the great Goteik Viaduct, traversing Myanmar on gritty, swaying trains is the way to go.
Travel
“Heavy with the thick smell of misery and before even leaving the station, the odor of urine would be palpable throughout the car,” writes author Dạ Ngân of the North-South Train in 1989. Back then, a hard seat berth cost nearly a month’s salary and one had to be wary of thieves and sexual assault for the entirety of the jostling journey.
Music & Arts
Traveling on the Reunification Express from Saigon to Hanoi feels like a ride through history and time.
