Himachal has been a frequent trekking area for us. starting with our first trip in 1963, we last visited HP in 1998 ex-Singapore. The first trip in 1963 was Hitesh, pappa mummy and me. Went upto Rampur, came back to Shimla, linked up with Dr. Maniar and friends, did Manali together, and took off by ourselves for Delhousie, Khajiar chamba and Shetrundi. Ambition to cross Such Pass and reach Kilar remained an ambition, though papa mummy did reach Kilaar on their Lahoul valley traverse in 1968. I had gone off to IIT, with no Diwali vacation. Papa mummy did Lahoul from Manali to Kistwar that October. I have few stories from that trek, except from pappa’s letters to me, but plenty of photos for sure – in the gallery. 1969 saw us back in north east Himachal for Kinnaur and Spiti valley. We trekked from Samdu onwards till Kaza, got a jeep to take us to Losar, but again ambition of crossing Kumzum-La to Manali and visit Chandra Taal remained illusions. Too much snow in May! We met a PWD engineer who was from Maharashtra in Losar! We did visit Ki Monestery. 1988 saw us 5 – pappa Anju, Janaki and 21/2 yr. old Vaidehi and me, back in north-east HP for kinnaur and Spiti. Motorable roads were everywhere, so Sangla was a drive away, and our Sumdu – Kaza trek of 1969 was covered in our Ambassador taxi in a couple of hours! Unfortunately the car failed on way to Ki monastery, so we walked along till Ki village, and took the bus back to Kaza. We could not go to Ki because the car would not be able to climb the slope to Ki Monastery. Pappa had bypass surgery in 1997, and we wanted to reinforce “well being” in his mind, so all of us did a laidback HP short trip to Mcleod Ganj above Dharamshala ex-Singapore. Four of us did manage a day trip to Triund and back.