October 12, 2002

The sun was out, the temperature was a balmy 32C, and it was Saturday—although that didn't really matter because to the 1.6 million yearly visitors to Indonesia's most alluring tropical paradise, every day is a Saturday and every night a freewheeling Saturday night.

The surf was up too, which did matter to Chris Beirne, a 47-year-old nursing-home worker on holiday from Mermaid Beach, Australia. Beirne loves Bali so much he overstayed his visa on his first visit back in 1974 and was deported after four blissful months. He has returned more than a dozen...