May travels- the first leg- extended

As I leave Delaware for Shanghai, I found time for more photos, more time to explore the airports that I was transiting in and more interesting places. So before I start writing on the second leg, here are the sights of Delaware to Shanghai.

Philadelphia airport (domestic) was nothing to shout about. Pretty run down and haphazard way of getting people to check in. If you have the misfortune of carrying a lot of baggage with you and you need a trolley - they are not free!! You have to pay US$3 to get one. For check-in, they had self service kiosk stuck between the regular check-in counters, thereby creating congestions at checkin. For once in my travels to the US, I was "selected" for a full body pat down and everything on me was tested for explosive residues. The guy doing it was quite apologetic, explaining to me that because my boarding ticket had SSSS imprinted n it, I was selected for the checks. It was over in less than 5 minutes in a glass walled room.

Chicago O'hare airport was a lot more interesting this time. I had a layover of 4 hours, so I explored every part of the departure terminal. You know what? Every single arm of the departure terminal had at least a McDonalds to meet craving passengers needs. Alongside these McD were Hudson newspaper outlets, Starbucks, The great American Bagel and Bakery and a host of many other food outlets. I even found an O'Briens. Sadly, the menu was totally different from the O'Briens we get in KL. Where was the Crambo? The Triple Deckers? Sure, they had made to order sandwiches, but they sure didn't look the same. In fact the menu they displayed were totally different from what I am used to.

In my travels, I always keep an eye out for business opportunities that I could start if I wanted a change in my work life. Sort of a backup plan in case things dont work out or if I get so fed up with the work routine or travels. In Chicago's O'hare, I found a couple of interesting food outlets. One was a Oriental food outlet with the name Manchu Wok. Looking closely at it's menu and the food that it served, it was nothing more than a "Chap Fan" outlet with the novelty of fresh dishes being cooked almost non-stop - and I personally think that this was more to do with the volume of business they were having. The Manchu Wok that I saw had a queue that stretched across it's neighbour's outlet. Mind you, the neighbour was McDonalds! And the 'chap fan' was not cheap. Fried rice or white rice with 2 dishes will set you back US$6.79. A third dish combo will cost US$7.79. I guess that is considered as CHEAP if you are drawing US$ income and take into consideration that this is an airport.

The second outlet which was doing roaring business was a place called Burrito Beach serving Mexican Grill. Lots of Hispanic type of food. A little observation here - I almost thought that there were a lot of Indians (as from India and not native American Indians!) taking a liking to Hispanic food. Then I got confused as they started conversing in Spanish. Voila - it hit me that Indians who can master Spanish could probably pass off as Hispanics. I can almost swear that a couple of them were Gujeratis or Rajestanis.

Before I end this post - let me share with you what an O'Briens steak sandwich looked like. It is like a piece of steak wedged between a sort of a bun. If I had known, I would have ordered a McDonald's burger. Sigh!!