The Word Ha Noi

Non-smoker Mark Bowyer makes the case for smoke-free bars and restaurants, and the enforcement of Vietnam’s latest round of smoking laws.

In 2007 when the smoking-in-public-places ban dusted all that unwanted ash off Europe, many other non-western countries followed suit. Quick off the mark was Singapore and the tourism babe of the region, Thailand. And at the beginning of 2010, Vietnam threw in the towel. But in a country where the population does as it sees fit, without proper enforcement the ban blinked a couple of eyelids, coughed out a bout or two of phlegm and was largely ignored.