Tourism is also a threat to Bali.

With it has come paedophilia, crime, drinking, drugs, without mentioning the fact that most big hotels are owned by outsiders and not Balinese.

There has been a sudden drop in arrival of Western tourism after the bombings -- some say up to 70 per cent -- and the Indonesian government has been promoting 'domestic' tourism.

That sounds fine, except that Indonesians, mostly Muslims, do not have the same respect for Bali's cultural and ecological beauty that Westerners have, and may even be hostile to Hindus.

Tourism kills the soul of a country and Bali, such a small country, is already showing signs of the decay in its culture and ethos: in Sanur or Kutti, Denpasar's most famous beaches, every shop is devoted to cheap tourist artefacts and every other person hassles you for a massage, a souvenir, or a restaurant. Luckily, as soon as you move a little bit inland, Hindus there seem to have retained much of their culture and innocence. But time presses as Bali is so defenceless because of that very innocence.

Image : Hindu devotees leave a temple after praying on Beshaki, one of the island's biggest festival that marks the beginning of the Hindu calendar here. Image: Roslam Rahman/AFP/Getty Images