Despite being in the desert, I can still experience cold mornings and nights and from what I was told, some regions here in KSA actually experience winter. Yes, with actual snows so I no longer needed to be confused why we continue manufacturing air conditioners with built-in heater function. Some of the locals stores are even selling winter apparels.

Natives of tropical countries love to experience winter and snow and I am no exception. Despite the seemingly endless mornings when I would have to force myself to wake up and take a shower, I really do miss winter. Though I hope winters would only last for a month each year, anything beyond that becomes unbearable. And there must be snow. The lack of snow just couldn’t give justice to a sub-zero weather.

And there must be winter clothes, gloves and scarves.

The photo above was taken by my Chinese friend during the disastrous heavy snowfall in Jiangsu, China in 2008. On that day, we called ourselves the Snow Bandits.

When I was in China, there is only one place I’d wanted to visit during winter seasons — the Harbin Ice and Snow Festival in Heilongjiang. I hope that I’d be able to witness their colorful ice structures until I still can. Here’s a few photo taken by random bloggers during the Harbin Snow and Ice Festival 2011.

Harbin Ice and Snow Festival photos from Cute and Weird, My Life, What Humans Do and The Thirsty Pig