Open Housing in KL and Jakarta

Hi folks, sorry for the silence but you know how it is with Raya. Visiting family, sitting around eating endlessly and doing myriad Raya things. It's nice though because you only get to do this once a year and you get to see everyone in one go.This year I did something I don't normally do, I went to the cemetery. In KL I went to visit the graves of two recently-departed and much-loved cousins whom I miss a lot. In Jakarta where I flew on the second day of Raya to visit my in-laws, I went to visit the graves of my late father-in-law Soemario Sosrowardoyo and my late sister-in-law Shaista Juliarti Sosrowardoyo. The late Soemario was a career diplomat and by coincidence he was the No 2 man in the Indonesian delegation at the UN during Konfrontasi while on our side, his opposite number was also a friend, the late Tan Sri Zain Azraai. We didn't know this until years later when Tan Sri Zain met my hubby and compared notes about those years.Anyway Raya in Jakarta is much the same as in KL, with visiting relatives and friends and eating lots of food. The food is similar but different, if you know what I mean. They have ketupat but it is eaten with meat and vegetable curries, rather than kuah kacang. The kuihs are similar but they have the famous 'spekook' (otherwise known as kuih lapis) and 'kastengel' or cheese sticks.We visited one house for home-cooked nasi padang and the best thinnest dendeng in the world.Kids of course have the most fun. Part of the fun is being able to play with fireworks which we bought at a small warong by the roadside.