Why Hualien?  I pretty much googled “pretty places in Taiwan” and Hualien kept popping up.  Am I a little impulsive?  Probably.

Hualien is nestled between the ocean and the mountains of Taroko National Park.  It only took a two hour train ride to get to Hualien from Taipei.

The air in Hualien is clear, it is surrounded by mountains and the ocean, the people are relaxed, and the seafood is plentiful.  Air pollution is pretty serious in Korea and it gets even worse during the winter time.  Also, all the greenery dies and the temperatures drop.  I could walk around without a coat or scarf, all the trees still had their leaves, and I wasn’t coughing.

Hualien is a beautiful place

random street

I could walk from one end of town to the other in about 30 or 40 minutes.

Delicious hot pot, this one came with thin slices of beef, fish cakes, mushrooms, tofu, cabbage, and I think a kind of blood sausage?, I’m not quite sure

I pretty much spent all my time there walking.  I love walking but not when it’s 20 degrees Fahrenheit like Korea is right now.  It was cloudy a lot of the time but it didn’t rain and it wasn’t hot.  I’m sure it would be even more beautiful during a sunny day.  Maybe I’ll go back for beach season???