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Finding peace in Bali

One year after a terrorist bombing, the island's residents are using the downturn in tourism to tidy up an already tranquil place.

BALI, Indonesia - " "Stay calm,' that's what the old people said," the hotel owner told me. "They have authority, so we listened to them and did nothing. But we were very angry, very angry.

"Sometimes I would drive up behind a Muslim person on the street and stop just behind them. "I don't know what will happen at the trial (of those arrested in the October 2002 bombing that killed 191), but that is not important. In Bali we believe in karma, so karma will make them pay.

"The Muslim people on the island don't talk about it, they don't discuss what happened at all, but we know most of them do not agree with what happened."

A year after the bomb that killed 191 at a Kuta Beach nightclub devastated the island's tourist business, the Balinese are still coming to terms with what happened. They are waiting for the visitors to return. And they are still remarkably upbeat.

"They still smile and laugh; there's no resentment," reported Stefan Loose, a German friend and long-term visitor to the island. "They're struggling to make ends meet, their businesses are in danger, and yet they remain positive."

The visitor downturn was not immediately obvious on a recent visit: The streets were still crowded, the traffic jams down in the Kuta-Sanur-Ubud tourist enclave in the south of the island still occurred.

But then my wife, Maureen, and I looked in the restaurants and noticed only a table or two were occupied. The bicycle and motorcycle rental places had lines of shiny new two-wheelers where usually only one or two would be waiting.

Yet the Balinese were clearly making the best of things. Restaurants and hotels were using the idle time to refurbish and repaint. The narrow pavements in central Ubud looked in better shape than they previously have, and everywhere we went in Bali - always a fairly neat and tidy place - things looked more manicured than usual.

We stayed in Ubud at Okawati's. Maureen and I remember Okawati from our time here as young backpackers 30 years ago. Then, Okawati operated a tiny food stall across from the temple in the center of the village. Now she has a trim little hotel in the rice paddies off Monkey Forest Road, with a terrace restaurant and a swimming pool.

Stefan and Renate, our German friends, had taken over the entire hotel for a three-day, 25th wedding anniversary celebration. A room with balcony and bathroom costs about $30, so Bali is still the sort of place where you can enjoy such an extravagance for 40 friends because it would not cost much more than $1,500.

The anniversary festivities over, we moved uphill a few miles to try Begawan Giri, one of the superluxury small hotels dotting the banks of the Ayung River, close to Ubud. On previous stays we had tried competitors such as the Amandari and Four Seasons.

In the current climate, the Begawan Giri's usual claim of five staffers per guest was clearly conservative, but there was no sign of cutting staff.

In the morning we could look down from our terrace, at the gardens tumbling down to the river far below, and see gardeners meticulously moving through the palm trees. Balinese gardens always look as if they are tended with nail clippers and a comb.

Our room shared a swimming pool with four other rooms. The croak of frogs, the call of birds and the noise of the river below were only occasionally interrupted by excited shrieks from whitewater rafters gyrating through the rapids.

We had taken our time moving up to these luxurious little enclaves. In the 1970s, we were Bali backpackers, when overland travelers who stumbled into Bali were astonished to find that "cheap" and "stylish" could be used in the same sentence.

The crumbling guest rooms with mysterious stains on the wall that Western visitors had encountered elsewhere in Asia were now replaced by pretty little rooms looking out on immaculately kept gardens dotted with exotic stone sculptures.

In the 1980s, we were regular visitors here with our children. We were quick to take advantage of the babysitting that seemed to come as part of the rate in every family-run hotel. For their part, our children became experts on Bali's exciting dances, which were dramatic clashes between extravagantly costumed witches and heroes.

In the '90s, we took a Bali break: The rapid development, traffic jams and overcrowding here had simply become exhausting. Bali had - temporarily, as it turned out - lost its charm for us.

Then, in the late '90s a string of circumstances brought us back again and reignited the love affair.

Of course today, there's more to the local economy than tourism and rice growing:

Balinese design is widely exported, a string of furniture shops line the road near the airport, Balinese stone sculpture pops up everywhere and the island seems to have achieved official status as the Third World's tourist-souvenir provider. "Local" souvenirs bought in many places from Africa to the Pacific are quite likely to have been made in Bali.

In addition to dances, arts and crafts, the Balinese seem to manage almost anything with style. On our last night, Ubud was shutting down earlier than usual and after dinner, we couldn't find a taxi back to our hotel. Eventually a traditionally dressed young man, on his way home from some temple ceremony, offered to drive us back.

We chatted about how quiet things were and how tough it has been for local businesses.

"Tell your friends it's safe to come back," he instructed us as we climbed out of his car.

Getting there: Several airlines provide service from Los Angeles and San Francisco to Bali, making connections in Asian gateway cities.

Staying there: Bali is packed with hotels in every price category and right now there are great bargains. Rooms in budget price losmen, the Indonesian word for a local inn, start in the $5-$8 range. There are prices every step of the way from there to the Begawan Giri (www.begawan.com) the two luxurious Four Seasons (www.fourseasons.com) and the three Aman resorts (www.amanresorts.com) where rooms usually start around $475 - but now cost less.

Eating there: The Balinese have their own spicy cuisine. Try a nasi campur, a rice dish that has a bit of everything. But you can even find excellent Mexican food in Bali.

Moving around: Getting around Bali is a breeze - you can hire a car and driver by the hour, day or week if you don't want to wait for a "bemo," the local minibus.

Finally, leave space in your bag for shopping: From artwork to clothes, this is the one place where Bali could break your budget.