Hacienda Darasa Garden Resort (Tanauan City, Batangas)

We traveled to Batangas to participate in a chess tournament in Waltermart Mall, Tanauan City.  In preparation for the tournament, we stayed overnight at “Hacienda Darasa Garden Resort”.

We reached this resort after a two-hour drive inclusive of the traffic at the Sucat and Bicutan Exits and a brief stopover at a gasoline station for lunch. We traveled through the South Luzon Expressway passing the Calamba Exit and heading straight to the Star Tollway.  We took the Malvar Exit and at the President Laurel Highway, we turned left to enter Tanauan City.  

In Tanauan, we passed by Waltermart Mall and after a few meters, we saw the sign of Hacienda Darasa.  Travel was not that difficult but the toll fees are a bit painful. As I recall, we paid the following toll fees: P 214.00 at the Calamba Exit; P 25.00 at the Star Tollway and another P 7.00 at the Malvar Exit.  While paying, I cannot help asking why the need to pay these tolls fees when we are already paying taxes to the government?

Hacienda Darasa appears to be an old ancestral house converted into a resort. It is simple with a very typical provincial ambiance and has a courteous staff. It has a wide area of fruit-bearing trees, beautiful gardens, ornamental plants and a variety of flowers. I was surprised seeing a Durian Tree here proving that such a tree is not endemic to Mindanao.

We occupied the “superior room” at P 1,990.00 inclusive of breakfast. The room was well painted with air conditioning, cable TV, comfort room, hot and cold shower, towels, tissues and soap. It is clean and comfortable enough for an overnight stay.

Hacienda Darasa has two large swimming pools that are open until 11 in the evening. Cottages and picnic huts dot the resort making it easy to imagine that during summer this place is teeming with people.  But at that time, there were very few guests and we were able to relax and swim at the pool without the crowd.

After breakfast, we left the resort at around 10 am and proceeded to the Waltermart Mall where the tournament is to be held. I saw familiar faces I have previously met or competed against in other tournaments in Metro Manila. Judging from their jackets or shirts, some participants appear to belong to a chess club or are members of their school’s chess varsity team.

The tournament was well organized and most participants are strong players with a local rating of not more 2050. As a rapid event, the “rate of play” for each player is twenty minutes with three seconds increment (Bronstein Time Control) and the “mode of play” is Swiss system with a minimum of seven rounds.

When I last checked the website of the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP), I was really surprised and elated to see my name with a modest rating as I have only begun joining chess tournaments after a long hiatus. Officially, I can say that I am now a “rated” chess player in the country.  Notwithstanding the rating, I plan to participate in more chess tournaments to primarily enjoy chess and improve my game.

I intend to play more chess and travel to different venues where tournaments are being held either as a participant or as a spectator. Chess, after all those things that happened in my life, seems to be an escape from reality. Once I am in front of a chessboard, a new world seems to open up. Chess gives a different perspective on life. It is like having a different world when you are a chess fan or a player and traveling reveals that life is more than a box where I sometimes feel incarcerated.