Back From Halong Bay

We just got back from a wonderful trip to Halong Bay. We left yesterday morning and spent the night on the boat and just returned to the Melia about an hour ago. It was a wonderful trip! The drive there was really interesting because of the crazy way people drive. If there are any rules, I don't know what they are. I think the drive is about four hours. We got onto a really nice boat called the Bhaya that only had six other people besides the five of us (we went with our friends and their three year old son). They said the boat is only a couple of months old. It is done in dark wood and is beautiful. Our room was great, the service was great and it was incredibly peaceful. We loved it. I would have liked it more if I hadn't have caught a cold from the very large man I sat near on the plane who snored a lot and smelled like fish congee. As soon as he sneezed a couple of times I knew I was in trouble. So I have spent the last day either snifling or zoned out on cold meds. I'm still enjoying myself though and I loved every minute of our trip. We stopped on the way and bought a few emboidered pictures. How amazing to see all of the detail they emboider into those pictures!
I am including several pictures of the last couple of days. I highly recommend Halong Bay and I think it is a good idea to do it before you get your baby. It is such a peaceful place and a great place to catch up on sleep and relax after all of the racing around before getting on the plane.
Another great thing...the room we stayed at on our first night at the Melia was very okay. I guess they only had that room available. It was a very typical hotel room and cost us $172++ We checked out of the hotel to go to Halong Bay (we did store our things here while we were gone) and have a much better room this time. WOW! This is nice. I'll include pictures later. This room has a bedroom, living area and two bathrooms. I think I was in the tub within ten minutes of our getting here. I don't normally take baths, but it felt good since I have the cold. This room is $190++. MUCH NICER than the last room. Well, it looked better before we came in with all of our stuff. I am going to try to take a nap before we go out to dinner. Our friends want to take us to a nice Vietnamese restaraunt they know of around here. Sounds good. I kind of want a sandwich from Togo's instead though, since I don't like seafood.