Vietnam: a view from the train

Vietnam: a view from the train
It is one minute to 7pm at the main railway station in central Hanoi. The relaxed bustle of boarding is complete, and a palpable air of expectation hangs over platform 1. An electric bell rings, the locomotive hoots impatiently. Outside each carriage door, a uniformed attendant looks nervously up and down the train, holding a lantern aloft and waiting for the off.

From the station loudspeakers, a last urgent call in staccato Vietnamese fills the warm night air. As the second hand sweeps towards the 12, the attendants step smartly up into the train, removing the numbers hung outside their carriage doors. One long blast and one short toot on the horn, a muted hiss from the brakes, and train SE1 glides gently off into the night on its 33-hour, 1,070-mile journey to Vietnam's second city, Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon).

This is the celebrated "Reunification Railway", a steel artery running the length of Vietnam. It was completed in 1936 in what was then French Indo-China, and its trains ran for 18 short years before the French pulled out and the country split into North and South. Hanoi station is still visibly a French colonial building, despite its stark concrete central section, an ugly reminder of a direct hit by American bomb in December 1972.
Not until 1976 did the north-south trains resume, and four or five air-conditioned trains now link Hanoi, Vinh, Hué, Da Nang, Nha Trang and Saigon every day, providing affordable and relatively comfortable transport for locals and visitors alike.

I had last visited Vietnam more than a decade before, and as the SE1 raced the frenetic road traffic through the Hanoi suburbs, it seemed that every cyclist then now owned a motorbike, and every motorcyclist a car. Tourism has also boomed, and I was travelling in one of two privately run Livitrans sleeping-cars aimed at visitors, a cut above the SE1's regular "soft sleepers" but still only $59 (£38) for the 494 miles to Da Nang.

Burma: should British holiday makers visit?

Burma: should British holidaymakers visit?
Dave Cameron is to make an historic visit to Burma on Friday. Should British tourists be following in his footsteps?

David Cameron is to make an historic visit to Burma on Friday. He will become the first western leader in a generation to visit the country. His decision comes after the National League for Democracy, the party of Aung San Suu Kyi, won 43 seats in parliament in the first democratic elections for more than 50 years.

What do you think? Should tourists be following in the Prime Minister's footsteps? Is tourism to Burma ethical? Should Britons be practicing small-scale tourism to the country, rather than travelling with large tour operators? How can this be achieved?

Having previously opposed tourism to Burma, Ms Suu Kyi relaxed her position last year, and said that low-key "individual tourism" would be welcomed. Her shift in attitude was first revealed in August 2011 by Telegraph Travel. Following the announcement, visitor numbers to Burma have soared, with reports of a shortage of tour guides and hotel rooms in Rangoon (Yangon), where facilities for tourism are still rudimentary. An increasing number of package operators are adding the country to their brochures.

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