Mission Snow 2025

Koksar Village, Lahaul, Himachal Pradesh, India

Finally, here’re some photos of our recent trip. Only a selected few, because there’re tons! (Hey, it ain’t easy, OK? Especially, when you have a family of trigger-happy smartphone photographers, who’ll take anything, and everything, that’s in the way. And that super-large smartphone storage isn’t really helping).

Anyway, here’s what we set out to do in December (to see snow), and errrrmmm… failed (mostly). (Hey, it’s the weather. I can’t control the friggin weather!)

Mission Objective: Take mother-in-law to see some snow.

Constraints and limits:
- Must be in India (heck, mom-in-law doesn’t have a passport);
- Must be in December (that’s when the kids’ school holidays are);
- Must be affordable;
- Must be comfortable;
- Must not involve strenuous walking or climbing (Ama has a walking problem).
Anymore? Hmmm… I think that’s about it.

And so, Manali’s our destination… (besides, I’ve never been there before, hehe. None of us have, actually. Oh, I’ve been to Himachal Pradesh. In my pre-blogging years, let’s see, 2003, or was it 2004? Toting a friggin ‘film camera’!! Yeah, they existed then. But only to Shimla… So, Manali would be nice!)


Meeting Ama in Chandigarh Airport! Our family of 4 flew from Jaipur (which was where we were visiting), and Ama and sis-in-law, Rekha, flew in from Silchar, Assam, on the same day.


The sisters and their mother, at a roadside stall, with a view point, by the Sutlej River (it’s just labelled ‘View Point’ in Google Maps, duh…). Our first stop in Himachal Pradesh, enroute to Manali, from Mohali, Punjab (where we spent a night in – Mohali is where Chandigarh’s airport is located)


The view point, from the ‘View Point’ dhaba (stall), Sunan, Himachal Pradesh…


Tucking into some Rajma Chawal… a popular local dish, featuring red kidney beans (rajma) and rice (chawal). Yup, that’s it! Rs 100 per plate! At the ‘View Point’ Dhaba


Good morning Manali! ‘Perfect’ weather, clear and sunny… But, didn’t the news say that it snowed here? Yeah, …in November, …a month ago!! Looks like it’s ummmm… all gone now. (I still see some! There, on the mountains). The view from our hotel, Hotel Hollywood, Vashist, Manali, HP


The Beas River… that’s where all them snow ended up in, I guess. The Beas River forms the valley where Manali and Kullu (one of the main tourist areas in Himachal Pradesh) are in… The Beas is a major river in Himachal Pradesh and Punjab, and will flow into the Sutlej River (photo above) further downstream in the Indian state of Punjab… A view from the Beas Sangam Restaurant, Palchan (see, snow high up in the mountains…)


Hello! From the Beas Sangam Restaurant, Palchan …this is near the junction to Rohtang Pass (a pass thru the Himalayas). (Our rented car ain’t a 4WD, and the authorities have blocked the Rohtang Pass Road for all, except for local rented jeeps, if you wanna get up there to see some snow. We decided against it. It’ll not be a comfortable ride, and not really convenient for our senior Ama…)


Dread not, let’s head further north, up the mountains… Approaching the Atal Tunnel (aka the world’s longest tunnel above 10,000 feet). It opened in 2020 as an alternative to the Rohtang Pass, cutting short the journey to the other side by 4 - 5 hours!


We’re thru the tunnel. Nope, no real snow here either. Exploring the hillside, near Koksar Village, Lahaul, HP, India


What the heck. It’s still a nice trip! Ama saw some snow… (OK, some old, dusty ones, that we scraped off the sides of the hills, hehe…) But, it ain’t my fault. Snow has been dwindling in the Himalayas, due to climate change (yes, here’s a report, and I believe it’s happening, unlike some doofus of a president who thinks otherwise), and we’ve always known that we’d have a better chance of snow in India, in January and February, but what choice do we have, when the kids have to get back to school!


OK kids, go ahead, you can zipline across to the other side… of the Chenab River


The Chenab River, Lahaul – this is the third major river we’ve seen in this trip alone, in Himachal Pradesh! 3 of Punjab’s 5 rivers! (Punjab’s name means 5 (panj) waters (ab) in Persian, didn’t know that, huh?)


Fancy some Siddu? It’s a Himachali dish, fermented steamed bread… (like the Chinese steamed bao, but with butter and spices. Honestly, I prefer the Siddu to the Bao, ahem, or maybe I was just really hungry at that time). At the BRO Café, between Solang and the Atal Tunnel


One last pic before I end, a hot air balloon at Biastar, Kullu. If you’re the adventurous type, there’re loads of stuff to do here… paragliding, hang-gliding, white water rafting, skiing (if there’s snow, duh…)

From a Wasteland to a Zoo

Happy 2026!!! I hope y’all had a really swell time celebrating the new year, before coming back to this dull, drudging routine that most of us have to come back to. I hope time moves slower, really. I’m a slow person. Time moving that fast, means that I’m growing older, fatter, duller, uglier… faster than I want it to be… But what the heck, that’s life! We’ve just gotta accept it.

Anyway, here’s another filler of a post. Haven’t sorted out any photo from our more recent trips, or times, so here’s a New Year from ummm, let’s see, …5 years ago! (It’s that long ago, huh?!!) When we welcomed in Year 2021 with a trip to the zoo! Or more appropriately, to the Dubai Safari Park! Here goes!


Dubai Safari Park, Dubai, UAE, Jan 2021

The Dubai Safari Park was built on a landfill. Yup, that’s correct, we could see it from far away, heaped high with waste like a hill, from the many trucks that make their way there (I think mainly from the many construction sites in Dubai).


All of this was a landfill??? Heck yeah, no kidding…


That’s the main building and entrance of the Dubai Safari Park


The sign says it all… Kids Farm!


Is this Dubai?? Looks more Indonesian (or Malaysian) to me. But the park/ zoo features places like the African Village, and the Asian Village, and… what have you. This must be the Asian Village


The central area that connects all the different villages features a nice park surrounding a man-made river


Rest areas and food kiosks! When you’re tired and hungry


And of course, its inhabitants! What’s a zoo without the animals?!? Don’t ask me what those are… I ain’t an animal expert


But of course, I know this. It’s a giraffe!


And that, is a very dangerous bird, the cassowary. It can disembowel humans with a single kick from its legs which features dagger-like claws… Don’t say you weren’t warned


And how can you not feature the Arabian Oryx in a zoo in Dubai?


The Grand Aviary!


A bird show! One of the many shows in the park. Go catch it if you can. It’s worth it, one of the highlights of our visit, I’d say. Special praise to that Bird-Lady in the front, (on the right of the photo). She did a great job entertaining us with the birds (she also featured in another show with the little mammals, I recall…)


That, in the distance, is Adventure Valley… a play area for kids, I think... I wouldn’t know coz it was closed on the day of our visit, bummer!


One last photo before I end the post – Here’s a blast from the past – a photo of the original ‘Dubai Zoo’ in Jumeirah, in January 2015! It was closed down for good in 2017, and all its animals shifted to the current Dubai Safari Park. Dubai Zoo was in a pretty small area, and received a lot of criticism for how its animals were kept in its latter years. That may be one of the reasons why Dubai built a much better zoo, and from landfill. Bravo Dubai, for making a beautiful zoo / park out of a wasteland!

The Valley of Dead Goats

Oh, what the heck. I might as well post these photos. Of the time we camped in Wadi Bih. (Since I’ve saved these photos up for posting… for a long time now…)


Wadi Bih, or what I called the Valley of Dead Goats… (What? I saw 3 goat carcasses on that day itself, OK?! If you look closely, you’d spot one too, in the photo above)

I thought we’d do a camping trip before the end of the year, with Justin, before he heads back to Singapore. But circumstances changed, and there were more important things to do… so we ended up not going camping. He’s heading back to Singapore tonight, to restart school. We wish him all the best. And that he will understand the importance of hard work, self-discipline and effort in achieving success, and that he’ll put his whole heart into his studies in his O-Level year. Take care my son, we love you. Give it your best!

These photos are of the last time Justin camped outdoors with us in the UAE… In Dec 2023. Here goes.


There! We’ve made camp! Definitely not a good thing to do, reaching a camping spot at night… But it’s something that happens (especially with us, …a lot. And most of the time, it’s bcoz of yours truly, ahem, but how would I know that there’d be a friggin traffic jam in Jebel Jais!! Wadi Bih is at the foot of Jebel Jais, by the way). If only we spotted the dead goat carcass nearby earlier, we might not have camped here. (Do you see it? It’s there if you look closely). But we reached after sunset and didn’t see it until way after we’ve settled in, and were looking for places to relieve ourselves. I just pulled it (by one of its dead legs) far away from us… (Yeah, there you go, goat. Be gone, rot in peace!)


Making fire. Mommy’s the expert and our guru. So, Justin, can you start one yourself now?


Good morning! Let’s climb some hills, while it’s early! (Our camp was by that lone tree, in the middle of the photo)


Heading out to the hills, Wadi Bih, Ras Al-Khaimah, UAE, Dec 2023


Exploring the hills…


The hills are alive, ...with the sounds of Jayden (he's the noisy one)


C’mon let’s get back to camp and have some breakfast!


Some morning yoga for mommy


Breakfast’s ready!


Tidying up. See the hard work we put in at night… Making that clearing, where our tent was, and propping up that tree… It’s full of thorns mind you, and rocks…


Happy New Year everyone! May 2026 be the greatest year ever for you! And may every year after that be even better!

Dreaming of a White Christmas

Yes, we can only dream, coz alas, we didn’t get to see snow this season! Here’s a photo from our last white winter – in Kazakhstan last year!


The Ascension Church in Panfilov Park, Almaty, Kazakhstan

Anyway, Merry Christmas everyone! May God bless you and your loved ones with love, joy, peace, success and good health wherever you are!

Just got back to Dubai from a short family trip to India, to be with the mother and sister-in-law. Was planning to let them see some snow, but as luck would have it, the parts of India we visited (Himachal Pradesh) was all nice and sunny… Perfect. For a cosy holiday! But not much for snow. Don’t get me wrong, we saw snow, high up in the mountains, inaccessible, except if we climb, or hire a jeep to go up the mountains. We did play with some ice though, which is what old snow becomes when you leave it for ummm… a week? A month?!?

Nope, I haven’t downloaded anything from our recent trip. So, here’s something from when our winter was truly white! The missus and the kids are snow-freaks. They absolutely love snow, for some reason!


Anyone for a snowball fight? Near our hotel, the Edelveis Hotel, on Gornaya Street, the road that leads to Medeu and Shymbulak, Almaty’s ice skating and skiing centres




By the Esentai River in the woods near the Edelveis Hotel


Gornaya Street at night – That’s Samal Hotel, the plush hotel beside our ummm, budget one, hah! But it ain’t bad at all, the Edelveis!




Back to town, this is the First President Park, dedicated to the first president of an independent Kazakh Republic, Nursultan Nazarbayev


Another snowball fight? Ya, go ahead!




Back to Panfilov Park – its full name is the 28 Panfilov Guardsmen Park – dedicated to 28 guardsmen from Alma-Ata (the Soviet name for Almaty) who died in WW2 during the Battle of Moscow


The Museum of Musical Instruments, Panfilov Park, Almaty, Kazakhstan




Ascension Cathedral, Panfilov Park, Almaty, Kazakhstan, Dec 2024. This church is purportedly a wooden church built without nails!... (It doesn't look like it, but that's what Wikipedia said!)


That’s it for the post. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year in advance! (Just in case I don’t find time to post before the New Year)