How could I turn down an invitation like that! The Bird's Nest! The symbol of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games and the venue where China's top sports star hurdler Liu Xiang is expected to defend his title in August.
The steel-framed stadium was glittering under the sun with people snapping pictures around the construction site and cars passing by on the fourth ring road in front of it.
People with tickets lined up to go through a security inspection at the entrance. The inspectors were all females holding wands; while at the gymnastics test event, men and women checked the spectators in two lines, one for men, and one for women.
After the security checks, we walked several hundred meters paved with cobblestones dotted with patches of grass, ponds, fountains and sculptures. People here can take a closer look at the stadium while enjoying a park-like environment.
Volunteers warmly welcomed us when we were still meters away from them. Once they looked at our tickets, they showed us to our seats.
A combination picture taken on May 22,2008 shows the signs of public facilities in the National Olympic Stadium, also known as the Bird's Nest in Beijing. Click for more Bird's Nest photos |
We were immediately attracted to the deep red walls inside, with signs showing where lifts, stairs, washrooms and other public facilities were, because the pictographs looked like funny cartoons. I tried the water fountain – and the water tasted sweet.
And then when we saw the actual track field, we were amazed. Wow! We had a very broad view of the whole stadium from where we sat. We could still smell the scent of the race track as it was only the second time the stadium was open to the public.
Since there were no big names at the test event, most of the stands were empty. We wondered why the white and red seats were arranged randomly as the colors formed no shape.
The preliminaries for the men's 100m were going on and we sat close to the starting line. One of the runners saw us and grinned.
At the sound of the pistol, the runners took off, but soon returned to the starting blocks because of the false start of an Australian runner.
At this time, a photographer near us cheered for the false starter, a fellow compatriot. He said though the Australian runners didn't do very well, he was very glad to have the chance to visit the stadium.
A Japanese runner fell half way through the men's 400m race. Amid applause and cheers, doctors and volunteers carried him off the track.
Then we were hungry and went to the concession stand and bought two sausages. The food was not that expensive: three yuan for a cup of soft drinks and two yuan for snack noodles.
We watched the proceedings until the last group of runners finished their preliminary rounds and most of the spectators left. What was interesting was that there was hardly any rubbish on the floor.
Outside the stadium, specially designated buses for the spectators ferried people to the nearest subway or bus stations.
The Bird's Nest isn't just a beautiful looking venue; it is also well-run thanks to the friendly volunteers and the spectator-friendly facilities. Oh yes, and the water fountains were the best!
