Tourists returning to the beaches of Bali two years after bombings killed 202 people say the resort island is now no more dangerous than anywhere else in the world as terrorism's global threat grows.
Bombs ripped through two bars in Bali's Kuta night-club strip on October 12, 2002, in what was seen as a deliberate strike by militant extremists on Westerners in the world's largest Muslim-populated country.
The island's crucial tourism industry was paralysed in the aftermath of the bombing as a normally heavy influx of visitors was reduced to a trickle.
But while there have been further shocks for Indonesia, in the shape of deadly bombings in Jakarta at a US-run hotel and the Australian embassy, trouble elsewhere has convinced many that Bali is no longer a threat.
"It is hard to tell if this place is still dangerous, an attack could happen anywhere, it could just as easily happen in Sydney," said Craig Norton, an Australian taking a holiday in Bali to coincide with the anniversary of the bombing in which two of his friends died.
Such fears were magnified this week when more than 30 people were killed and 120 wounded by car bombs at resorts packed with Israeli holiday-makers on the Red Sea coast of Egypt's Sinai peninsula.
In the clubs of Kuta, including the rebuilt Paddy's Bar - one of two venues targeted in the 2002 blasts - sunburned young Australians and other Westerners are back in search of a good time, drinking and dancing into the night.
"You can't live your life thinking you're going to get blown up, you let the terrorists win if you think that," said James Kernot, 29, of Torquay, Victoria, visiting Bali for the first time.
For Helen Perry of Sydney, the island has returned to the safe haven she knew before 2002.
"We were due to come just after the bomb happened, but we cancelled. Now I feel it is a safe place, I love it and the people need us to be here. I wouldn't be here if I felt any danger.
"I just think it is terrible for the people of Bali, they are such lovely, humble people, they are the ones suffering in the long term. It is destroying them," she said.
Oka Darmawan, island's head or tourism, is also keen to put potential vistors at ease as the island's economy begins to pick up.
"Now it is safe," he told AFP. "The island is conducive and comfortable, especially for foreigners."
Some ordinary Balinese however fear that the threat lingers.
"I have a fear there are still many people like the bombers who never think about others when they are angry," said driver Nyoman Karya.
"But I think Westerners and Americans have to look at themselves as well, they have to admit if they have done wrong to others."
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