Shang-HI!

I'm in Shanghai to see the World Expo. My dad told me I should go, so I booked a flight into Shanghai so I can check it out. Word on the street in Beijing is that it's not very exciting, but I have to see it for myself. Right when I land I'm bombarded with images of the World Expo mascot, and ads for the event. When I first heard about it I thought it would be a big stadium where every country gets their own stand. It turns out each country that participates creates its own pavilions. I arrive in Shanghai and have to go find my hostel. Once I settle in, I realize we have a street market right outside of our hostel. I walk down the middle of the street to see huge fish cut in half that are still squirming, frogs, turtles, caged chickens on the back of mopeds, and ducks that look like they've been through the ringer. Hmmm....what to eat? There's one guy whose job it is to keep the fish in their water bins since they are still swimming and leaping out onto the street. This is crazy.
In the common area that night I meet a Chinese guy named James. We go eat at the street market, and agree to go to the Expo the next day. Right off the bat I don't know if I can handle him for an entire day. He's sixteen and I'm sure babysitting wasn't on my list of things to do around the world. The next morning we meet up back in the common area where I meet a girl with flaming red hair. Her name is Lydia. She goes on to tell me that she has been teaching Yoga for a month here in China, and her fellow yoga instructor assaulted her in the middle of the night in the hotel. Namaste.
I help her out because I already know the ropes around the hostel. I ask James to do some translating for her so she can get her reservation sorted. She leaves to go home to Vegas tomorrow. I invite her to the Expo with us, not only because I would like her to go, but because I would like her to join my babysitters club.
The Expo is amazing. Each country has its own pavilion. The architecture is amazing, and inside each of them is themed to the countries culture, history, and current position in the world as well as the future of thier technology or their ideals. Most of them have a line that is over an hour. And the good ones we will have to wait for three hours. After the USA pavilion we've had enough of James so we decide to ditch him. He has friends headed to the Expo anyway.
Lydia decides we have to go to the Japan pavilion, and I am reluctant since it's a three hour wait. When we get in we realize why it is three hours. It's a huge dome that we wind our way through. On the screens they are projecting images of their beautiful wild life while the lighting changes in unison with the pictures. We are then lead into a standing room theatre where they show us their technology. Cameras, cars, and a robot walks out on stage and plays a violin to show us the dexterity in his fingers.
The last one is a huge theatre where they give us a traditional show that begins with two people in futuristic robot wheelchairs. It then turns into a story about a little boy and a swan. The show is beautiful.
At the end we are absolutely exhausted from the World Expo. We head off to dinner, and then go back to the hostel. As we arrive at the hostel Ellie (from the Great Wall tour) is standing in the hostel checking in. I get her situated while Lydia gets her reservations taken care of. Lydia, Ellie, and I all hang out in my room that night and talk for hours. The next morning I awake to find a not next to my pillow that Lydia has left. She tells me that I really helped her out when she wasn't in such a good position after the guy assaulted her. Her note says "you have a friend for life." To me that's what travel is all about.
The day of the expo has been the only day that I've been homesick . Just knowing that Lydia is going back to the United States makes me long for home, but once she is gone, so is that feeling of wanting to go with her.