No matter where I go, one of my favorite pastimes is to sit and watch people pass by. There are countless stories untold and the endless possibility of imagined lives.

Cities and towns may offer particular means when presenting such a diversion, but the opportunity is inevitably there.

While visiting Vietnam, I frequented casual establishments furnished with child size stools and a few tables to set down glasses of beer. They may have been sprawling chaotically on a sidewalk or tucked further back in an array, but the view of the street life was rarely encumbered.

When the oppressive heat of the day would barely subside, I would place myself on one of these low plastic seats, order a beer, and settle in to enjoy the unofficial parade.