The GeeksOnaPlane East Asia 2010 tour took off from San Francisco on Friday afternoon, with 16 geeks in tow. After a brief layover in Korea at Incheon International Airport (thx Asiana Airlines for the red carpet treatment at the business lounge), we arrived in Shanghai at Pudong Airport on Saturday evening. We then quickly became GeeksOnaBus, as we piled into our shuttle and drove over to the Courtyard Marriott Shanghai Xiujiahui to meet the rest of our #goap crew… now over 40 geeks strong!
Sunday morning all of the geeks met in the lobby to prepare for a big day at Shanghai World Expo. A few of us broke off from the main group to attempt a meeting with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who also happened to be in Shanghai at the same time (we think she was stalking us, but we decided to play it cool). We were in luck — HRC adjusted her busy schedule to give us a few minutes for a photo opp, as well as the chance to pitch her on the StartupVisa Movement (which she thought was a great idea). In addition to Sec. Clinton, we also got to meet US Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman Jr and US Consul General of Shanghai Beatrice Camp.
After chasing down half the US State Department, we joined the rest of the geeks for an “East Meets West” blogger meet up at the Expo USA Pavilion, where more than 60 nerds from the USA and China got together to tweet, blog, and photograph each other into infinity and beyond. The GoaP crew then disbursed itself into multiple groups throughout the expo to checkout multiple country pavilions, and many of us also took a stroll along The Bund, overlooking the Huangpu River.
After a long day of walking all over Shanghai, the entire 60-geek strong crew re-assembled for dinner at Table No.1, a trendy new restaurant that just opened at the Waterhouse Hotel. Dinner was absolutely fabulous, and everyone had a wonderful time (clearly evidenced in the photo above taken by Kris Krug).
Next up tomorrow: ReThink Shanghai !!!
Tags: bund, geeksonaplane, GoaP, shanghai, waterhouse