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SCMP Reporter

Many Hong Kongers may witness history being made on June 30 by standing for hours in a sweaty crowd or gathering round a flickering television in a cramped apartment.

 But while Mr and Mrs Average languish in the throng or linger at home the moneyed classes will mark the change of sovereignty far more extravagantly.

 Just how lavish will celebrations be in the capital of capitalism? The South China Morning Post has taken a peek at what some of the territory's tycoons and tai-tais will be paying for an exclusive party, a restaurant meal and a hotel suite overlooking the harbour.

 Private parties will be two a penny next week, but few will be like the ones thrown by Henry Tang Ying-yen in the Furama Hotel's ballroom on June 30 and July 1.

 The SAR Executive Councillor and textile magnate has invited the same 300 of his closest friends to both soirees.

 They are the only private parties being staged by professional party organiser Roger Bushby-Sansom, who is also designing the official banquets for the Convention and Exhibition Centre and the two events at the Regent Hotel.

  Mr Bushby-Sansom, 46, caters to a very select market: 'We're talking [about] people who can spend between $300,000 and $1 million and more for an event.

 'That's about $1,500 a head on larger events, but we come down as low as $500 to $1,000 per head for medium-scale events.

 'That's just for decoration. On top of that the client has to pay for catering and things like that. An average event would be about $2,400 a head for everything.'  Although Mr Bushby-Sansom would not reveal the total amount Mr Tang planned to splurge, he said that decorations alone would cost between $300,000 and $500,000. He declined to be more specific for fear of embarrassing his client.

 For that amount, the 160 artisans at Mr Bushby-Sansom's Shenzhen workshop have been frantically modelling a replica of the Hong Kong skyline, complete with working lights, as a backdrop.

 As the sun sets on the British Empire, and the lights come up on Mr Tang's model Hong Kong, his guests will tuck into a Western-style banquet.

 'It's a very classical banquet with white tables and silverware,' Mr Bushby-Sansom said.

 '[Mr Tang] is a great gourmet and wine connoisseur, so his guests are going to be getting superb food and wine.'  Entertainers have been specially flown in to keep them amused. Kicking off proceedings will be Bjorn Again, an Australian take-off of the Swedish pop group Abba, Mr Bushby-Sansom said.

 The Las Vegas Showgirls, 'five girls who do stunning magic in very little clothing', will follow, and following them the rhythms of the salsa and the rhumba will pound out for a session of Latin American dancing.

 Once the guests leave, many for official functions, Mr Bushby-Sansom's crew will transform the ballroom for the following night's celebrations, an imperial-style Chinese feast.

 'We're going to cover the whole ceiling in beautiful gold lanterns,' Mr Bushby-Sansom said. 'And in front of the Hong Kong buildings we're going to put sculptures of the 12 symbols of the Chinese zodiac, all wrapped around columns which we're creating.'  On the second night the Hong Kong Ballet will perform, along with Chinese acrobats, jugglers, and the 'Masked Man' who swaps masks so quickly it appears as if his face is being digitally enhanced. 'Henry Tang's packed more entertainment into his party than almost any other party in town,' Mr Bushby-Sansom said. 'And for food and wine I would say Henry Tang's party is the one to go to.'  On June 30 over at Nicholini's, an Italian restaurant in the Conrad Hotel, 115 people will be gorging themselves on the Marco Polo Adventure set meal, probably the most expensive in town at $8,553.60 for two (service included).

 Fifteen chefs will have been at work since dawn to prepare the eight-course meal, says the 31-year-old maitre d', Giovanni Viterale.

   Designer Silvio Berge will have transformed the restaurant into a Venetian palace.

 'Marco Polo was a hero and adventurer,' Mr Viterale says, introducing the theme of his travels in the 13th century.

 For starters, the guests will devour 3.5 kilograms of Caspian Sea caviar, and four kilograms of Baltic salmon, Mr Viterale says. 'Marco Polo went to the Caspian Sea, [where] for the first time he tried something which was very unusual for him, and when he came back to Italy, he said: 'Wow, that's something we should go for.' '  Pan-fried goose liver follows, and then 10 kilograms of clams from Venice, Polo's home town.

 Pasta made with 200 eggs will then be served, along with 80 kilograms of fresh pigeon. Polo also discovered noodles in the East, Mr Viterale says. 'He found that we Italians with pasta have something in common with the Chinese, so we will have nice noodles, white and green.'  Then the guests will tuck into 120 Maine lobsters, followed by 30 kilograms of veal medallions.

 For dessert, there will be a 'pagoda of millefeuille layered with strawberries and mascarpone cream on cinnamon honey sauce' Mr Viterale said. 'When Marco Polo travelled to India he found all these spices like cinnamon, which in Italy we didn't have.'  The ingredients themselves will cost 32 per cent of the price of the meal, according to Mr Viterale. Another 34 per cent will go on the four bottles of Italian wine each couple will be served.

 Chantal Hooper, of the Conrad, says: 'The concept behind it is not to make money there. We are business people, but at the end of the day it's about looking after regular clientele, and doing something that's different.'  Room 2608 may sound nothing out of the ordinary but it happens to be the number of the most luxurious hotel suite in Hong Kong, at the Peninsula.

  At 4,200 square feet it is bigger than Chief Executive-designate Tung Chee-hwa's flat.

 Guests who have graced the vast expanse of the Peninsula Suite include members of the Ghanaian royal family and Princess Cristina of Spain, according to Peninsula spokesman Ivan Yeung Chun-wai. Mr Yeung would neither reveal the identity of the suite's guest for the big night nor say how long in advance the room had been booked. All he would say was that the occupant during the handover was not a public figure. A security post, discreetly curtained off when not in use, is the only sign from the corridor that 2608 is a very special suite. For VIPs who do not have their own bodyguards, the Peninsula can provide one free of charge.

  The suite consists of 14 rooms in total . . . including four bathrooms, an office, a boardroom, a cavernous two-storey-high living room, a 'less formal' living room, his-and-hers dressing rooms, a fully equipped kitchen for one's personal chef, an exercise room, and one bedroom with a bed nearly three metres wide.

 The suite also has a large balcony, strategically positioned for the harbour fireworks directly opposite the Convention and Exhibition Centre, and two service entrances for lackeys.

 Included in the price are nine televisions, including three in the master bathroom, 14 telephones, a baby grand piano, an antique fan imported from Vietnam, and two powerful telescopes based on a 1780 design and hand-made especially for the hotel by a Bombay family that has manufactured telescopes for generations.

 The minimum cost? $38,000 a night, plus 10 per cent service and five per cent tax. And that is just the basic rate. Whoever stays in the suite during the handover will have to pay the special handover rate - in advance. Like other rooms at the Peninsula over the handover, 2608 can be reserved only by buying a six-night package, whose price Mr Yeung declined to divulge.

 The well-heeled guest will be invited to all the Peninsula's handover events and receive a special handover souvenir. One of the perks that go with this deal is complimentary use of one of the hotel's 10 Rolls-Royces, which normally cost $700 an hour to rent, Mr Yeung said.

 Not included in the price is the room's minibar. A can of soft drink from there costs $50.



How to get above it all if you've money to burn