Hualien - my expectations

Hello all.
This morning, I took the train to Hualien. I was prepared to love Hualien just because of its geography. It's like how you expect Redding, Ca to be beautiful simply because of where it's located. Of course, Redding may be beautiful - I don't know since I've never been there. However, now I've been to Hualien - and I can say for sure that this is not a beautiful city simply because it is surrounded by beautiful mountains and the Pacific Ocean. At least, that's what I think when I compare it to Taitung which was REALLY nice, and Tainan which was close to nice. It had its problems, as any city does - but the use of greenspace was outstanding and made a fairly large city seem small and quaint. Hualien, in contrast, is like Cleveland nestled between the Smokey Mountains (about the same size) and the Pacific Ocean. I think the city is famous with tourists becuase it has some really good transportation options - buses and trains - to get the heck out of here. I just got here - so this may be an unfair take on the city, but I'm already bummed I got a hotel for two nights. I should have gone for only one and hit Toroko Gorge for an extra day. I'm going to make the most of it however. I've got a place to rent me a bike tomorrow (it's going to be a POS) and I'll head out to explore. I've already done some walking around today and it's like trying to see the sights of Detroit on foot - not the best idea. Plus, since I can't read the bus schedule or communicate well - I'm at a disadvantage.
Ok - more tomorrow. I've got to read the news about McBush's GREAT pick for VP. What a great way to emphasize Obama's lack of experience than to pick the only person with less experience and try to convince everyone that it's not a double standard! I love McCain.