(Delayed post)
iLEAD Silicon Valley Study Trip
19th July - 30th July 08

Day 1 in Silicon Valley!

i must admit, the flight was a tiring one. travelling alone was abit boring,and I ended up finishing Heroes Season 2 on the airplane! took me about 24 hours including transit from penang to san jose! transitted at Taipei,and the flight got delayed for about 40 minutes. one thing interesting was that i realised announcements in the Taipei airport was made in hokkien! it does sound weird having heard hokkien being used so officially...hah!

the LA International Airport was really packed and busy, and kind of huge. the weather was fine, quite cold for a summer. about 20 degrees outdoor at night and the wind, it feels like an outdoor AC system.

i was supposed to head to Terminal 7 in LA for my connecting flight and it took me about 15 minutes to walk to the Terminal... pheww...
another hour waiting to check in my baggage, another hour to check in for my flight!
and FINALLY - SILICON VALLEY!!!
for a moment, i really couldnt believe the fact that I am there at Silicon Valley already!

arrived at the placed where I was supposed to be staying, Joe West Hall, San Jose State University at 1.00 am. with the jet lag and all, I managed to sleep for about 4 hours,
woke up about 7.00 am local time and I started to walk around to explore the place...

the rest arrived in the afternoon, went out for a Subway Lunch...
and headed to Mountain View to the NOC Office here...
the night was spent preparing for the visits!

Day 2 in Silicon Valley:
Started the day with a scrumptious breakfast at the hall...
In the agenda we have Mystery Spot and the beaches at Santa Cruz!
let the pictures speak for itself!

The many many days in SV
(hah,no time to break down already...)

founder of meebo, Seth Sternberg - a truly inspiring entrepreneur, an engaging speaker

Stanford University!

me at San Francisco, the Golden Gate Bridge!

me and karen on the Tesla Motor's Roadster! rocks!
(the car is designed to fully run with electric power without fuel! amazing...)

thats me using the cart for disabled in Walmart! finally been there after learning about it in marketing text again and again!

the iLEADERs Eight...

YouTube Office!

and as the background says, it is GOOGLEPLEX!!!


on a whole, the whole study trip has been a fantabulous and inspiring one - having met some of the successful entrepreneurs in SV;
gave us a good perspective and understanding of the entrepreneurial ecosystem in the valley and appreciate why the valley is so exclusive by itself...
truely life changing experience...

and moving on - the Road Trip!