Trying to find a place like a home away from home? Do you wanna relax and enjoy God’s beautiful creation and yet you don’t wanna endure the long traffic and leave far from Nueva Ecija, or to book so much ahead of time not to mention that you have a budget to look after and getting a hotel room/villa/resort in the other known vacation cities like Tagaytay/Baguio/La Union/Cebu/Palawan/and all- would be very costly?

If you do, then you have to start browsing and search for nice places to visit in Nueva Ecija! And yes, whatever you prefer, we all have it here in our Hometown, Nueva Ecija!

I know that there are a lot of beautiful places to go for a staycation/nature trip in Nueva Ecija but I had only visited a few as we always choose a place that is long drive from our city way back then.

This is the only vacation we had that we tried and explore our very own “Byaheng Nueva Ecija” for a change. We do not have to go that far to enjoy the same nature tripping I’ve always wanted to see since we live in the desert and enjoying the serenity of being close to nature is really heartwarming. This pandemic vacation made me travel near and enjoy the beauty that my hometown can offer, and yes, I do not regret it and I plan to visit more places nearby in the future.

We have tried checking a lot of resorts nearby as we planned an out of town get away from the City and as we found a lot of options, we decided to book in a place called Rea Bamboo Resort located in Gabaldon Nueva Ecija not only for the beauty of the place as seen on photos, but also, it has one thing different from the others- they offer pick and drop service for their guests which is very very much convenient for all of us.

Rea Bamboo Resort is set in a big garden overlooking the beautiful mountain of Sierra madre. Just nature. No other recreation but just to enjoy the nice crisp weather, go and sit outside and look at the stars (too bad it is a cloudy night that time as the rain just stopped in the afternoon) eat whatever you prefer and they will cook it for you and enjoy the night sleeping in these typical Filipino traditional houses called “Bahay Kubo” with no AC and only fresh air!

On 18th December 2021, My family and I rented three kubos at the same time, we are total of 9 person and a baby plus our nanny and one house helper and then two other friends of the kids joined in. They picked us up at around 11am as agreed, and from there we drove at about an hour and half from Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija to Gabaldon.

We had the biggest kubo with private toilet and hot/cold shower, and the other two smaller kubos with common bathroom. It is not far anyways as the toilet is just in between of the two other kubos we rented.

I brought my child to stay here so he could enjoy nature before we travel back to the desert and from all of our travel adventures, I would say that this is one of the most memorable events as it made me feel closer to nature.

The place is well maintained and clean, they provided us a nice and clean complete beddings and towels. We asked for a nice lunch, and they offered us Sinigang pork (Pork in tamarind soup) and vegetable.

We rested for a while inside the kubo and prepared to go for a swim in a nearby resort but unfortunately, it rained. We went back to the kubo and used the steel pool instead and rest again (which I love the most) and prepared ourselves for a super heavy dinner of grilled liempo and fish as we requested.

We stayed outside after dinner for a while, had pictures in the garden set before we bound to bed- I super enjoy the “sleeping in the kubo” feel with just a fan and nature. I worried for a while my son wouldn’t sleep well without AC but to my surprise, he slept comfortably and soundly and so am I!

I woke up the next day with the sound of rain falling on the roof. It’s raining hard and that itself made me feel lazier I wanted to sleep more. I don’t want to get up and if I could extend for another night, probably I would.

We had a nice breakfast in one of the cottage-like kubo outside with fried dried fish, egg, sardines, and fried rice.

Then later we had pancit and pakbet for lunch before we pack our stuff to go home.

One night is not enough if you really want to rest but as the holidays are coming, we still have a lot more other preparations to do so an extension wouldn’t be beneficial, and some other guests for the same kubo we rented will also check-in.

I don’t have any other things to say for the resort as it fulfilled our expectations as what they informed us prior, the owners are very polite and approachable as well as the staff. Homely and comfy. But then, if they will have a real pool someday, it would be more relaxing!

So if you prefer a place to get away with just you, silence and the nature, in Nueva Ecija, I would highly recommend you to stay in Rhea Bamboo House.

Worth every peso.