The venerable Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Hong Kong just got a freshening up, I'm told. The fact that it looks the same to me as it did 12 years ago must mean it worked.
One thing it didn't even cross my mind to look at that first visit, though: the high chairs. The Four Seasons brought up a brand new high chair to the apartment the other day, but it's a Rubbermaid, same as you'd see in any Roy Rogers on the NJ Turnpike {minus a million layers of drool and goo, of course.]
Meanwhile, at dinner tonight on the mezzanine, the Mandarin Oriental offered the kid this beautiful, understated, Ming Dynasty-style high chair. Awesome. I lifted it upside down to see where it came from--my longsuffering wife is rolling her eyes again as I type this--but there were no markings.
No one had a camera, either, so after we got home, put the kid to bed, and got the packing under control, I headed back over with my phone. After several tries I managed to ask the waiter what kind of wood it was. Apparently, it's called dork in Cantonese; so far, I haven't been able to find an English translation.
"Apparently, it's called dork in Cantonese; so far, I haven't been able to find an English translation."
Are you sure he was speaking Cantonese? ;-)
....I think he was trying to say it was "dark" wood.
Of course he was speaking Cantonese. "Dork" is Cantonese for "man who turns wooden chair upside down to see where it was manufactured."
[whew, for a second, I was worried it was "man who crosses town to take a picture of a high chair." -ed.]