Tea for Two, Twice

When Henry and I visit stately homes back in England, I always try to make sure we arrive at about 2.45pm.  This gives us enough time to feel we've done the place justice, before settling down at about 4.30pm to the bit we were really interested in the first place, Afternoon Tea in the Refreshment Room.  On a recent bike ride in Vietnam, we discovered a different approach.

It was about 3.15pm that we clambered off our bikes on the outskirts of the Imperial City of Hue.  We'd tracked down the Garden House of a Foreign Minister who served Emperor Tu Duc when our own Queen Victoria was busy running her own empire.  It was a tiny place, which we covered comfortably in ten minutes flat -- pond, temple, mangosteen tree, shrine.  But the little old lady who trotted out to greet us (her only visitors, as far as we could tell) wasn't going to let us get away that quickly.  She ushered us to a teak table on the late mandarin's verandah, shoved a jar of candied ginger before us, and promptly produced from nowhere a pot of steaming jasmine tea.  As we sipped, she beamed. 

You weren't thinking of leaving, were you?

The next stop on our Garden House Trail was the former home of a junior mandarin under Emperor Thanh Thai, built in 1888 and now owned by his 79 year old grandson.  We know his age because he told us, as he escorted us in his pyjamas around his orchard, vegetable garden and fishpond.  Our second pot of tea soon followed, accompanied this time by a bunch of bananas, more smiles, and a box for tips.

Next stop

We didn't mind the hint.  We'd had far more refreshment than a £6.25 National Trust scone and pot of Earl Grey could ever have provided, and we hadn't had to queue at a self-service counter to pay for it.

John