Lake Kanas, in China’s Xinjiang province, is about as far from the east coast megacities as it’s possible to get without leaving the country. Sapphire waters flow through pine forests under mountains still capped with snow in June – it’s reminiscent of British Columbia. But now, in lands traditionally home to yurt-dwelling nomads, log cabins are being erected to house busloads of tourists. And where British Columbia has its Bigfoot sightings, Kanas is also home to mythical monsters: lake dwellers a bit like Chinese Nessies.

In the local language, Tuvan, these monsters are called hobzhk, which means “changing” or “strange”. Tuvan lore says they plug the bottom of the 189-metre-deep lake, preventing it from emptying out, a job so important that, 800 years ago, Genghis Khan assigned 126 soldiers to protect them. Grainy video footage aired on Xinjiang TV a few years ago showed huge black creatures breaking the lake’s surface.

Xiao Yue, a 20-year-old tour guide, says: “Technically, the hobzhk are huge fish that love to eat meat. Their scientific name is hucho taimen.”

On hot summer days, Yue begs visitors not to swim in the tempting lake, adamant that the creatures have a taste for human flesh. “Farmers take their cows and sheep to the edge of the lake, and they vanish,” she says. “Later they find their bones on the shore.”

Swimming is prohibited in the lake, but that has more to do with concealed rocks and a swift current. The more immediate anxiety is civil unrest. In 2014, tourism in Kanas plummeted after blasts in Luntai, 600km to the south, killed 50 people, as tension mounted between the ethnic Han majority and the Uighur Muslims.

To assuage anxieties stoked by the state press, metal detectors are ubiquitous, as are helmeted security guards. Kanas itself hasn’t experienced significant violence, though, and Yue is adamant the area is safe. The heightened security comes courtesy of Chen Quanguo, the new party chief of Xinjiang, who has set up a network of prefab police stations all over Xinjiang.

By 2015, however, tourism had recovered. Visits to the Kanas Scenic Area rose by 6% to more than 400,000. And in June this year, still low season in Kanas, hotels were already full, a promising sign for several more still under construction in villages such as Hom. Events are being developed, too, with a 100km ultra-marathon trail race and an X-games style snowboard competition now catering to more intrepid tourists, willing to explore one of the most beautiful, least touched parts of China.

Locals have found jobs as rafting guides, dancers, throat-singers and “model families” – who serve lamb kebabs, air-dried cheese and “hand-grabbed-rice” (with vegetables and lamb fat) to visitors in their homes.

The security measures must seem strange to nomadic people who never had much use even for fences; they simply tie three hooves loosely together to stop their horses from straying. With the monsters confined to the lake and the Chinese tourists fenced into their log cabin complexes, much of Kanas remains wild and free, with plenty of landscape left to explore.

China's Xianren Bridge, the World's Longest Natural Arch, Wasn't Discovered Until 2009

In this week's Maphead, Ken Jennings explores how a Google Earth discovery lead to a real-life one.

Natural arches are some of the most eye-popping geological formations on earth. Their architectural perfection appears to defy nature; often, they appear to even defy gravity. The national parks of southern Utah get millions of visitors every year to gawk at thousands of natural arches. But until 2009, the most amazing bridge of them all was entirely unknown in the West.

Landscape Arch is the Western Hemisphere champion.

Natural arches typically form where a layer of hard caprock lies on top of a softer stone, like limestone. Wind or water then beats alcoves and cracks in the lower layers of the outcropping, eventually forming a hole below the sturdy caprock—a process that can take millions of years. The arches of Utah are so iconic that the state even put one, Delicate Arch, on its license plate. For decades, locals assumed that the majestic 290-foot Landscape Arch, in Arches National Park's Devil's Garden, was the world's longest arch. Not even close!

Americans spotted Xianren Bridge on Google Earth before real Earth.

In 1988, an aerospace engineer named Jay Wilbur founded NABS, the Natural Arch and Bridge Society, for like-minded enthusiasts. While browsing Google Earth in 2009, Wilbur was shocked at what he found: a rock span over China's Buliu River that no travel guide and no one at NABS had ever heard of, but which appeared to dwarf any of Utah's arches. Locals call it Xian Ren Qiao—"Fairy Bridge"—due to its dramatic and unearthly look.
You almost need wings to visit the fairy bridge.

Xianren Bridge proved difficult for NABS to reach and measure. It's in the rugged karst landscape of southern China about twenty-five miles north of the nearest town, Fengshan. From upstream, it's a three-hour rubber-raft trip to the bridge, with many rapids along the way. From downstream, it's possible to hop aboard bamboo rafts, on which locals will pole you upstream to the bridge. When NABS surveyors finally reached Xianren Bridge in 2010, they measured its span at 400 feet, making it by far the longest arch or bridge on the planet.

London Bridge is falling down.

If you're planning a trip to Fairy Bridge—or any other natural arch—sooner is better than later. All natural arches and bridges are works in progress. Once a hole opens up under caprock, erosion speeds up, and the arch will keep narrowing until it inevitably collapses. London Bridge, a famous double-arch sea stack in Australia, had one if its arches collapse in 1990, stranding two tourists who had to be rescued by police helicopter. Now that it no longer resembles London Bridge, it's just called London Arch. Someday visitors might hike into the Utah desert or southern China and get nothing for their trouble but fallen arches.

How to Conquer the Challenge of Long-Term Travel

One summer a friend showed me her itinerary for a week in Maui. It was three pages long, laid out on Excel. Every hour was choked with food stops, beaches, “leisure” time and noteworthy sights. It was a small wonder she didn’t also pencil in bathroom breaks.

Good luck pulling that off for trips that are weeks, perhaps months, long.

“Long-term travel is an exercise in letting go of exact to-do lists, planning moment to moment and controlling the entire process,” said Jodi Ettenberg, who has been traveling and writing at her site, Legal Nomads, since 2008.

You potentially face a lot of what-ifs: What if the weather changes, you run low on cash or you need insurance? And there are the challenges that pop up if you’ve been on the road long enough, such as consistently finding Wi-Fi, dealing with language barriers and getting consistent quality sleep when you traverse multiple time zones.

Here, then, are some tips to help the traveler who sets out for a long stretch, whether it is country-hopping or spending extended time in a specific spot overseas.

Begin With a Budget and Set Priorities

If you’re like most people, budget is your trip’s primary driver. Sites like NomadList or the Earth Awaits can help you paint a clearer picture of your budget based on your destination and preferences, including filters for living style, internet speed, safety, air pollution and attitudes toward lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender travelers.

Susan Shain, a freelance travel writer who has been doing long-term stints abroad since 2008, recommends Budget Your Trip to help calculate your daily travel costs — but advises adding a 15 percent to 20 percent buffer to the total to keep from running out of money. An app like TrailWallet or Wave can track your spending.

Find Reliable Wi-Fi

You often need internet to look up your next stop or to navigate yourself out of unfamiliar places. There is good news: You have many Wi-Fi options.

If you are hopping from one airport to another, check the interactive map at the FoxNomad blog, which lists Wi-Fi passwords in airports and airport lounges around the world and is regularly updated. Some hotel chains like Best Western and Hyatt give their guests free basic Wi-Fi but may charge extra for premium speeds.

If you prefer coffee shops or cafes, WorkFrom is a crowdsourced site that lets you search for work-friendly spaces based on Wi-Fi speeds, pet friendliness and hours of operation in more than 1,250 cities around the world. You can usually count on the Starbucks and McDonald’s in different countries to have free Wi-Fi for customers, too. Additionally, a few cities like Tokyo and Singapore provide free Wi-Fi to tourists for a period of time if you sign up beforehand.

The paid alternative is to get international data on your phone. My monthly Sprint plan, for example, includes an international bundle that provides unlimited 3G data (hey, it’s better than nothing) in many countries around the world. T-Mobile offers a similar plan. This option, though, can get expensive for multiple-month trips abroad. Before you leave, inquire about your mobile carrier’s international options.

Many travelers go the SIM card route, but you need an “unlocked” phone that isn’t restricted by certain carriers. Another option: You can rent pocket Wi-Fi devices, like this one in Japan, but those can get expensive.

Don’t Forget Travel Visas

Before you depart, particularly for trips that involve multiple countries, always look into visa requirements. While you can check with the State Department or the destination’s own website, you’re better off consulting International Air Transport Association’s website — plug in various information and it crunches the visa requirements and other pertinent information for you.

Assess Your Insurance Needs

Check first with your medical insurance provider to see the extent of your coverage in other countries. Some plans cover a simple doctor’s visit in another country, while others are limited to more extreme circumstances. One tip: Make sure your plan covers high hospital bills — your well-being is worth the cost. The site BootsnAll breaks down some options for travelers. Many long-term travelers use World Nomads, which covers emergency medical expenses up to $100,000. To find out what you need, Ms. Ettenberg of Legal Nomads suggested asking these questions:

Can I keep my insurance at home and get short-term travel insurance?
Can I get a global medical policy that will cover me as my primary while I travel?
What are my options if I only have travel medical insurance and a big accident happens? How will I pay for treatment if I am sent back to my country of residence?

Learn to Sleep Anywhere

Going from one time zone to another is guaranteed to disrupt your delicate sleep pattern. Because your sleep environment constantly changes as you travel, keep what you can control consistent. For instance, I always bring with me simple pajamas, a soft sleep mask, earplugs and a podcast that intentionally tells boring bedtime stories to lull myself to sleep. Regular exercise can also help.

“I have a pretty consistent nighttime routine,” Ms. Shain said. “Before bed, I take a hot shower, then journal and read for about an hour. I find that having a routine helps me feel like I’m ‘home,’ no matter where I am.”

Educate Yourself on the Food Environment

When you travel, it’s easy to overindulge on greasy foods and skimp on getting enough vegetables, fiber, protein and even water. Over time, that can take a toll on your digestive health. Familiarize yourself with the local foods by going to markets and buying fresh produce. You generally want to avoid consuming any fruit that has been precut, and thoroughly wash your fruits and veggies (an antibacterial food wipe or wash can do the trick).

If you’re traveling with a health-related dietary restriction like celiac disease, as Ms. Ettenberg does, keep a series of handy translation cards that accurately convey your dietary needs. If you’re gluten-free, Ms. Ettenberg’s own cards account for cross-contamination and many local dish names. Cards from SelectWisely can help with many other conditions.

Avoid Foreign Transaction Fees

Overseas A.T.M.s charge a pesky $3 to $5 fee every time (on top of fees from your bank), which can add up quickly. Charles Schwab’s High-Yield Investor checking account reimburses those fees every month, making it the perfect checking account for travelers. You need to have or open a Schwab One Brokerage account to open the checking account — but both accounts are free.. The Points Guy lists other options that waive, reimburse or reduce transaction fees — you generally will need a premium account.

Plan Not to Have an Airtight Plan

“Many of the places I loved the most were ones not on my initial itinerary,” Ms. Ettenberg said, “but came about through meeting people, hearing about their experiences and giving it a shot.”

London Bridge travel advice: station to reopen for Monday morning rush hour but TfL advises commuters avoid the area if possible

London Bridge station is set to reopen this morning following Saturday's terror attack, but commuters have been warned to avoid the station if possible because of overcrowding.

The central London station should be open in time for rush hour on Monday morning, while Borough Underground station reopened on Sunday evening.

However London Bridge itself remains closed to vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians. London Bridge Pier is also expected to be closed to river boat services.

Network Rail said London Bridge station would reopen on Monday from 5am, but operate as exit only. Only the Tooley Street entrance and exit will be open for the Underground station.

Transport for London advised that the station is expected to be busier than normal as a result of the reduced access. Passengers have been asked to re-plan their journey to avoid the station during the morning peak if they can.

Pedestrians who usually walk across London Bridge are advised to use London Underground services or National Rail services to Charing Cross, Waterloo East, Cannon Street, Blackfriars and Victoria stations.

TfL said: "Alternative walking routes across the river include Tower Bridge, Southwark Bridge, the Millennium Bridge (use Borough Underground station) and Blackfriars Bridge (use Southwark Underground station)."

London Bridge station was closed over the weekend, with tubes and trains not stopping there.

Commuters should check the TfL website for the latest updates before travelling on Monday morning.

Cordons remained in place around much of London Bridge and Borough Market on Sunday evening, and sources said the area was expected to remain closed on Monday until at least 8am.

Giving an update on the investigation outside New Scotland Yard, the Met's assistant commissioner Mark Rowley said "significant progress" had been made in identifying the attackers.

He said that as well as more armed police across the capital in coming days, "the public will also see increased physical measures in order to keep public safe on London's bridges".

Etihad and TUI to launch new low-cost airline in Europe

Two travel giants have joined forces to create a budget airline that will immediately become one of the six biggest in Europe.

Etihad, based in Abu Dhabi, and the pan-European TUI Group are soon to announce the name of a new low-cost carrier.

Etihad Aviation Group, the holding company for the Abu Dhabi carrier, said: "The leisure airline group will be supported by the expertise of Etihad Aviation Group, the fastest-growing aviation group in the world, and utilise TUI’s state-of-the-art distribution capacity."

The working title for the project is “Blue Sky” — which was also the name used by British Airways while it was developing its low-cost offshoot, Go.

With 60 aircraft, it will be one of the largest budget airlines in Europe, alongside Ryanair, easyJet, Vueling, Norwegian and Wizz Air.

Around half the aircraft will be Boeing 737s from the TUI fleet. It will also use 737s belonging to Air Berlin, the loss-making carrier part-owned by Etihad. In addition, it will deploy Airbus A320 jets belonging to FlyNiki, founded by the Austrian racing driver Niki Lauda, which is itself a subsidiary of Air Berlin. FlyNiki is based in Vienna, which is expected to be the home base for the new airline.

The two firms said they aim “to create a strong European leisure airline group, focused on point-to-point flying to connect key tourist markets”. It will be based at airports in Austria, Germany and Switzerland, but will serve “a broad network of destinations” which are likely to include some UK airports.

The airline consultant John Strickland described the venture as “A bit late into the low-cost space but if they stick to the German home market where the TUI brand has strength for consumers they can probably survive.

“Branching beyond known territory would be more risky given the amount of capacity around, especially from Ryanair.”

Ryanair’s chief executive dismissed the prospects of the new venture. Michael O’Leary told The Independent: “This is about the fifth restructuring we have seen of the German low-cost market.”

Malcolm Ginsberg, Editor in Chief of Business Travel News, said: “Etihad likes to invest and control failing airlines. With Air Berlin it has a real problem.”

Rare horse steak and extra-cheesy burgers: Where to eat with the locals in Zurich

With plenty of quality Swiss and international restaurants to choose from, Zurich is the right place to be hungry. It may be better known as an expensive, stuffy centre of banking and finance, but the city actually has a really creative, midrange food scene alongside its more expensive eateries. We've asked the Spotted by Locals team on the ground in Zurich to point you in the direction of a top dinner.

First up is Frau Gerolds Garten, located in one of the few remaining slightly seedy-looking areas in flashy Zurich West. The main word here is "communal" and everything and everyone here is locally grown. The restaurant's future is a little uncertain, and it's an institution worth supporting.

Some of you may not see the appeal in having a bit of Black Beauty for dinner, but for those who do, have a steak at Eisenhof . The menu has other options for you, such as a regular beef steak, but local Christine has never strayed from the horse steak. It's served on a hot stone, and rare, so if you'd like yours to be cooked through you can leave it on the stone for longer. Another place for steaks made solely from beef is La Cote.

For those not making their way to Italy any time soon, your next best bet is to order the pizza at Restaurant Rosso. It's a little hard to find, as there are no signs outside this industrial warehouse venue, but the excellent thin-crust pizza makes it well worth the search. Or, head for dinner at Chianalea for Calabrian-style Italian. Chianalea is the place to be when in need of soul food and uncomplicated company. A few southern Italian dishes, authentic Calabrian products such as the 'nduja on bread and Calabrian sausage, followed by delicious pizzas, will satisfy any foodie.

You'll be rubbing elbows with locals if you spend an evening in Les Halles. Also not that easy to find, Les Halles provides an excellent starting point if you want to explore Zurich West’s nightlife. It will seem like you’ve gone to at least three different places even though you never left the premises. Definitely order the moules et frites!

Sometimes all you need is a good burger, and Holy Cow offers just that. Everything has a Swiss tinge, from the interior decoration to the drinks. But the menu is what you're here for: local Allan's favourites range from beef (Elvis blue cheese) to chicken (camembert and cranberry), to vegetarian (veggie chèvre). This being Switzerland, there's a big focus on cheese - one is topped with "Gorgonzola Fondu". Let's just say you’ll need some time to select one of the 23 freshly made burgers on the menu.

And finally, for some proper Swiss cuisine, you can't go wrong at Café Boy says local Ajuni. Tasty Swiss grub with a continental twist served in a cosy, airy and welcoming bistro-like atmosphere. It's not cheap but most dishes are available as starters or mains, and if there’s a few of you, it’s probably best to order a selection to share.

Ultra-long haul flying takes off – but is the UK being left behind

As 2017 shapes up to be the year for new ultra-long air routes, Britain could find itself sidelined — with the vast majority of the most distant links involving the Gulf, the US and Australasia.

Last week, Air India claimed it had launched the world's longest flight — though this was purely thanks to its choice of routing. The mileages quoted by airlines are for the “Great Circle” route, the shortest distance between the two cities. In practice, the actual distance flown is significantly longer for reasons of geo-political sensitivity or, more usually, wind patterns.

For example, the direct track between Los Angeles and Abu Dhabi passes north of Greenland and close to the North Pole, but typically the Etihad flight stays well south, adding 500 miles or more to the 8,387 Great Circle route.

Air India has two very different routings between Delhi and San Francisco to take advantage of the jet stream. Outbound from the Indian capital, the flight goes across the Pacific; inbound, it flies the more direct route over Atlantic. As a result, the Delhi-San Francisco leg often exceeds 9,000 miles, compared with the 7,701 direct track.

At present the two most distant cities linked by a non-stop flight are Dubai and Auckland, 8,824 miles apart. Emirates flies the Airbus A380, the world’s biggest passenger jet, daily between the two cities. The journey takes 16h 5m eastbound and 17h 25m westbound.

From 1 February next year, its rival Qatar Airways will also fly non-stop to New Zealand’s largest city. As the Qatari capital is over 200 miles further away, the new Doha to Auckland link will take the prize. The scheduled journey time is only five minutes longer, as the Boeing 777 to be used for the route has a slightly faster cruising speed.

At present the longest route from Britain is 7,275 miles, in the shape of the Garuda link from Heathrow to Jakarta, the Indonesian capital. The longest hop on a UK airline is 6,906 miles on British Airways from Heathrow to Buenos Aires. From January, BA will add a non-stop flight from Heathrow to the Chilean capital, Santiago, 7,249 miles away. But this is well short of the distances covered by the top 10 routes globally.

Eight of the longest 10 links begin or end in the US, and seven start or finish in the Gulf. Three serve Australasia (two to Auckland, one to Sydney). Europe and Asia are unrepresented, with Africa represented only by Johannesburg.

As The Independent revealed a year ago, Qantas is considering the first non-stop flight between Europe and Australia, with a link connecting London and Perth. Such a route would become the second-longest worldwide, with a direct distance of 8,991 miles. But the Australian airline is guarded about the possibility. Markus Svensson, the carrier’s regional general manager in the UK, says: "Potential routes include the likes of Perth-London and Melbourne-Dallas, but Qantas haven’t confirmed anything yet."

The Independent understands significant hurdles have emerged to such a pioneering link — involving the airports at each end. The Australian airline will launch the flight only if it can arrive and depart from the Qantas domestic facility at Perth. The carrier believes the route will be viable only with easy onward connections to destinations such as Adelaide, Alice Springs and Darwin. At present Perth airport’s international terminal is on the “wrong” side of the runway, 15 minutes’ drive away. Qantas is demanding that international facilities are installed on its side of the airport.

At the London end, Qantas has fewer slots at Heathrow than it used to hold, and would need to acquire more at a time when prices are extremely high. It is conceivable that Gatwick, where more space is available, could be used instead — though this would reduce connection opportunities to and from the Western Australia flight.

Qantas says it is also considering three new Australia-US flights, holding out the prospect of links between Melbourne and Dallas or Sydney and Chicago. The strongest candidate is Sydney-Chicago: it would connect Australia’s biggest city with the third-largest in the US, and would have plenty of connecting traffic at either end of the route. At 9,238 miles, it would become the longest in the world — until 2018, at least, when Singapore Airlines has vowed to re-launch non-stop flights between Singapore and New York. This 9,521-mile link launched in 2004, but closed three years ago when the fuel-heavy A340-500 made it uneconomic. The carrier says it will use a much more efficient A350-900ULR for the reinstated route.

Ultra-long-haul flights are extremely expensive to operate, and depend on relatively cheap oil for profitability. They burn a disproportionate amount of fuel per mile, because of the volume that needs to loaded to sustain the journey, and demand heavy crew resources. The Singapore-New York link operated with six pilots.

Several ultra-long-haul routes have been touted but failed to materialise. Emirates announced last year it would launch a Dubai-Panama City flight of 8,588 miles, and even started selling tickets for it, but the plan was shelved. Qatar Airways promised a link from its hub in Doha to Santiago in Chile, 8,967 miles away, but there is no sign of services beginning.