Tracking the past on Vietnam's 'Reunification Express'

North-south rail trip throws fresh light on the 1954-75 war

A train heads south through the city of Hue, a stop near the midpoint of the "Reunification Express" -- the 1,700-kilometer train route linking Hanoi in the north with Ho Chi Minh City in the south. (All photos by Oliver Raw)

OLIVER RAW

April 3, 2025 08:00 JST

HANOI -- The capital of Vietnam abounds with nationalist pride. Pictures of a smiling Ho Chi Minh, the nation's founding father, are everywhere, and during state celebrations and public holidays, flags deck the city's streets in flaming red.

At Ba Dinh Square, where Ho Chi Minh declared independence from France in 1945, I hear schoolchildren chanting "The Ballad of Ho Chi Minh," an old marching song. Pilgrims file through the Soviet-style mausoleum for a glimpse of "Uncle Ho" -- white-haired and wiry -- who died in 1969 before realizing his dream of a unified Vietnam.