History Hound Travels

Do you readers (all three of you), ever think I must surely know something about every square inch of this planet? If so, you will surely enjoy hearing that when I first saw “Xian”, I had no idea it was an actual place, but instead thought it a bastardization of the word Christian. How lame is that? How much lamer is it from someone who writes a travel blog? Heh, I’m may not be the brightest bulb in the light strip, but I can at least learn new things.

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Xian is the the capital of Shaanxi province in China, and is more than 3,100 years old. It’s the home of the Terracotta Army (which I had heard of), as well as over 8 million actual living people. Because if it’s incredible age, Xian has a rich and varied culture, and there is plenty to see, from the city wall rebuilt during the Ming Dynasty, to the Big and Small Wild Goose pagodas. Xian is a sister city to Kansas City, MO.

Of course, when you visit, you’ll be looking for a good hotel, and where better to find that than an outfit who prides themselves on their selection of cheap Asia hotels? Xian hotels run the gamut in price and amenities, so there is something for every budget.

How often do you get phone calls asking if you want a free vacation in exchange for xyz? What about a direct mailing? Did you know that those aren’t always cold calls in the way we think of cold calls? Companies like Martnn Worldwide had developed Mailing Lists full of names of people who have shown that they will respond to these types of solicitations. Martin calls their product ResponseCom, and they have even trademarked that name. So, here’s what that means for us: Our business is even less private than we thought. In order for Martin to develop a database like this, it means that the companies Martin sold their original lists to sold information back to them on who responded. Nice, huh?