So, umm, refreshing to be in lovely smoke-filled Italy, where one isn’t the only soul on the train platform sucking back a quick gasper before one’s 30-minute train journey, but one of many. And, yes, you can smoke on train platforms. I rather suspect you’d only get a smacked wrist for smoking on a train, not that I’ve tried, though I’ve seen it done. Also, Zac is routinely offered wine here.

And I Uno “pick up eight, miss a turn, reverse play and pick up eight again” you, the NY interval at an opening night during a blizzard when everyone stood smoking in a huddle like Emperor Penguins, circulating from the periphery into the sheltered interior. They were forcibly imprisoning the homeless to stop them dying from the cold and told us that if we didn’t stub ‘ em out and get back inside, we’d be swept up too! (Surely that man was Swiss?)

I see your New York and I raise you Venice. I was having a perfectly standard post-prandial cigarette on an OUTSIDE TABLE by a canal. And I was told off for smoking by…. wait for it…. AN ITALIAN!!!!

The government, I think, is making so much from mineral rights that it doesn’t need to worry about the cigarette taxes…

Hello! I’m glad you’re enjoying my Mongolia stuff. It’s a wonderful country…

There are actually quite a few restaurants in UB with international wine lists, including some upscale ones, though nothing up to the standard of topflight places in Beijing, obviously.

This was a gastro-bar type place — not fantastic food, but perfectly pleasant and good value, and it’s on the inner ring road east, at the bus stop: the Granville Irish Pub is its name… Don’t miss the cabaret at Tumen Ekh, by the State Circus. Cafe Amsterdam has a nice terrace. The Indian place — I forget its name but it’s on the road to the state circus — was again surprisingly OK, if you’re craving Indian. Marco Polo has not bad Italian. If you’re child-free, I’d recommend doing the bar on top of the landmark hotel for sunrise drinks…

Would love to know the name of the restaurant with the international wine list. Sounds heavenly….any other suggestions? We arrive in UB on Monday and have 2 weeks in the country.

Can’t wait to read the rest of your posts. Happy travels!

It wouldn’t surprise me one bit if you could smoke in a Serbian hospital. In fact , I’d assume there are peoples smoking inside Serbian hospitals as I am typing this.

It’s the promised land for smokers.