Hanoi reflects the full breadth of the Vietnamese cultural and historical experience, from the country's founding as a Chinese vassal state a thousand years in the past, to its liberation from French and American colonial powers in the 20th century, to its confident stride into the 21st. Designated a World Heritage Site in 1994, Halong Bay's scatter of islands, dotted with wind- and wave-eroded grottoes, is a vision of ethereal beauty and, unsurprisingly, northern Vietnam's number one-tourism hub.