Hanoi celebrated its 1,000^th year as a city in 2010. There were two reasons why Hanoi was the entry point of our month-long Vietnam trip: Ha Long Bay and the fact that Hanoi is underrated compared to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh). We arrived in August, when, fortunately, there were not as many tourists as I anticipated, but, unfortunately, when the rains have already started coming in.