The palm trees on either side of the sandy walkway stood tall and the palms waved in the breeze as if to shake off all stress while welcoming people to a magical tropical paradise. Music—mainly reggae—grew loader with each step. The sand below faded to reveal large stone slabs as the pathway to the little square. Wall-less open-air bamboo shacks on natural wooden stilts surrounded the square, each one of them either a café, bar, or restaurant.

I prepared myself for menus to come flying from all directions like everywhere in Thailand and to be harassed by the menu holders, but they didn’t care. Instead, all we got were hellos and smiles from them all and quick reminders about when happy hour was.

This was a new experience in Thailand. Instead of overzealous Thai waiters, braided and dreadlocked backpackers in bikinis or Chang beer vest tops held on to the menus just talking to each other. There was a very hippy vibe—one I didn’t mind at all. It was a nice change of pace. Our hut was perched up on the hill against the tropical forest behind the bottom corner of the square.

It was bliss walking without being harassed, I was even bouncing to the assortment of music. Large overgrown vegetation and palm trees provided a very wild look against the little wooden huts dotted along the long shallow steps towards our hut.