TRYING to enter the new Hong Kong Stadium at So Kon Po yesterday was akin to gaining access to Aladdin's Cave. Everything within seemed full of Eastern promise, but getting inside was another matter.
Finally, our genie manifested himself in the form of Robin Oram, sans lamp but with the modern equivalent - a portable phone.
Once inside, though, it is a wondrous sight - with its huge winged roof above and the massive gothic-like columns below giving almost a cathedral feel.
Out in the middle it was organised chaos. The band of the Black Watch going through its paces at one end, while at the other dozens of Frenchmen were scrambling up scaffolding as they prepared the stage for Jean-Michel Jarre's concert.
Surveying the scene alongside Keeping Posted, Oram - MD of Wembley International who will manage the new stadium - sighs part hopefully and part prayerfully: ''It should be all right on the night.'' Down in the bowels of the magnificent edifice all is frenzied activity - and what with French constructors and Jarre's men rushing about the place the accents are very much Gallic (and the aroma of garlic!).
Oram, who arrived here with his Danish wife Jonna from Britain 15 months ago to get things going, considers it the most challenging job he's ever tackled.