S/O / Found heartwarming moment: Slovak youth says Taiwan’s Taitung has the world’s best police station

By reporter Lee An-jun / Taipei – Taitung phone interview

Slovak youth Miro sent a message: “I’m back home in Slovakia, thank you, Taitung County’s Xiangyang Police Station is the best police station in the world!” (I'm back home in Slovakia... Thank you once again!, It's the best police station in the world...). Police Chief Chang Neng-wei, after seeing Miro’s Facebook message, finally felt at ease. “On November 30, I saw that he was completely wet from the rain, had canned food for dinner, and was sleeping in a tent. He wanted to go to Jiaping Lake, and I was worried he might get hypothermia. So I invited him to the police station to eat spicy hot pot, take a hot shower, and have a good sleep.” Miro also told Chang that Taiwanese police are very warm, while the police in his hometown are all very “stern.”

▲ Slovak youth Miro was traveling in Taiwan. Fearing he might suffer from hypothermia at night, Xiangyang Police Station Chief Chang Neng-wei invited him to eat spicy hot pot and even let him sleep well at the police station. (Photo / Provided by Taitung Xiangyang Police Station)

The Nanxiang Xiangyang Police Station, affiliated with Taitung County’s Guanshan Police Precinct, is located on a mountain at an altitude of 2,312 meters. There are only three officers stationed there, and there are no residents within their jurisdiction — what they manage are the mountains. When these three officers go on duty, they don’t wear uniforms or carry police guns, but rather mountaineering gear. Their main tasks include controlling hiker access, cracking down on illegal logging and poaching, and assisting in mountain rescue operations. As a result, they are hailed by hikers as the “Guardians of the Deep Mountains.”

▲ Taitung’s Xiangyang Police Station is located high up in the mountains at an altitude of 2,312 meters, and assisting fellow hikers is one of the most important jobs for the officers. (Photo / Provided by Taitung Xiangyang Police Station)

One of the guardians, Chief Chang Neng-wei, is a seasoned mountaineer who also holds licenses for paragliding and scuba diving. He assumed his post just last October. On November 30, he noticed a fair-haired, blue-eyed foreigner who was completely soaked and walking alone toward the Xiangyang Forest Recreation Area. He stopped him, and after a conversation in broken English, learned that he was Miro Vich, a 27-year-old youth from Slovakia. “Usually foreign hikers come into the mountains with Taiwanese companions, but he was alone and dressed very lightly, which was quite unusual, so I grew concerned.”

Miro Vich told Chang Neng-wei: “I’m an MV photographer and I love hiking and skiing. I have a friend who is an exchange student studying in Kaohsiung, and I often heard him say how beautiful Taiwan is and how warm its people are. So I spent $600 on a plane ticket to fly to Taiwan. I carried a big hiking backpack and hitchhiked from Taipei to Kaohsiung to meet my friend, then from Kaohsiung to Kenting. After that, someone else offered to give me a ride to Taitung. I heard Jiaping Lake in Taitung is very beautiful, and then a lady gave me a ride here as well...”

▲ The Slovak youth Miro heard that Jiaping Lake, the “Angel’s Tear” in Taitung, was very beautiful, so he made his way there and was finally able to see it — he was overjoyed. (Photo / Provided by Taitung Xiangyang Police Station)Miro was thrilled to finally see the famed Jiaping Lake in Taitung, which he had heard was incredibly beautiful. (Photo / Provided by Taitung Xiangyang Police Station)

Chang Neng-wei “found” the rain-soaked Miro that evening. Worried that Miro, unfamiliar with the terrain and facing cold, slippery roads, might risk hypothermia if he slept in a tent, he immediately invited him to the police station to share a spicy hot pot meal. He even asked, “Are you afraid of spicy food?” Miro said that since his hometown is cold, he wasn’t, but he still ended up coughing from the spice. Later, the police station provided a shower for him. He actually started showering even though the water was only heated to 30 degrees Celsius. Miro said that in his hometown, winter temperatures often drop to -20 to -30 degrees, and he often goes skiing, so he’s okay with it — he’s not afraid of the cold.

After a night of warmth and shelter at Xiangyang Police Station, Miro slept through till morning. Dressed lightly, even in shorts, he set off to visit the famed Lishong Wild Hot Springs that everyone says are beautiful. Chang Neng-wei reminded him: “It has been raining recently, the roads are muddy, and the water flow is strong — please be careful.” He managed to find a hiking team’s vehicle to give Miro a ride to Lishong. “They said the river current was really too strong, so he didn’t go in the water, just enjoyed the scenery. Later, on the way back, after walking for about an hour, another hiker found him and gave him a ride to Provincial Highway 9. Many of the kind people who picked him up posted about it on Facebook, so I know he received warm help from the Taiwanese people all along the way.”

▲ Miro insisted on visiting the Lishong Wild Hot Springs to take a look. The place is so beautiful that even Japan’s NHK television once sent a crew to report on it. The figure jumping in the photo is Sanli TV’s “Travel King” host Wu Feng, who also filmed a segment there before. (Photo / Provided by Sanli Travel King)

On December 11, Miro left a message on the police station’s Facebook page to report that he had returned home safely, saying “Xiangyang Police Station is the best police station in the world!” In an interview with ETtoday News Cloud, Chang Neng-wei expressed that he was truly happy. “No matter what country someone is from, we treat everyone with sincerity and offer genuine help.”

%Ji% Miro really isn’t afraid of the cold — he hit the road in shorts. “Chief, thank you for your hospitality. I will always remember the warmth of the Taiwanese people.” (Photo / Provided by Taitung Xiangyang Police Station)