Cruising Halong Bay in Vietnam (Pt. 3): View from the (Ti) Top

No, this blog is not dead. Let’s just say it took a hiatus, coinciding with a particularly busier period of 2016 for me at work and in life (yes, those two are separate). I’m going to pick things up from now on, though, and will try my best not to let this corner stay quiet for longer than… a month? I still have lots of places to talk about and adventures to share, after all. So! Halong Bay. Cruising. Ti Top. Leggo~!

It would appear that all Halong Bay cruise packages includes a stop at the Dao Ti Top, or the Ti Top Island. The particular two-days-one-night package we availed of with Vega Travel had it in the itinerary, the first stop on our second day. (Check out what happened during our first day here and here.)

We turned in quite early the previous night, even after the other two groups in our cruise still had some drinks on the deck after our dinner feast. Oh, we did laze around on the deck for a while, but went down to our cabin later on because none of us three felt like getting drunk or even tipsy.

So we woke up bright and early the next morning, refreshed instead of feeling groggy and nursing a hangover (as some of the others did :)).

After another sumptuous breakfast on board, we stayed out on deck to enjoy the views of the Bay as we made our approach towards Ti Top Island. Liem (our guide) joined us from time to time, pointing out some islands (or karsts jutting out of the water, really) resembling various items (like a kettle, for one) and talking about this and that about Halong Bay and Vietnam.

At 8:30am, we’ve finally arrived at the Ti Top Island. When our guide first mentioned the day before, it while discussing the itinerary, I thought it was Tea Top. For some reason.

From afar, it looked quite impressive.

Perhaps you can see in the pic, but there was already quite a crowd at the dock, waiting for the ticketing office and the gate to open. We waited for several minutes as Liem went right ahead to secure our passage inside.

Right past the “gate” (or a fence, really), is a wide quadrangle of sorts, featuring a tall monument or statue. Let’s take a short break for some Vietnamese history lesson.

This guy, right here, is Gherman Titov, whose name was used as the basis of the island’s name, although spun into the Ti Top that it is known today. His name has been stylized as Ghec-mann Ti-Top, as shown in the tablet below.

Titov was a Soviet Union astronaut-slash-pilot, and he was a hero in the Soviet Union, which meant he was also accorded the same level of esteem by communist ally Vietnam. It was in 1962 when he first visited the island with then President Ho Chi Minh who, right there and then, named the island after him.

Apparently, an aerial view of the island will show that it has the shape of a crescent. It has a beach, complete with some bars and facilities for beachbums and watersports enthusiasts, but there is no doubt that its first attraction to domestic and international tourists alike is the climb up the limestone mountain.

After securing our tickets, we made our way up to the top of Ti Top (hey, I like how that sounded~).

The climb is not as difficult as you’d expect, considering how there were stairs carved onto the side of the mountain, with rails to keep you from falling off. You can get winded, though, because it has quite a steep angle, and if there is a considerable crowd, you’d be hard-pressed to keep up your pace so as to keep from holding up the line behind you. Oh, and the path was narrow, so it was mostly two lines – one for those going up and another for those going down.

Not to worry, though. There are stops with viewdecks along the way, for photo opportunities and an excuse to catch your breath.

But really, you’d probably feel your breath being caught in your throat instead, when you look out over the bay and catch the view. It’s pretty.

The limestone karsts rising out of the water make for a fascinating sight, making me wonder how many of them are inhabited or, at least, oft-visited by people.

The cruise ships, yachts and other boats dotting the water just added to the view.

It wasn’t a particularly bright and sunny day, but not gloomy, either. I think it was a good thing, though, because it was quite warm and humid, and I was already sweating. So imagine if the sun was shining real bright. It’d be heated torture.

427 steps later (we didn’t count, we just trusted what Liem said), we arrived at the top of the island.

There is a gazebo at the very top, which was visible from afar while we were still on the boat approaching the island.

Needless to say, when we got there, it was full of people taking photos, so it was hard to take any pic of us without other people getting on the frame, haha! Oh well, we tried our best.

The entire walk up the stairs took all of 7 minutes, with only one short break taken at a viewdeck halfway through because Liem was particular about the group staying together and getting to the top before the denser crowd arrives.

But there were already quite a number of people there when we arrived, so I can only imagine how packed the tiny space will be if we were any later going up. T

At the top of Ti Top Island, you’ll get a 360-degree view of the Bay surrounding the island. You probably could, but there are some parts obscured by the trees beside the gazebo. 🙂

From here, we were already 100 meters above sea level.

While we were there, I could not help but compare it with Mt. Tapyas in my country’s very own island paradise of Coron (check out my posts about Mt. Tapyas here and here). Again, another parallelism I found between Halong Bay and Coron, Palawan.

Mt. Tapyas is considerably higher, at 210 meters above sea level, but it is located inland, while Ti Top’s peak drops sharply directly into the water. Oh, and the stairs going up Mt. Tapyas may have been higher, and longer, but they were feet-friendlier and wider.

Both peaks, however, affords one great views.

We did get to spend around 10 minutes at the gazebo, though, mostly waiting for our turn to take photos at some areas. 🙂 And then we went back down the stairs to head to the beach down below.

Earlier, we did plan on going into the water, and the others in our group donned their swimwear, ready to go swimming.

But the three of us did not. Haha!

Oh, don’t get me wrong. We DID plan on frolicking in the water even if we didn’t know how to swim.

But….

The beach is pretty, and the long sandy stretch was very promising. The sand beneath our feet felt soooo darn good that we went barefoot.

But I suppose I’ve been spoiled by how gorgeous the beaches in the Philippines are. Coron, El Nido, Boracay, CamSur… one look at the water, and I could not help but take a dip.

The water was inviting enough, but not so inviting that I could not resist it. 🙂 Plus the sight of those large boats close by unnerved me.

So what we did was to take a leisurely walk along the beach. And take photos.

Hardcore beachgoers are sure to love this place, though. Too bad I’m more of a mountain-girl. 🙂

Oh, and take a look at this cutie, just one of the many kids who were playing delightedly on the shoreline.

And these two ladies making a living peddling fruits… on the water.

We had more than an hour to spend at the beach, and we spent it mostly taking photos, taking a walk, and taking a rest. That’s a lot, hokay?

Afterwards, Liem gathered everyone and went back on the tender, which brought us back to our cruise boat, where we all showered, got changed and all packed up, had lunch, and were brought back to the mainland, ending our memorable cruise.

I’m going to wrap up with my final thoughts about this getaway in my next post. Which will come soon. *crosses fingers*

And imma end this post with a photo taken with our guide Liem.