I suddenly felt like going somewhere, and my wife kindly booked Fame Hall Garden Hotel at the last minute. Check-in at Fame Hall starts at 4 p.m., but hotel facilities can be used from 2 p.m. We left after waking up from a nap and arrived at the hotel at around 3 p.m.

Our original plan was to check in, go to the third-floor playroom first, and come back for the luggage once the room was ready. Luckily, the front desk told us the room was already prepared and gave us the key card early. My wife took our daughter to the playroom (the Toddler’s Playroom), while I became the luggage porter. We also unexpectedly ran into a friend while checking in. It was the first time we had ever met someone we knew while traveling.

As we passed by the restaurant, we reserved a 5:30 p.m. dinner at Parents Restaurant. There are no restaurants within walking distance nearby, and according to the staff, there may be no tables left during dinner service if you do not book in advance.

The underground parking lot at Fame Hall has two elevator areas: one near the lobby and one near the banquet hall, deeper inside. The spaces near the lobby are more popular, so I usually park on the banquet hall side. There were still quite a few spaces this time.

Our room this time was 520, a corner room on the side farthest from the front desk.

When we first came in 2023, we chose a room with a small tent. My daughter loved the tent, but the bed underneath was a bit hard and not very comfortable.

After I finished bringing up the luggage, my wife and daughter came back and said the playroom was too crowded, so they had given up for the time being.

After resting for a while, my daughter got bored and said she wanted to go play again. We took the third-floor passage to the spherical Baseball Hall of Fame building, and on the other side was the Snoopy-themed shop. We had only looked around the third floor when my daughter said she was not interested and insisted on going back to the playroom. So her mom continued upstairs by herself, while I took her back to play.

We built blocks together in the playroom.

When we came last year, there was a coin-operated massage chair inside the playroom, so parents could get a massage while keeping an eye on their kids. It was gone this time, which made my wife very sad.

At 5:30 p.m., we went to Parents Restaurant for dinner right on time. The staff said we could also order dishes from the neighboring restaurant, Austronesian Chanson, so we ordered stir-fried cabbage with shrimp paste. The menu had no photos, so it was hard to tell from the dish names alone whether something was what we actually wanted. Overall, the food was not bad. We especially liked the crispy sesame red bean balls. But ordering for two adults and one child felt a little awkward; this restaurant seems better suited to larger groups.

After dinner, we went to Fame Hall Souvenirs on B1 to buy Chun Yi Zhi popsicles. Fame Hall Souvenirs used to be on the first floor next to Hit Western Restaurant, but it has now moved to the basement. The original space has become a shop selling coral accessories.

After finishing our ice pops, we went back to the room to rest for a while, and then my daughter started asking to go to the playroom again. Other parents nearby kept encouraging their children. I, the childish dad, only wanted to beat my daughter at it.

Besides the Toddler’s Playroom, the third-floor Kids Club also has the Kids Fun Zone and the Family Batting Room. When we came in 2023, the Kids Fun Zone had a ball pit and a large climbing net. Those are gone now, so my daughter no longer had any interest in going in.

At a little after 8 p.m., I went to the gym and used the elliptical and treadmill. The machines here are quite high-end: with NFC, they can connect to an Apple Watch. The treadmill also lets you run with online users in a virtual world. I am guessing the data was not real-time, though, and it seemed like the connection feature had not been properly set up.

My daughter kept playing until the playroom closed at 10 p.m. before she was finally willing to go back to the room. This time, we did not use the sauna or swimming pool at all.

Breakfast at Fame Hall Garden Hotel is served at Hit Western Restaurant. There are four time slots, and we chose the 10:30 to 11:30 slot. I am not sure if that time is just awkward, but quite a few dishes were not refilled in time, and for some reason there was no basic breakfast option like fried eggs. The breakfast felt like it has been getting worse.

Before breakfast, we had already packed our luggage and checked out. After breakfast, we took the fish food given by the hotel and walked to the pond next to the badminton court to feed the fish. Last year there were a lot of mosquitoes, so this time we covered ourselves thoroughly with mosquito repellent.

Although Fame Hall Garden Hotel does give the impression that it is gradually declining, we still really like this hotel. The rooms are large and very comfortable. It sits among the fields of Longtan, and when you look out, you see broad greenery, trees, and scattered villas. It is not far from Taipei, but it still feels removed from the noise of the city. Maybe because of the terrain, there are often misty views here. Even in summer, it feels a little cooler than the city. If the budget allows, we will be back.

Note: This article is translated from Traditional Chinese.