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Chinese at Ocean VodkaWe’ve had an exciting couple of weeks sharing Maui’s Agricultural beauty. I was honored to have fourteen guests from Hong Kong China on a special Farm Tour. I received the urgent call from Hong Kong. The lady wanted to book my tour for her guests to be picked up at Andaz Wailea and said they would like to do tastings, see lots of flowers, have a sit down lunch in a restaurant, see pineapple, taste pineapple and then be dropped off at Lahaina Harbor Pacific Whale Foundation for shopping. I customized a tour for them. As you can see we had a wonderful time. Andaz WaileaUpon arrival at the beautiful Andaz Hotel in Wailea, I met the spokesperson for the group in the lobby. Andaz provided beautiful water bottles for the guests. This was an incentive tour for a Company providing their top achievers with a trip to Maui, Oahu and Korea. They were wonderful. A staff member traveled with us and he said his job was “to keep everyone happy” which he did. The laughter was infectious. I would talk about Maui in short segments and he would translate into Chinese. He said their island home in Hong Kong had a population of seven million, so when I mentioned Maui has a lot of cars, he laughed as we live on such a rural and beautiful island. Chinese Group ShotOur first stop was the Ocean Vodka organic farm and distillery. I had booked a short tour as I was told that Hong Kong people like a fast paced tour. We also had to fit in a lot of places so timing was very important. Everything was perfect. At Ocean Vodka, the guests loved sampling sugar, meeting the rooster, (pest control), walking out to the sugar and into the beautiful barn for a tour of the bottling and distilling areas. China girls with me at Ocean Vodka Barn They love to take pictures so I shared many a photo opportunity with my sweet and kind guests from Hong Kong. This was a young group of Chinese aged twenty five to fifty. They were so much fun. Some spoke English but it was great to have my Chinese speaking assistant on the team. He purchased Shot glass souvenirs for each guest at Ocean Vodka. The VIP (Owner of the company and his escort) actually caught up with us on the tour. We continued on to Surfing Goat Dairy for a delicious sampling of cheese. photo(63) photo(62)They surfed on the surf boards, took photos with the baby goats and really enjoyed the farm.photo 1 photo 2 photo 3  Then we headed to photo 5 photo 5 photo 4 photo 4Ali`i Kula Lavender Farm where they fell in love with the beautiful Lavender, Proteas, hydrangeas, and enjoyed more photo opportunities together. They were so amazed at the beautiful boutique, the view from AKLMAUI, and the feeling you get just being in that gorgeous place surrounded by flowers, trees, succulents, olive trees, herbs and the scent of lavender. Some enjoyed lavender lemonade, lavender tea, lavender coffee before we headed to a delicious lunch prepared at Kula Lodge. Lunch at Kula Lodge Chinese Guests Parting shotWe ordered in advance and called ahead as we departed the Lavender farm. Upon arrival everything smelled wonderful. It must have been the baby back ribs, and the kiawe in the pizza oven down below in the gardens. They loved it. After lunch we wandered the gardens and when everyone was coming back to the van I provided a platter of fresh cut Maui Gold Pineapple to sample as I played ukulele. They each took a photo with me. That was great fun. We finished off our fun day by stopping by Maui Pineapple to meet Ricky who had several pineapples for us. We all cheered and departed for Lahaina, arriving in perfect time give or take a few minutes for their shopping trip. Aloha Oe, I had a wonderful day with all my Chinese guests. Look forward to sharing Maui’s Agricultural beauty again and again. Next time we go to the Dragonfruit farm, Lahaina Family Farm, Lahaina Animal Farm and Kaanapali Coffee Farms. Call Me 808 283-9131 or email [email protected]