I finally made it into mainland China, but I can't leave my tour guide or exchange money

Side trip to Taiwan

From Hong Kong, I took a 2-day side trip to Taiwan. It was expensive & complicated to get there. I Flew from HK-Taichung where I had a local to show me around. The following day we took the HSR (high speed rail) up to Taipei and I made some new friends (not really, but nice picture, huh?) at the train station. I would like to return to Taiwan some day, but since it was not part of the original plan, I was glad to see it at all.

This is the most amazing southern city I've seen so far! Happy New Year!