Hunt for cabbage, ride a snowmobile

Noticing my interest in the snowmobiles, our Nepali ice-fishing guide Thaps Magar Amik gestures to a nearby snowmobile.

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At first, he cautions me to go easy on the accelerator, a thumb-operated lever on the handlebar. But soon, he is goading me on from the back seat.

“Go, go, go!” he yells, hooting as we swoop across virgin snow. It is a mind-blowing blast. If you are into speed thrills, snowmobiling is a must.

Cabbage hunting proves equally fun. After sampling some impressively creamy local potatoes at Endo Farm, now run by a fourth-generation owner, we head out into the field, where some 2,000 cabbages have been planted beneath the snow. It is touted as a treasure hunt, but a few minutes of digging unearths rows of giant heads, looking surprisingly fresh and green.

“Though it’s about minus 10 deg C in the air, the cabbages are at just about 0 deg C because the snow protects them,” says guide Yumiko Goto.