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I did it. I found the 2008 Olympic Green. And let me tell you, it was no small accomplishment. It was late August 2006 and, the Games being 2 years away at that time, the site was still under major construction. Actually, the entire city was under major construction. They were renovating bus routes, building new subway lines (one or two that go directly to the Olympic Green itself), instituting traffic cops, installing English signposting everywhere and even renovating old hotels to accommodate the colossal numbers of tourists expected for the Games.

I had surveyed my Beijing tourist map for about 30 minutes before I got out of bed that morning, trying to decide if I could get a subway line anywhere near the Olympic Green (site of the main ceremonies of the 2008 Games) and hoping to walk the rest of the way. I decided it was doable, but not ideal. Though there are a few other Olympic venues scattered around the city, the main area of the Olympic Green is located on Beijing's far north side which is not a heavy tourist destination. In fact, the north side is really only home to the convention centre and a plethora of large international hotels. It is not, shall we say, an interesting place for walking. But we'll get there.

I asked at reception in the hostel where I was staying about a possible bus to the Olympic Green. The guy spent several long minutes surveying the map, making me feel less secure in his knowledge of the Beijing bus system as the seconds ticked by. Finally, he proclaimed that I should take "special" bus no. 2 from Qianmen Square. I asked what "special" meant and he clarified that this should be an "upstairs" bus. Just to be sure, I surveyed a map on the wall upstairs in the hostel. It looked like a slightly dated map, but it did show some bus routes. So, off I went in search of "special" bus no. 2.

 Of course, when I arrived to Qianmen Square, there was neither sign nor stop for "special" bus no. 2. I did, however, catch sight of, what appeared to be a passing regular bus no. 2. My adventurous spirit told me this might still be okay, so I climbed aboard regular bus no. 2. For awhile, it seemed that regular bus no. 2 was going in the right direction, and I kept a quick eye on my map, just to be sure. As long as this bus went in the GENERAL direction of the Olympic Park, I wasn’t worried. So, when the bus made a right turn and then another right turns (two rights don't make a right), and everyone piled off the bus at the next stop, it seemed I had no other choice than to get off.

Now where was I? Chinese people looked at me like I was crazy. I sat on the nearest bench and consulted my map in conjunction with the street signs on the nearest corner. Fine, I knew where I was, but where I was nowhere near a subway station nor was it walking distance to anything familiar. That's when I glanced up and happened to see two busses - no. 104 and no. 108 - passing by. They were both going in the direction of the Olympic Park and something in the back of my mind remembered seeing both of those numbers on the map I’d consulted on the wall in the hostel. With adventure once again in mind, I climbed aboard bus no. 104.

Bus no. 104 took me nearly all the way to the Olympic Green area and then it stopped at an official "end of bus line" station. I got off and started walking, feeling like I was fairly nearby, and then I saw "Olympic Sports Park" listed on a road sign, so I knew I was close. First, I tried turning off into what ended up being a small street market. Wandering through the market allowed a brief reprieve from the August temperature under green tarpaulin roofing. Then, I saw two men going out of the market via a short embankment. So, I climbed out of the market and up the embankment, which landed me on a strange street, all but deserted except for a few sparse care hire lots. In the distance, tall cranes and construction noises emanated from behind a large walled area. I was getting close. Following the car lot street and rounding a turn, I got my first glimpse of what is known as the "Nest," or the main ceremonies arena for the 2008 Games. From so far away, it looked like a massive, computer animated picture of a huge pile of twisted steel.

At last, I reached a busy highway, on the other side of which lay the Beijing Convention Centre and the Olympic Park Site. Boy, they are doing a good job of keeping this place under wraps, I muttered to myself, recounting the lengths to which I’d gone to get there. Pressing on, I figured I'd come that far, I was going to get up close to that Nest, whatever it took. An underpass tunnel led me across the busy highway where high winds were blowing around dust and rubble from the construction sites. It definitely wasn't a pleasant walk. At this juncture, a wide and heavily-trafficked road spread out in front of me, with the convention centre on my right and the Olympic Green construction site on my left. High walls and trees that blocked any potential views of the park, which is somewhere around 5 or 6 kilometers across, and probably 10 kilometers long. The sheer size of the park, combined with the wind and speeding cars, made the whole walk uncomfortable.

The Nest came into view. At a gate with security guards and ramshackle temporary blue corrugated fencing, I caught a view of it as it towered above the cranes, construction diggers, dirt, rubble, and general mayhem that occupied the 1000 meters between the Nest and me. In size, it would have dwarfed most American football or soccer stadiums in the world. The mangled, twisted steel rose almost threateningly above the surrounding area and commanded my entire gaze. ?I was stunned that there were no other people wanting to get a look at the spectacle of this thing in the making.

After all that, I spent two minutes taking photos and wasn't sure what to do. I had trekked all that way for a 35 second photo op and so, with nothing else to do and the wind and grime still beating at my back, I began the long journey back to Qianmen Square and my hostel. On the way to the bus stop, I crossed through a highway underpass where a camp of people had set up permanent residence in tattered old army tents. Finally, I managed to find a bus which got me to a metro station which got me back to centre of town.

Altogether, it was about a 4-hour venture, but completely worthwhile. To view the unassailable mass of steel that is the Nest in its early stages of construction was a truly memorable experience foreshadowing the historic 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. ?I can’t wait to see the finished product.