HANOI: Tourists and cafe owners along Hanoi’s “train street” spoke of their disappointment Friday as the hotspot was closed due to safety concerns, just weeks after reopening following a long Covid-19 closure.
The narrow corridor in the Vietnamese capital drew hordes of tourists before the pandemic, each eager to grab a selfie or watch a train rumble past one of the fashionable eateries set just a meter from the track.
Safety concerns prompted the street’s shutdown in 2019 but many businesses quietly opened in recent weeks, keen to cash in on the tourist revival after Vietnam reopened to visitors earlier this year.
Nguyen Thi Thu had begun to see her cafe recover.
“The tourists had come back and we were earning enough to make a living,” she said.
Built by colonial rulers, the railway once transported goods and people across French Indochina and is still in use by communist Vietnam’s state-run rail company.
The stretch of tracks on “train street,” once in an area occupied by drug users and squatters, was transformed after social media users began sharing photos and locals realized the business potential.
On Friday, the kilometer-long line was blocked off by police — though a nearby section of track remained open.
A local official told state media the businesses along the street were violating railway safety rules.
Jay Arriola, from the UK, said he was miffed that the cafes were closed after being told about the site by his girlfriend.
“It is a bit of a disappointment,” he said.
“I wanted to go to a cafe that has a top level... (to have) a perspective on the train going through that trail between the houses,” adding that “a top deck might be safer.”
Keeping customers safe had been part of cafe owner Thu’s daily routine.
“When it was time for the train to pass by, we asked all guests to move in, there was no danger at all.”
Tourists disappointed as Hanoi’s ‘train street’ closes over safety fears
https://arab.news/rumru
Tourists disappointed as Hanoi’s ‘train street’ closes over safety fears
- Narrow corridor in the Vietnamese capital drew hordes of tourists before the pandemic
- On Friday, the kilometer-long line was blocked off by police – though a nearby section of track remained open
Some Warren Buffett wisdom on his last day leading Berkshire Hathaway
OMAHA, Nebraska: The advice that legendary investor Warren Buffett offered on investing and life over the years helped earn him legions of followers who eagerly read his annual letters and filled an arena in Omaha every year to listen to him at Berkshire Hathaway’s annual meetings.
Buffett’s last day as CEO is Wednesday after six decades of building up the Berkshire conglomerate. He’ll remain chairman, but Greg Abel will take over leadership.
Here’s a collection of some of Buffett’s most famous quotes from over the years:
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“Be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful.”
That’s how Buffett summed up his investing approach of buying out-of-favor stocks and companies when they were selling for less than he estimated they were worth.
He also urged investors to stick with industries they understand that fall within their “circle of competence” and offered this classic maxim: “Rule No. 1: Never lose money. Rule No. 2: Never forget Rule No. 1.”
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“After they first obey all rules, I then want employees to ask themselves whether they are willing to have any contemplated act appear the next day on the front page of their local paper to be read by their spouses, children and friends with the reporting done by an informed and critical reporter.
“If they follow this test, they need not fear my other message to them: Lose money for the firm and I will be understanding; lose a shred of reputation for the firm and I will be ruthless.”
That’s the ethical standard Buffett explained to a Congressional committee in 1991 that he would apply as he cleaned up the Wall Street investment firm Salomon Brothers. He has reiterated the newspaper test many times since over the years.
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“You only find out who is swimming naked when the tide goes out.”
Many companies might do well when times are good and the economy is growing, but Buffett told investors that a crisis always reveals whether businesses are making sound decisions.
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“Who you associate with is just enormously important. Don’t expect that you’ll make every decision right on that. But you are going to have your life progress in the general direction of the people you work with, that you admire, that become your friends.”
Buffett always told young people that they should try to hang out with people who they feel are better than them because that will help improve their lives. He said that’s especially true when choosing a spouse, which might be the most important decision in life.
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“Our unwavering conclusion: never bet against America.”
Buffett has always remained steadfast in his belief in the American capitalist system. He wrote in 2021 that “there has been no incubator for unleashing human potential like America. Despite some severe interruptions, our country’s economic progress has been breathtaking.”
