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Nengah Mantra, a masseur in Denpasar says it is easy to conduct sexual transactions nowadays.

"I just need to make a call on my mobile phone and pay Rp 150,000, then the prostitute will book the hotel," he said, laughing.

Mantra said most sexual workers no longer offered their services in prostitution areas, but simply received orders by phone.

He said such methods were easier and prevented him from being caught by public order officers. He doesn't need to pay the pimp either.

Unfortunately, the single man seems unaware his habit could make him vulnerable to sexually transmitted infections, including HIV.

I Made Sendra, an official of a customary village in Pemogan, South Denpasar, said he faced a dilemma.

The village has issued permits for businesspeople to operate caf*s in the area, but never expected that the caf*s would be used to conduct sexual transactions.

"Many local residents here have been loyal customers. They have made it a habit. But it is difficult for us to tell them to stop," Sendra said.

"I was surprised when I heard a local resident died of HIV. When the person was dead, no one wanted to clean the dead body. We are not yet ready to face this kind of issue."

Sendra has called for an assistant to hold an HIV/AIDS campaign in his village.

Many HIV/AIDS researchers and activists in Bali have estimated since the beginning of 2000 that such conditions would occur.

In that year, the prevalence of HIV/AIDS cases in sexual workers in the island doubled to 2 percent from 1 percent in 1999. In 2005, the number of cases increased to 12 percent, and further rose to 23 percent last year.

Despite the rapid increase in HIV/AIDS prevalence, many customers remain unaware of the risks.

The campaign of using condom in prostitution areas has been unsuccessful.

"Only 40 percent of the customers used condoms, while the rest refused," said Yahya Anshori of Bali's chapter of AIDS Commission (KPA).

The percentage was calculated from the length of working hours of each sexual worker.

Therefore, it is unsurprising that the prevalence of sexually transmitted infections - especially HIV - is high, as found by KPA Bali and several NGOs.

Last year, the commission noted changes in the behaviors of sexual workers and their customers.

They now prefer to have the transactions outside prostitution complex, making it more difficult for the commission to reach them for condom use campaign or infection treatment.

"Out of 8000 sexual workers, we estimate that those who offer their services outside prostitution areas are as many as those working inside the areas," Yahya said.

The commission predicts a new phase of HIV epidemic is taking place. Data from the Bali Health Agency revealed an upsurge of HIV/AIDS cases. In the beginning of last year, there were 2,610 patients. The number increased by 20 percent to 3,181 in November.

The commission has only managed to approach 57 patients per month.

As many as 2,142 patients, or 67 percent, got the infection from heterosexual relationships, while 730 others - or 23 percent - were infected through drug injections.

The condition was a reversal from the one took place five years ago, when most of the patients were injecting drug users (IDU).

To target more sexual workers and customers in its campaign, KPA Bali works together with pimps in prostitution areas by establishing working groups.

There are 13 working groups in a number of prostitution areas in Bali, including in Denpasar, Buleleng, Tabanan and Badung.