MANILA, Philippines - ?Bird?s Nest? is what the Chinese call the gigantic Beijing Olympic Stadium that will be home to the 2008 Olympics this August.

The stadium is a spectacular sight. Its 42,000 tons of steel that bend around and support the structure designed by Swiss architects (and recent recipients of the UK?s Royal Gold Medal) Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron create a building that looks more like a Martian mothership than a sports arena.

Last April, my good friend Jun Gonzales and I had walked around the perimeter of the Olympic grounds. There were people taking photographs, some climbing up big piles of sand, soil and rocks just to get a better view of the Bird?s Nest. Entry to the stadium was prohibited; we couldn?t enter the grounds.

But last May 24, or exactly 77 days before the much-awaited opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, Jun and I achieved the seemingly impossible. We were able to enter the Beijing Stadium?perhaps the first Filipino tourists to do so.

Jun works as the hospitality director of Coca-cola, a major Olympic sponsor. He made arrangements for me to watch the China Athletic Open, held at the stadium as a sort of warm-up for the Olympics.

Jun and I, with tickets in tow, got off the cab at the wrong gate. Uh-oh. The entry had been redirected to another gate.

Our tickets were valid only until noon (that?s how strict they are!), so we hurried to the assigned entrance. There was an x-ray machine inspecting everything that came in?bags as well as people.

When we got through, Jun turned to me and said, ?You have to kiss the ground, I think you are the first Pinoy tourist to have entered the Bird?s Nest. Congratulations!?

I was overwhelmed with the grandeur of the stadium. There were several games ongoing in the arena, and as we looked for our designated seats, I noticed that the stadium was subdivided into sections marked A to M.

The elevators and stairs made the bleachers and the middle part very accessible. There were big signages everywhere for easy navigation. We tried to sit on all levels, and it was amazing to discover that the view of the action in the middle seemed the same, whether we were on ground level or on the bleachers.

Open shell

We walked around the whole stadium to get a feel of its 95,000-seating capacity. The structure felt like an open shell that let in natural air. You could actually feel the breeze, and I did not feel the summer heat of Beijing. I can see it now: Even if it rains during the opening ceremony, the stadium?s open-shell design will keep the spectators dry.

It was great fun to go around the Bird?s Nest while eating caramel popcorn and drinking iced cold water. At the souvenir shop, we bought Olympic T-shirts. There were already postage stamps commemorating the China Athletic Open. I?m sure the Beijing Olympics stamps would be a bigger hit.

When that big day arrives, Beijing will be a different city for at least two weeks. For starters, taxi drivers have taken English lessons and familiarization tours of the whole city. And with an 8-billion-dollar event budget, half a million expected visitors, 198 km of new subway tracks laid out, one million cars taken off the roads and 11 new world-class athletic venues, Beijing will be reconceived as a nirvana of hospitality and a shrine to sports.

No doubt all that will leave a transformative legacy on the city, beginning with its newest and biggest landmark, the Bird?s Nest. Am I glad I was one of the first to see it up close.