Notes from the road

More young Chinese, including Yang Li, now keep signature travel journals, with text and pictures, tape and collages. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Yang uses pens, paints and notebooks.

Also, while traveling, you can collect such items as tourist guides and produce a pretty journal without spending too much money.

She often cuts out things from a map or a brochure and uses them in her journal.

She also buys ink stamps and carves her own from erasers, etching designs of local images, such as those of iconic landscapes and buildings.

And she records memorable stories and beautiful scenery by drawing in her travel journals.

For instance, at Bayon Temple at Angkor Thom in Cambodia, she painted the iconic "face towers" known as the smile of Khmer, using a mixture of the red earth and water.

Speaking about the kind of people who are likely to maintain travel diaries, she says: "Those who prefer a fast pace of life may not like doing it. But nowadays, many people want to cultivate their own interests and often like handmade things.