"Compared to the first month or two after the bombings, we can say now that we have recovered," says head waiter Putu Sutiasa.

"It is a bit quiet right now, but that's because it's the Muslim fasting season," he says, referring to the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. "But if you came in a group of five or six people a week ago, chances are you would not have got a table."

Menega Cafe lies on Bali's Jimbaran Bay, a quiet arc of sand dotted with candlelit seafood restaurants that are popular with tourists wanting a more sedate evening than that offered in the raucous tourist area of nearby Kuta.

But the peace was shattered on October 1 last year when two suicide bombers — and a third in Kuta — ambled into restaurants jammed with tourists and set off their explosives, killing themselves along with 20 bystanders. Fifteen Indonesians, four Australians and one Japanese were killed.

The attacks by Islamic extremists on the Hindu-majority island of Bali hit just as tourism had hit its stride again in the wake of bombings in 2002 which left 202 people dead and opened a new front in the so-called "war on terror".

Ordinary Balinese suffered most

With tourism the lynchpin of the tropical island's economy, it was ordinary Balinese who hurt the most after each of the atrocities.

Bagus Sudibya, chairman of the Bali Tourism Board, concedes that things are getting better.

But he says this year the island is still in a "recovery phase", and the figures back him up: foreign tourist arrivals for the first half of this year to the island fell 19.11 percent to 584 263 compared to a year earlier.

"In 2007, we hope we will be at a stabilisation stage and we hope we can draw 1.45 million foreign tourists. For 2008, which we hope will be the year of expansion, we aim at more than 1.6 million foreign tourists," he says.

The island saw 1.45 million tourist arrivals in 2005, down 4.67 percent from 2004, largely due to travellers cancelling trips after the December 2004 tsunami, which lashed Indonesia's Aceh province.

Sudibya says promised funding from the central government after the bombings has only trickled through, with 67 billion rupiah ($7.3-million) being earmarked for recovery but only 12 billion so far being spent.

Terrorism and tsunamis

Meanwhile, attention from the government has wandered.

"When the Bali bombing took place, Bali was the priority," Sudibya says. "But after that came various other disasters, such as the tsunami and earthquake in Java, the hot mud spill in East Java... Bali became just one of several disasters."

For some operations, such as the plush Laguna Resort at upmarket Nusa Dua, it's business as usual, says communications director Sugeng Purnomo, with occupancy rates averaging 70 to 80 percent and even hitting 90 percent in recent months.

"And if we are well off, other regions such as Kuta, Sanur and Seminyak would also be well off," he says, referring to other popular beach areas.

Pretty Widiasafitri from the Nikko Hotel agrees and says occupancy is expected to be around 80 percent for October.

"I can say Bali has recovered or at least, has begun to recover," she says, noting that no discounts were being offered to boost figures and prices were actually raised from August.

But ordinary people like taxi driver Muryanto, who awaits a fare on the main tourist strip of Kuta, are still hurting.

"It's difficult to get passengers... But it is still much better than the time immediately after the bombings," he says.

"Nowadays, I can mostly bring something home although sometime, I do not get anything at all."

Those tourists returning are often regular visitors, like Ally Steven, an Australian in her early 30s meeting with friends at a cafe in Sanur.

"I first came to Bali 10 years ago and almost every year I come back here," she says, adding that last year however she did not make the visit. She brushed off fears of more attacks on places like Jimbaran, where she ate the evening before.

"I enjoy Jimbaran, I always return there," she says.

And these days at the Menega Cafe, the bombings are something most patrons are simply curious about rather than fearful of.

"Some of the guests do ask about the bombings and, well, we just tell them what we know," head waiter Sutiasa says.

For more info...
• Visit the Bali Tourism Board.
• Find out more from www.tourismindonesia.com.

AFP