Liu Yang (right) and his wife Zhang Hui (below) brought their 2-year-old son Nian Nian along on a European holiday last year. Photos provided to China Daily

Some defy notion of chinese people as being unadventurous

Cao Jie rejects the idea that Chinese people are unadventurous tourists.

The 30-year-old who works as a program manager for the Beijing Music Festival has just returned from a trip to the UK and France over the Christmas period. It was her second trip to the UK over the last year.

"I think young Chinese people really want to try new things and go to nice restaurants and cafes. They don't just confine themselves to eating Chinese food," she says.

Cao likes the shops in Europe and had the contrasting experience on her recent trip of shopping in Leeds Market, one of the largest markets in the UK right in the center of the north England city, and also in London's West End.

"I really like going to Liberty on Regent Street. Girls can go crazy there. I particularly liked the cosmetics department," she says.

Zhang Hui, 35, a former printing engineer, her husband Liu Yang, 36, who works in the training industry and their 2-year-old son, Nian Nian, who all live in Beijing, went to Germany and the Czech Republic last year for 21 days.

They traveled independently and the trip cost around 30,000 yuan (3,335 euros).

"What I like most about travel in Europe is the feeling that it is safe. Life there is quite simple and natural. I like the countryside most. That is the way I like to live," says Zhang. "The only thing I don't like is that the shops close so early unlike in China."

Zhang says her only previous trip to Europe was on her honeymoon in 2006 to Paris and Germany and that it was good to return with her son.

The highlight of the last trip was an improvised example of East-West culinary fusion at the home of Zhang's German friends who had previously worked in China.

"My husband made Chinese dumplings and my friends made apple pie. We ate and talked.

We talked about our views about

life, friends and families. It was a way of experiencing another kind of life," she says.

Zhang, who is going to Chiang Mai in Thailand over the Spring Festival holiday, says travel is very important for her.

"I have to get out of my home for a few weeks a year otherwise I feel quite uncomfortable. We will probably go to Italy and Spain for our next trip in October," she says.

Cao, the arts program manager who will return home to Renqiu in Hebei province this Spring Festival, says she is attracted to the culture in Europe.

"I am very impressed at what it has to offer in terms of the arts. I went to Opera North in Leeds and to see the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra in Manchester on my last trip, although part of that was to do with my work," she says.

She adds the one thing which is probably not a highlight is the Chinese food available.

"Most of it, of course, is Cantonese. I went to one restaurant in Chinatown in London, which I would give 7 or 8 out of 10. It was good but I didn't think it was completely authentic," she says.