Party's over now on famous Legian Street<\/p>\n
Ian Timberlake, Agence France-Presse\/Kuta<\/p>\n
There's not much of a party on Bali's famous Legian Street
\nanymore.<\/p>\n
Even though the long, narrow street of bars, cafes and craft
\nshops was not targeted by bombers who killed at least 22 people
\non Saturday night, the explosions blasted much of the life out of
\nBali's traditional tourist strip.<\/p>\n
"It is dead," said Peter Watterson, 50, an Australian
\nvacationer waiting for friends outside a nearly-empty Paddy's
\npub, which was bombed in another attack almost exactly three
\nyears ago at its former location just up the road.<\/p>\n
"A lot of people in our hotel just don't want to go out," said
\nWatterson, who is staying further up Legian Street. "We've heard
\nrumors that there could be more bombs in the next couple of
\ndays."<\/p>\n
On Sunday evening many of the street's open-air roadside
\nrestaurants were virtually empty.<\/p>\n
At the Maxi Garden eatery a lonely guitarist sang, So you
\nthink you can tell\/ heaven from hell and Dewa Selamat had few
\ndiners to welcome.<\/p>\n
"It's quiet starting today," Selamat said, standing near a
\nmenu display. "Hopefully it'll just be like this for a few days."<\/p>\n
Taxis, many of them empty, slowly cruised the street in front
\nof him. At one point a truck loaded with policemen sped past.<\/p>\n
Authorities have linked the 2002 bombings that hit Paddy's pub
\nand destroyed the neighboring Sari Club with this weekend's
\nblasts at three restaurants to the same militant Islamic group,
\nJemaah Islamiyah.<\/p>\n
The new bombings came just as Legian Street was beginning to
\nrevert to its old rollicking form, said Josh Wilson, 17, a
\nPaddy's customer who unsuccessfully tried to steer others towards
\nthe bar and its booming music.<\/p>\n
There was only one customer inside.<\/p>\n
"You ladies want to come to Paddy's? Two-for-one drinks,"
\nWilson, a beer in his hand, said to three foreign women.<\/p>\n
"No thanks," one replied, and walked on.<\/p>\n
Wilson, an Australian who has been in predominantly Hindu Bali
\nwith his family for two weeks, said Legian hadn't been the same
\nsince the Saturday night bombings elsewhere in Kuta and Jimbaran
\nBay, another popular tourist spot.<\/p>\n
Before the attacks, the sidewalks were so crowded with people
\nthere was barely room to move, he said.<\/p>\n
"The street's absolutely, completely empty tonight."<\/p>\n
Gusti Ketut, Paddy's manager who was wounded in the 2002
\nbombing, said he was still too distraught by the latest attacks
\nto talk about it.<\/p>\n
The Sari Club has never been rebuilt and its former site is
\nnow fenced off and overgrown with vegetation.<\/p>\n
On the other side of the street, Japanese tourists Sayuri Suto
\nand Yumi Yagi, both 29, took photographs at a memorial to the
\nvictims of the 2002 bombings.<\/p>\n
Suto said they just "wanted to see for themselves" even though
\nthe latest attacks had shaken them.<\/p>\n
The Japanese visitors were among the few who stopped at the
\nmemorial, said Wayan Kantra, 51. Watching the monument gave him
\nsomething to do while he waited for somebody to hire him and his
\nrental car. Nobody did.<\/p>\n
Drivers and restaurants weren't the only ones looking for
\ncustomers.<\/p>\n
"Any kind of business is quiet," said Ira, one of three women
\nsitting on bar stools at the Mini Restaurant on Legian Street.<\/p>\n
Most of the Mini's dining tables were empty. "Starting last
\nnight, it's very quiet," she said.<\/p>",
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