Stephen MacNeil

Desert wildflowers in the Anza Borrego desert 

Desert wildflowers and blooming cacti in the deserts of Anza Borrego 

Three different nights. You literally can’t beat sunsets in Thailand. The last one was my favorite. Sharing beers with friends in a pool and watching the sun set over the ocean - that is what vacation is all about. 

A great day of diving the reefs and touring the Calanques of Thailand. We stopped where the movie “The Beach” was filmed. I’d never heard of the movie and there wasn’t great diving. I was happy to move on to better dive spots. The diving was quite as good as Taiwan but there were really beautiful fish and jellyfish. I was surprised to see how trashed the water was. I’ve heard there is a lot of pollution coming from Myanmar, Cambodia, and Malaysia - it was sad to see it first hand.

The fauna of Thailand. A crazy place with even crazier animals. Angry monkeys that stalk you through the jungles, cute but deceptive monkeys that steal your food, and charging bulls. At least there were far fewer mosquitos than I expected! I didn’t bring a camera to take photos when I ran with the bulls, it was nice to make up for it in Thailand

The cloud mountain inside the cloud forest. It was really nice and humid in here. One of the most futuristic and sustainable parks that I’ve ever been able to visit. I had split feelings wandering through this giant multi-floor garden. It gave me a lot of hope for the future of the environment but also had a strange dystopian feeling that this might be the way we visit parks in the future. At times it felt so over the top and anti-sustainable. I think it helped to consider this as a form of entertainment and it was nice to see nature playing the role of the entertainer rather than a giant shopping mall or amusement park.

I got to work as a volunteer at the ArtScience Museum in Singapore for a digital art show that they were presenting (Microbytes). I was also asked to help design a marketing campaign for the event, though my design didn’t make it to production :) Like everything in Singapore, the giant lotus petals collect rainwater that power the bathrooms throughout the building. #sustainable

Singapore’s Supertree Grove at Night. 

Snakes all over the place in Jean Lafitte park and nature preserve. Mostly racer and ribbon snakes, but a few bigger, more interesting ones. 

Swamp romping through Jean Lafitte park and nature preserve. 

Trains are one of the best parts of Japan. Everything is connected and it is simple to get everywhere without a car. I was in love until I went to Taiwan. The MRT in Taiwan was just as nice, just as connected, but a fraction of the cost. 

We went to Tsukiji, the famous fish market in Tokyo. The fish was great but it didn’t hold a candle to the fish we got in Hakone (pictured) and in Taiwan. Mostly it had to do with what we could afford and the fish at Tsukiji was far more expensive. The shrines nearby and the Tamago stands were the highlight of Tsukiji

Meiji Shrine is one of the larger shrines in Tokyo. Around a mile from my apartment I took a couple of walks through the park to visit the shrine. There was a great place for coffee on the way - Fuglen, Haritts, and the Roastery (Nozy Coffee) to name a few of my favorites. A few other good spots (in Shimokitazawa) were Happy Cafe and Bear Pond

Small multiples in Japan

Just outside of the stations (Shibuya and Komaba-Todaimae) where I lived in Tokyo. Shibuya was always packed and there were food options everywhere. One of my staples was the Tokyo Food Show in the basement of a department store connected to the station. They didn’t keep sushi overnight and so around 7pm it started to get heavily discounted. A great way to end the day 

One weekend we decided to do an overnight bullet hike of Mt. Fuji. We arrived in Gotemba and planned to start on the Gotemba trail at 5pm. We made it to the second to last hut around midnight. It was freezing and none of us brought warm enough clothes. Most of us had socks on as mittens. Luckily the hut was open and after some debate about the price the hut owner gave us a discount and we decided to spent 2 hours in the hut. None of us fell asleep but it helped us stay warm. Around 2am we left and got to the summit by 3:30am. The sunrise was worth the hike.  

Like a scene from spirited away, Jiufen is rumored to have served as inspiration for Miyazaki. The night we explored there was a power outage and many of the tea shops and restaurants ran by candle light. Only parts of the night market were affected but somehow all of the lanterns were still on.