There has been a lot of coverage in recent weeks of the planned railway between Vientiane and Boten on the Chinese border. One statistic that stands out is that the 420km railway will include 190km of tunnels and 90 km of bridges – two-thirds of it’s total length. This won’t surprise anyone familiar with the mountain ranges of northern Laos but it certainly testifies to the ambition of the Chinese-funded project and its cost – supposedly around US$7 billion. To get an idea of the project’s ambition, and how it is being sold, check out this video on YouTube.