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Considering the bulk of my itinerary planning happened after my plane took off from Toronto, I didn’t exactly have a clear schedule in mind.  Doing some reading after checking in, I realized that the Forbidden City and the Wangfujing shopping district were very close to the hotel.  I dislike “over-planned” vacations, so I opted for just those two on my first day, and to let fate fill the rest with happenstance.  Besides, my checked luggage was still MIA; I needed to do some shopping to tide me over.

I’m typically not an early riser on vacations – or otherwise for that matter.  It is shocking, then, that I was at up at 7am; I think I had in mind to “beat the crowds” at the Forbidden City.  I discovered Beijing wasn’t an early riser either; the pedestrian walkways were deserted, as was Wangfujing.

While my eagerness to butcher the Mandarin language might have played a role, I think hunger was the main motivator as I approached this street vendor in the barren Wangfujing.  Natives seemed to be going, so why not tourists.  I had my guidebook, I knew what a bao zi was, and theoretically how it was pronounced.

It’s obvious then, that I should somehow end up ordering *three* bao zi.  At least I only ordered one soy milk drink.  I think I misinterpreted her query about quantity to be a discussion of price.  :p  The soy milk was fine, and the buns were… salty.  I eventually conquered my childhood training to “clean my plate” by about the 2nd bun, leaving a just enough  room for a second attempt at breakfast.

The second breakfast attempt occurred just outside the Forbidden City, a hold in the wall stall with quite a promising lineup.  I studied the store and their clientèle for several minutes before entering the queue myself; I needed to figure out what the most popular order was, and how to accomplish the order with minimum risk of verbal interaction.  I was successful.    It was simple breakfast fare, basically a toasted sesame bread of some sort with a fried egg inside.  I believe I was told later it was some kind of Muslim breakfast?  It was delicious, much better than the bao zi.  Yes, that is soy milk again; we all have our beverage addictions, don’t we?

Feeling energized by finally having a good meal in China, I headed over to the Forbidden City to be there when ticket lines opened.  I  people watched on the way, and even shared my breakfast with one particularly adorable Chinese citizen.