This photo taken on August 18, 2025 shows a tourist posing for a photo along a railway track between cafe terraces in central Hanoi. Coffee-roused tourists snap selfies at Hanoi's softly-lit railside cafes every day, excited to be cheek by jowl with a moving colonial-era train -- but it has not always been this chic. (Photo by Nhac NGUYEN/ AFP)/ TO GO WITH 'VIETNAM-LIFESTYLE-CAFE-TRANSPORT,FOCUS'
HANOI: Tourists snatch arms and legs away from a passing train in Hanoi, shrinking back into railside cafes that have brought lucrative business to a former slum disdained by the government.
Authorities have repeatedly tried to shut down the tumbledown quarter of the Vietnamese capital for safety reasons, but any closure seems unlikely as social media brings more visitors to the area.
