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