Snow in Malaysia?

Malaysia is a tropical country, so can one get snow in Malaysia? Even the highest mountain in Southeast Asia, Mount Kinabalu in Sabah, East Malaysia do not get snow. Some says on very rare occasions, you do (I would say extremely rare). While I REALLY appreciate the fact that in tropical Malaysia, I do not need to buy and put on winter clothing when I go out plus turn on the heating while at home in winter, (I go around topless minus the fan in my house and never use the air conditioner though air conditioners came with the house I am staying in. My very small contribution towards effects at keeping global warming at bay. See Environmentally living and sleeping) the feeling of wonder, happiness and awe (can't find the words to accurately describe my feelings) when I experienced the first snowfall 30+ years ago in Belgium is still with me.

Snow at Amazon

I was a student in Ghent, Belgium, for two plus years. I have visited Brussels, Amsterdam, Maduradam, Paris, London, Cologne, Frankfurt, Rome, the leaning tower of Pisa, visited Switzerland in summer, and I can't say I really enjoy it, except perhaps Rome, where I enjoyed being able to eat pizza straight from the oven in the street. All those were nothing compared with the visit to Switzerland in winter. Most of that time was spent in the mountain resort of Grindlewald! I had photos and slides, but unfortunately there are no digital photos, and I don't know what happened to the prints, otherwise, I can get them scanned and post them here. It was fantastic! The snow was piled up above the top of cars and were buried in them. I saw a car totally buried in snow except for a window. The owner must have scrapped away the snow to make sure everything inside was still OK. My young daughter had the experience of riding on a toboggan. I made a snowman. I thoroughly enjoyed my stay at Grindlewald. I wish there is snow in Malaysia but without the cold weather that require the inconvenience of having to put on heavy winter cloths and mittens or the need to turn on the heater.

Books about snows

But as the saying goes, noting is impossible. You can find (and experience) falling snow at the Snow House (I think it is also called Ice Factory) on the grounds of the theme park - "The Mines Wonderland". It was converted from a disused former tin mine in Sungei Besi, a mere 5km south of Kuala Lumpur. Entry is not free of course, but you get to experience not only snow, but a chilling temperature of between -10°C to -15°C, make and throw snowball at each other and see snow carvings in tropical Malaysia. Wonder if any visitor had tried to make a snowman. Warm coats are provided for visitors. It is the first winter wonderland in Malaysia and the nearest to its capital city.

Children's books about snow

There is another one - Snow World in the Genting Highlands Resorts about 2,000 meters above sea level and only fifty kilometres (about an hour drive, some says 45 minutes, but I hope they are keeping within the legal speed limits and driving safely) from the capital city of Kuala Lumpur. Snow House is said to be Southeast Asia's biggest and best snow house. I haven't personally visited Snow House, but is seems other the fascinating falling snow, there are a log cabin, an igloo, toboggan slides and snow play area and provision for snow sledging. Visitors are also provided with winter jacket, boots and gloves to keep them warm.

Then there is the 'Four Season Environment Controlled Chamber' in Shah Alam, not far from Kuala Lumpur. It is a research center that simulate temperate climate by controlling air temperature, lights intensity, carbon dioxide, etc to enable temperate plants to grow in tropic climate of Malaysia. During winter season (July to September), artificial snow is introduced.

Further north in MegaMall, Butterworth is another Snowland said to be the first indoor ski and snowboarding center with a 45m main slope and a 42m curved slope for skiing and a snow playing area. You can rent winter sport equipment there.

And believe me, you can find "snow" all over the country. I am referring to the car wash centers that often have signboards which says "Snow Wash, Vacuum Body RM6.00". Those foam they used to wash cars really look like "snow" to me.

But really, if you want to experience real snow, not artificial ones or the "snow" that you see at "Car Snowwash" centers, you have to travel abroad, like Bariloche, Argentina around the months of July, the winter months in the southern hemisphere. That site is actually a post of a travel blog like this one. Only difference is that this was created using Google Blogger while that blog was created using RealTravel. You can sign up for free to create your travel blog, or if you don't want your own travel blogs, you can explore blogs by destinations. Unfortunately, when I tried exploring, I couldn't find Malaysia.

I would have loved to create another blog for Malaysia to help promote Malaysia via RealTravel because I think you can sign up and create a blog that has posts about destinations in Malaysia, travellers who landed on RealTravel's site may browse and find Malaysia to be a good destination to visit, and Malaysia gets some extra tourists. My little contribution to my country. Google Blogger don't have such exploring travel blogs feature, and this blog may actually be better if hosted with RealTravel. If I get time away from my busy schedule, I just might just sign up for RealTravel and create a blog for destinations in Malaysia.