Where To Next?

You should drink bubble tea.  You should drink bubble tea every day you’re in Taipei.  In fact, you could have bubble tea with every meal if you really wanted to.  If it costs you less than a dollar, why not?

Chiang Kai Shek memorial

You should take the subway.  The map is easy to understand.  The trains and train stations are clean.  Trains are rarely behind schedule.  The signs are clearly marked and are in English and Chinese.  The people working at the stations are helpful when clueless visitors like me get lost.

You should eat.  You should eat more than you thought was humanly possible.  You should eat at a night market.  You should eat a fancy restaurant.  You should eat at a hole-in-the-wall where two dogs are lazing by the door.  You should eat noodles.  You should eat dumplings. You should eat braised pork and rice.  You should eat dumplings.  You should try different types of hot pot.  Did I mention you should eat dumplings?

downtown Taipei

You should climb up Elephant Hill.  You will be rewarded with an amazing view of the city.  It will be worth your angry calf muscles screaming at you.

the map for Elephant Hill

Taipei 101

You should also have a pleasant conversation with Taiwanese people.  That’s the easiest and probably most fun thing to do.

Traveling is by far my favorite hobby, but it’s definitely not the cheapest.  I try to save money by staying in hostels instead of hotels.  Some are cozy, bright, and clean with friendly owners and some are…the opposite.

I’ve had nothing but good luck with hostels in Taiwan.  All the ones I’ve stayed at serve simple breakfasts, have clean rooms and bathrooms, arrange group activities for the guests, and are happy to answer questions about local attractions and foods.  And they also hand out cards with the address of the hostel written on it in Chinese so you never have to worry about miscommunication with taxi drivers.

When I was in Taipei, I stayed at Formosa 101.  The hostel is only a few blocks away from the famous Taipei 101 building.  There were plenty of convenience stores, restaurants, coffee shops, and even a night market close by.  The hostel is split between several floors, some with dorm rooms, private rooms, a communal kitchen, bathrooms, a few washing machines and dryers, and a common room where all the guests can hang out.  I’ve been in hostels where the decorations were pretty sparse but this place was full of cute trinkets.

lobby of the dormitory floor

hallway to different rooms

they even made the door button cute

The bunk beds were comfortable, and every guest has their own locker to store their valuables.  Oddly enough, the bed sheets had the exact same pattern as the backpack I took with me.

Obviously, I haven’t stayed in every hostel in Taiwan.  I have no idea if they’re all nice, but if you’re nervous about trying out hostels, I would suggest starting in Taiwan.

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???

For my two week winter vacation, I got a little ambitious and decided to visit three countries.  It took a lot of planning, a dose of frustration, and it was all worth it because I had a fantastic trip.  I went to Taiwan (I’ve been there before) and got to visit Vietnam and Laos for the first time.  I started my trip by taking a train to Hualien.

When I arrived in Taiwan from Korea, first I had to take a bus to Taipei from the airport.  I took a train from Taipei main station to Hualien.  It was trains, planes, and automobiles that day.

I ordered my train ticket online.  All I had to do was go up to the counter at Taipei station and show the ticket officer my online receipt and she printed out the ticket for me.  Taipei station is huge but everything I saw was marked in Chinese characters and English.

Hello kitty! Of course, she is holding a cup of bubble tea

I took the Taroko express, the quickest way to get to Hualien from Taipei by train.  Not all of the trains are decked out in Hello Kitty cuteness, but this one was.  It took about two hours to get to Hualien.  The train was clean, had nice bathrooms, plenty of chair space, and the station announcements were in Mandarin and English.

Why did I choose to go to Hualien out of all the towns and cities in Taiwan?  I’ll explain in the next post.

Hualien is a beautiful place