Extract from the book “He who won the hearts of all customers - Danny Lai”

Author: Chan Chung Kun, Danny Lai Ping Pui







Translated by Daydreamer 20080502

(5) Gorgor had made a special request – pp. 51-52


Leslie Cheung, the singer who has passed away was a personal friend of mine. In the ‘70s, he took part in a singing contest and only won second place. Disappointed with the result, he once leaned on my shoulder and cried. Both of us were not well off when we first met. We often went to the bar or disco to amuse ourselves. Gorgor later gained popularity in Asia. He came to Oriental Mandarin often for dinner. Having known each other for over twenty years, we became very familiar with each other.

In 1995, Leslie bought a house at Redhill Peninsula for $2,600,000. He especially requested me to arrange for Mandarin Oriental to cater a housewarming party there. All the guests who attended were popular stars in the show business. For waiters who would be working that night, Gorgor had a special request – apart from being good looking, they had to be of similar height with no pimples on their face. Moreover, they had to attend to the guests bare-footedly because the carpet in his new house was of light colour. Gorgor loved cleanliness, that is why he had made that special request.

In 1997, Leslie sold his big house at Redhill Peninsula for $6,800,000, making a profit of $4,200,000. I was happy for him and joked that with that sum of money he could pay his rent at Kadoorie Avenue for 420 months.

Gorgor loved to go to the Clipper Lounge on the mezzanine floor of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel for afternoon tea. Each time, he would order grey earl tea with a chicken pie. Afterwards, he would spend the afternoon in the gym of the hotel with a massage.




















In 1995, to celebrate Christmas, Leslie had a drink with Danny and Danny’s three 契妹 God-sisters in the hotel













Carina Law, Tony Leung Chiu Wai and the banker Daffy Tong are my good friends

About Danny Lai:
Lai Ping Pui (Danny Lai), the Executive Vice President of the Oriental Mandarin Hotel, has been working there with loyalty for over thirty years. During his term of office, he was responsible for serving the former Chairman Jiang Zemin, former Premier Zhu Rongji, former British Prime Minister Mrs. Thatcher, etc., as well as the four former Governors of Hong Kong, and the two HKSAR Chief Executives.