A Mr and Mrs Jin, who live in the city of Changchun, capital of Jilin province, decided that they want to spend some of their retirement time living a more relaxed "gypsy" lifestyle, which, after all came more or less natural to Mr Jin, who had spent his career in trade and commerce.

So, for starters, they spent time visiting the cities of Beijing, Chongqing, Shanghai, Dandong, a city on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea border, and other places in China. Then, they set off for Europe, last year, to celebrate Mrs Jin's 70th birthday, with her husband commenting, "My partner felt amazingly happy about this since she thought of it as a romantic birthday gift, and I'm happy, too."

The couple have two children, both with own families and Mr Jin comments, "We can take care of ourselves for the rest of our lives and aren't a burden to our children. And, I want to go traveling with my wife to look around, even though I've been to most places in China."

In looking back, he explains that he made a lot of business trips across China and had the opportunity to see many different places and taste various cuisines, and, "These eye-opening experiences make me happy, and so are my family and friends when I share my stories with them."

Mr Jin lying on a hospital bed reading tourism materials. [Photo by Yang Yanyan/enews.xwh]

He adds, "The world is so big and I just want to take my wife to have a look around. To enjoy this lifestyle, you need a sense of adventure," and, thanks to that, by now, they have set foot in most major cities and in some exquisite towns from north to south.

He continues, "We're financially okay now, at least, since both of us got a pension raise this year," explaining that their income has gone up to 300 yuan ($48) per person this year, giving them more options to decide where to go next.

Every time when they go travelling, they simply grab their bags, and, to keep a record of it and capture the exciting moments, they grab a digital video and a camera, and burn DVDs, of which there's a pile almost half a meter tall at home.They also enjoy doing all the travel planning and have decided to go farther and visit more exotic countries.

Their next stop is Russia, since, Mr Jin says, "We had a good feeling about the Soviet Union in our youths, since back then it was 'big brother'. And we're still excited and curious about the country, so we want to go and visit."

"And, we need to be quick about it, while we're still physically able to," he concludes.