A camper's life traveling the open road

Inside a recreational vehicle, or RV, on show during a recent auto fair in Nanjing, the capital city of East China’s Jiangsu province. With soft furnishings, tapped water, washroom and cooking facilities all onboard, many of the vehicles are literally mobile homes. Wang Luxian / for China Daily

Wang Jidong, the general manager of Beijing Camper RV Co, has been selling them for 11 years, and he too says he's never seen sales growth like today.

He's a camper enthusiast himself, adding there is no better way to connect with the countryside than packing up and heading out of town.

Once you try traveling in one, he says, you will be hooked: "You'll never get the same pleasure out of a sedan."

The proud owner of a domestically produced Naveco camper, the 35-year-old Wang is also a lover of the great outdoors.

He says his camper has become even more important to him, since his first daughter arrived just over a year ago.

"If we had a sedan, the room would be very limited.

"Children easily get bored and tired and so can adults after sitting in the same position for too long.

"But in a camper, you can sit on a sofa, drink freshly brewed coffee, go to the restroom and change diapers. You can even take a shower," added Wang.

"Imagine trying any of those in a normal car.

"Traveling by camper is fun, no matter the distance."

Wang says most of the camper-owners he knows are 35 to 50-year-old, successful people who come from all walks of life.

He sums up the typical camper driver as a "rich second-generation dad" who would consider buying a fast sports car a waste of money.

Another interesting feature, and less expected one, of life in a camper is that it can help facilitate communication between family members, Wang adds.

"Modern life is filled with so much hustle and bustle, many couples and families can go days without bothering to speak to each other," he said.