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In March 2020 I attempted the Sky Islands Traverse, and covered most of the route with some significant bypasses and discontinuities. Finally got around to finishing a report which I wanted to share since this is not a route you hear much about. (And yes, in hindsight many of my activities were ill-advised during a pandemic (hitchhiking, etc.), but I simply didn't realize it at the time.)

Background

Where: The Sky Islands Traverse (SkIT) is 500-and-some mile route connecting 10 "sky island" mountain ranges in southeastern Arizona, mostly within the Coronado National Forest, as well as a long section of the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area. Aside from the creator Brett Tucker's initial thru in 2010, I only found evidence of two other complete hikes by Dirtmonger and Not a Chance. The two links above provide fantastic narrative about the route's terrain, flora, and fauna so I won't spend much time reiterating that. Especially Tucker's photo journal is really worth reading through if you are interested in the route (he is a much better writer than I).
When: 2020-03-16 to 2020-04-12. 28 days including 1 zero
Distance: 460 miles. 62,000 ft gross elevation gain
Final Route Overview Map
Conditions: A couple of rain storms, but overall fantastic conditions prevailed. Average weather was sunny and warm, with highs in the 70s and lows in the 40s. Overall low temp recorded by my thermometer was 34.2 F at 8900' in the Pinaleños.
In addition to the great weather, most water sources were gushing due to abundant winter rains. Almost every source listed in Tucker's data book was usable, and I came across many more flowing sources and stock tanks that were not listed at all.
Lighterpack: https://lighterpack.com/8c8bct
Unused items marked with red star
Photo Album: https://imgur.com/a/bKezHIM

Overview

This was my first thru hike. It appealed to me because it was the right distance and season and connected a lot of fascinating terrain and historical sites. I planned the route in great detail and included "escape hatches" in case the main route proved too difficult. Ultimately, I did use almost every bypass and shortcut, resulting in an "abridged" traverse. The limiting factor was very slow travel through rough terrain eating into my time budget.
I think many people would call this an "advanced" hike. But my impression now is that it kind of maximizes one factor (route difficulty), while the other factors are not that bad. Bug pressure, climate, resupply interval, and cell service are all pretty favorable. But I can understand why the SkIT would not appeal to most hikers given all the other amazing well developed trails. Land access is another issue that might concern the more law-abiding hiker, since this is not an "official" route with negotiated access rights. There are more than a few fences and "no tresspassing" signs along the way, although there's also little chance of encountering anyone who would care.

Navigation

I prepared paper maps for the entire route with CalTopo, using a combination of Tucker's data book and GPS track, and AZT info and GET info since the alignment of those trails has changed a bit since the SkIT was first published. I found Skurka's tips for printing maps quite useful, going with the "Forest Service" preset layer, double sided 11x17" at 1:36000 printed by Fedex. In practice, 1:36000 was too small to figure out where to go in some parts and I had to fall back to digital maps on my phone. Next time I would print larger scale maps, just for the non-AZT sections.

Report

Dragoons (Cochise Stronghold to river, 2 days)

I flew into TUS and took the bus downtown to buy some fuel (don't rely on Miller Surplus for LPG fuel). Then took an Uber to the start at Cochise Stronghold - the road was passable except for some water crossings which were a little too deep for the Honda Accord - so I walked the last mile to the trailhead. Trail was nice and easy until the very first XC section towards Council Rocks. In what would ultimately be the most frustrating XC of the whole trip, I spent a couple hours wading through thick brush unsuccessfully trying to find the pictographs. I'm still not sure how I missed it since there is apparently a popular trail leading to the site, but eventually I found myself at the next waypoint so I just continued on. Slavin Gulch would be the last water source before reaching the San Pedro, and luckily water was abundant there.
The XC through Smith Wash was very straightforward and fairly pleasant, with numerous shady trees to rest under. It would set the scene for many future wash slogs, where can you choose between soft sand of the wash bottom, or the firm but brushy banks. Saw my first ever rattlesnake in the wash, and also saw my first border patrol agent parked along AZ 80. Made it to the river after sunset on a very long day 2.

San Pedro River (river to Nicksville, 2 days)

Awoke at 5 AM when rising winds collapsed the tarp on top of me (still a tarp newbie). Found that the river was relatively deep and swift, very unlike the lazy intermittently flowing waters I expected from pictures. Combined with threatening weather, I decided to walk the railroad grade along the west bank rather than the river bottom. The monotonous dreary setting, high winds, and coarse gravel of the railroad grade made for poor hiking, but it seemed a lot faster than navigating the river, and I needed to make miles on the first half of this route. I had marked a lot of historic sites on my map north of Fairbank, but missed most of them since I stayed on the west bank. Fairbank itself was shuttered due to COVID, so I continued on dirt roads to the historic Boquillas Ranch. Among the historic buildings there, there is also a newly constructed barn/garage (empty and unlocked), where I took refuge from the wind to eat lunch. Soon after, it started pouring rain, so I ended up staying the night there.
Continued from there on the occasionally marked San Pedro Trail. South of Millville/Charleston, I finally found a favorable section of the river to navigate, where much of the vegetation on the bank was flattened (by flooding I assume). Got back on the San Pedro Trail south of Escapule Rd, and from there the trail is well defined, although it's mostly wide open 2-track roads covered in manure, and therefore vastly inferior to the lush oasis of the river itself. San Pedro House was also closed due to COVID, but I later crossed paths with the site hosts, who informed me that you actually need a $2/night permit to camp in the RNCA. But they basically implied I shouldn't worry about it, so I'm still not sure how you camp here legally. The Miller Backcountry site is the only establisted site in the RNCA, but aside from having a bear box and pit toilet it is no more attractive than any other place - so I pushed on, and finally camped at the very end of the trail amid a cacophony of coyotes and dogs.
Once you cross Hereford Rd, you're basically walking past houses until you find singletrack again in Hunter Canyon, so definitely plan your rest stops accordingly. The 3 Canyons road walk is a private road blocked by a gated fence. There was more than a few cars going by but no one seemed interested in me. Met up with dantimmerman for a few hours before I headed up into the mountains 👍. The Nicksville Dollar General is a viable resupply point, although pretty much all the "real" food was sold out due to virus panic.

Huachucas (Nicksville to Patagonia, 3 days)

The trail up towards Miller Peak was a nice climb and surely a popular day hiking spot, and at high elevations there was patchy snow. Wild turkey and deer were abundant along this gorgeous trail, which at times somehow reminded me of the Appalachians. Started getting pain in my achilles which would persist for another week. But I eventually hobbled into Patagonia, where I got a hotel room and resupplied at the Market. I checked out the upscale grocery too, but didn't find much there that I like to eat while backpacking.

Santa Ritas (Patagonia to Vail, 2 days)

Split from the AZT onto Temporal Gulch Trail #595, which was in spectacular condition, especially in the upper sections near Josephine Saddle. It was actually a little difficult to pick up near the lower trailhead, but once you get going the right way it's a great hike: cairns, fresh signage, fresh tread, branches trimmed back for wide open passage, and even the shin daggers had their tips trimmed! Crest Trail #144 up to Baldy Saddle is in great condition, with a few inches of snow in late March. Did not summit Mt. Wrightson because I was at Baldy Saddle at 4 PM and wanted to get to lower elevations to camp. Beyond Baldy Saddle, the trails are easily followable but very overgrown and covered with blowdown in some spots. After descending the switchbacks on the East Sawmill Trail #146, the trail opens up and is easier. Going around Wrightson would be my biggest day of the trip at 26 mi, and also my first time night hiking (terrifying and exhilarating being watched by disembodied eyes).
Back on the AZT, things are easy, although this stretch into Vail was the most water-poor of any section on the SkIT for me.

Rincons (Vail to Italian Spring TH, 2 days)

Some other AZT hikers and I were blessed with incredible trail magic just before hitting Saguaro NP (full dinner, breakfast, oreos+milk!). And I even picked up a trail name ("spaceman").
If you want to camp inside Saguaro NP, Grass Shack CG looked decent, but Manning Camp was cold and windy and probably not a good bet in early spring. I did not camp in the NP so I don't know how the permit experience is. No other surprises on the AZT through the Rincons.

Santa Catalinas (Italian Spring TH to San Pedro River, 3 days)

Crossing into Molino Basin, there were many day hikers about (and I finally had that first experience of smelling people before seeing or hearing them). Due to foot pain, I decided to skip all the "inner Catalina" miles between Molino Basin and Summerhaven, and instead take a zero in town. But, I had prepared three resupply boxes in advance for the second half of the trip and sent them all to the Summerhaven PO, so I had to get up there before they closed for the weekend. Luckily, I managed to hitch a ride with a very kind woman up to the PO and then all the way back down into Tucson.
From Summerhaven, the route starts out on some trails which are not on the FS map, but do have tracks in MapBuildeOSM up to Bigelow. These trails do exist in reality, and there were many footprints in the snow to follow. From Bigelow TH to San Pedro Vista, there are well defined trails since it is actually now an official AZT Wilderness Bypass Route. There is no need to bushwhack down from Barnum Rock/Leopold Point like the reference route suggests.
The Brush Corral Trail #19 has seen some recent maintenance and is followable. Notably, from the Shortcut Trail #21A junction, there is extensive flagging with red, white, and blue streamers, and many parts have had the brush trimmed back for easy passage. There was one small section around a bump in the ridge where I lost the flagging and had to forge my way around, but on the other side of the bump the flagging picked up again to show the way. Once the dense brush peters out, the lower section of the trail is in great condition with clear trail and signage all the way down to the TH.
Here begins the longest water carry on the trip, out to Redfield Canyon. I carried 4 liters, which was sufficient, and I didn't see any other potential sources in between.
From Redington Rd, the reference route goes down a wash to the river bed under the bridge. Be aware that there is fence across the wash and another at the bridge which were a bit tricky to get around. Unless you really hate road walks, it might be better to just stay on Redington Rd north to the intersection and avoid all the fences.

Galiuros (San Pedro River to Klondyke, 4 days)

Despite lacking the grand rock formations or vistas of the other ranges, the Galiuros became my favorite section, due to the unique challenges, the total isolation, and the haunting history.
The trail down to the cliff house is cairned and straightforward, but I got excited when I saw the river and accidentally left the trail early and ended up doing a very sketchy scramble. Follow the cairns carefully and this should be an easy trail down to the canyon bottom. The cliff house itself is cool and totally worth a visit - and there is another access trail from the south side of the canyon.
The boulder scrambling in upper Redfield Canyon was an enjoyable, unique experience, and one of the highlights of the trip for me. In the photo journal, Tucker suggests an alternative route around the boulders, but I would just keep that as a backup. There were only two spots I took off my backpack to toss it up ahead on a climb, and overall it did not seem too difficult or risky. I suppose things coulds get rearranged by floodwaters though, so YMMV.
West Divide Trail #289 basically does not exist any more up until Kielberg Tank. There are occasionally cairns and faint tracks to follow but be prepared here for essentially XC routefinding. After Kielberg, and especially after Power's Cabin, the trail is well defined to the junction with Powers Garden Trail #96. At that point, the reference route keeps following the West Divide Trail out to Grassy Ridge, but it did not look promising to me. I took the easy way down to Rattlesnake Creek, and that really is a pleasant hike up to Powers Garden. Powers Garden Trail #96 continues to be easy to follow all the way up Powers Hill.
In Klondyke, I picked up a resupply box forwarded from Summerhaven. There are instructions in the GET town guide for how to send packages here (as there is no post office), and this method still works fine. But as always, pick up your package! The woman who owns the store where you send packages has to deal with uncollected boxes every year and I'm sure it's annoying. When I came through, there were 4 other boxes and 3 were past the ETA date. Had a wonderful stay at the Horsehead Lodge, although the front porch of the BLM office looked quite hospitable for a free option.

Santa Teresas (Klondyke to Klondyke Rd, 1 day)

I took the GET Buford Hill alternate route, having had my fill of bad trail in the Galiuros, so unfortunately I can't report on this section too much. There is an updated GET route that I mapped as an option rather than the outdated reference SkIT route. Thankfully my feet were fully hardened after leaving Klondyke, and I had no more pain for the rest of the trip.

Pinaleños (Klondyke Rd to I-10, 4 days)

Past Underwood Canyon, had a little uncertainty finding the correct ridge to XC up from Two Troughs to Tripp Canyon, but there are some cairns leading the way and it's clear many GETers have been through. Finding the way down on the other side is also tricky because many stock paths lead south away from the drainage. I pushed through a long day to get to Tripp Canyon because I thought it would be a nice campsite, but it wasn't - do not plan on camping here. Tucker's literature mentions "car camping sites" but the reality is more like "ravaged weekend bonfire party sites". I found an OK spot to camp, but most of this area is littered with broken glass, toilet paper, and tire tracks, and many of the trees have had entire limbs hacked off. This was also the only place I ever encountered abundant mosquitoes.
Next day I took the GET Sawmill-Blue Jay bypass route, which was a surprisingly pleasant and wide path following a black plastic pipeline, up until the short XC which was also easy once you pick the right drainage to go up. There were several car campers at Dry Lake stock tank, which seemed much more pleasant than Tripp Canyon. Then followed FR 286 all the way up to West Peak, skipping the Blue Jay Ridge trail. Had lunch at West Peak with the first and only GETer I would encounter. His account of the Teresas route made me glad I had bypassed.
Clark Peak Trail #301 was in moderate condition, deteriorating substantially in some steeper sections after Taylor Pass due to fire damage. But overall is it cairned and flagged well enough to follow without a map. Spent a windy night at Riggs Lake, and then ended up staying on the road (Swift Trail) all the way to Ladybug Saddle. There was patchy but substantial snow cover at higher elevations, and the trail from Chesley Flat to Webb Peak was not discernable (ended up taking FR 88 up and down to tag the high point). I had wanted to investigate conditions on Round the Mountain Trail #302, but even FR 508 looked snowed in and covered in blowdown, so I took the easy way down Swift Trail, which was cleared of snow all the way to Ladybug Saddle. Road walking the Swift Trail 366 would not be pleasant from Shannon CG to Ladybug Saddle if there had been significant car traffic. There are no shoulders in many places, so luckily there was almost no traffic this time of year.
Bear Canyon Trail #299 is not marked from Ladybug Peak and a bit hard to pick up. But once you find it off the west slope of the peak it is pretty easy to follow all the way down to the highway. There are many intersecting stock paths in the lower flatter section of the trail that can trick you, but there are numerous cairns to help guide the way. Look for a couple of stiles to cross the fence along AZ 266 to get down to Stockon Pass Wash, and from there the XC route to Gillespie Wash was quite pleasant and scenic. Gillespie Wash is pretty nice too, but the detour around Jernigan Ranch involved a couple of questionable fence crossings.
XC between Little Cottonwood Canyon and Willow Spring is passable, although it's deceptively steep and exhausting. As usual, the challenge is in picking the right ridge. Since I had to go into Willcox for a package, I rerouted south on the gas pipeline road just west of US 191, then took N Monk Ranch Rd out to the interstate junction. While walking the pipeline road, I almost had a heart attack when a single engine PIPELINE PATROL plane passed low overhead from behind. There's plenty of traffic at exit 352, and I hitched a ride into Willcox in about an hour. Picked up my package forwarded from Summerhaven, and got a couple beers and a hotel room.

Dos Cabezas (I-10 to Fort Bowie, 2 days)

Going out of Willcox, there is not as much traffic going east at exit 340, but I still had luck here, and hitched a ride back to exit 355 in about an hour. Between I-10 and the mountains, there was a locked gate near the interstate and two fences to scramble under after leaving the dirt road. Up in the Dos Cabezas, the cattle really did seem to be a different breed, much more athletic and less afraid of humans. Some of them were not interested in moving to let me through so I had to detour around them.
Fortunately, unlike in other mountains, the "faint trails" and "stock paths" (as described by Tucker) in the Dos Cabezas are actually followable in many places. Near Happy Camp Canyon there was actually evidence of trail maintenance through the catclaw thickets. But finding the way up Tar Box Canyon to the wilderness boundary was tricky for me. Especially past Cedar Log Spring there are many forking drainages to entice you in the wrong direction. Once you cross the pass and catch the road, it's smooth sailing down to Apache Pass (other than 1 locked gate). Ft. Bowie is a well curated historic site where you can easily spend a couple hours if you like reading interpretive signs. The visitors center has good developed water out front, and from there you can follow Old Fort Bowie Rd back to the reference route.
At the Ft. Bowie trailhead I happened to run into a couple travelling the country in their truck camper, who graciously shared their beer, gin, wine, and delicious organic food.

Chiricahuas (Fort Bowie to Portal, 3 days)

Emigrant Canyon Trail #255 is moderately difficult to follow in places, but you can always fall back to walking in the wash. If you want to closely watch your GPS, the MapBuildeOSM track does a pretty good job of following the easiest path. From Emigrant Pass up through Wood Canyon the walking is pretty nice, with some evidence of trail maintenance/realignment. Near Wood Canyon Park things get hairy: fire has destroyed the trail and the terrain in general. Be very careful to follow the correct ridge because there are many forking drainages that lured me well off route. This is now very difficult XC but at least not exposed. Difficult conditions continue until the pass under Cochise Head, where there is actually signage and a followable path down to Indian Creek. Trail #253 down Indian Creek is a very pleasant trail, and kinda fun when going through the canyon "narrows".
FR 356 actually takes a little searching to pick up from Indian Creek. It is almost just singletrack in a few sections since the road to Hands Pass is now impassable for any vehicles.
Shaw Peak Trail #251 is difficult to follow straight away, but there are a few hints and cairns. Once you start traversing the steep slope, the trail disappears completely into burned and eroded terrain. This traverse up to the ridge is very difficult and exposed. I was up near the ridge as a hailstorm rolled in, making my situation unreasonably dangerous. After gaining the ridge, the path becomes followable but still eroded and burned. When the path comes to a gate in a fence, go through the gate and follow the fence from the south side even though the path appears to stay on the north side of the fence.
I went down to Iron Springs to escape the bad weather for the night, via trail #366, which is in good shape at least down to the spring. Light rain continued into the night, and I think a mountain lion came to visit based on the terrifying sounds that woke me up. The prospect of putting on my cold wet pants the next morning kept me in bed until 10 AM, but eventually I mustered the courage and got going. Continuing south from Jhus Horse Saddle, #251 is in good shape and easy to follow.
I bailed out at FR 42 and followed that all the way into Portal. The previous two days had pushed the risk level beyond my tolerance and I wasn't excited about rolling the dice on another 25 miles of trail that might not be passable. Someday I would like to go back to see Chiricahua Peak and Silver Peak - I only had a taste of what this range has to offer but it was exhilarating.
Portal typically is overrun with birders in April, but I was able to walk in and get a room at the lodge. I hired someone from the Tucson craigslist rideshare to get back to the airport, although in typical years there would be a lot more car traffic through here and hitching back into the transit network might be feasible.
Finally, I found that chiricahuatrails.com has fresh, detailed information on the entire Chiricahua trail network, so you can fill the gaps I left with that great resource.

Gear Notes

This was the first big test for a lot of my gear, including the pack, tarp, and pad, and I had no major problems.

• The SWD Long Haul was cavernous, comfortable, and definitely tough enough for the bushwhacks, scrambles, and fence barbs.
• Decathlon fanny pack is dirt cheap and worked great. Probably my MVP for this trip.
• Any tarp should be adequate for this trail, given the lack of insects and rain. I cowboy camped most nights and primarily used the tarp to block wind, which would often be swirling around from all directions. So I would probably try a shaped tarp perhaps with doors for more omnidirectional protection. Polycro groundsheet and groundhogs worked fine. There is a wide variety of ground surfaces between the desert and mountains.
• Very happy with Enigma 20. Temperatures never got below freezing so I was very warm.
• I decided to use a CCF pad for the first time since I was worried about prickly stuff on the ground. But that didn't end up being an issue, so next time I would bring an inflatable. The main problem with a CCF I didn't anticipate was bushwhacking with it strapped to the outside of my pack. Even with the pad mounted vertically on the back, it was constantly getting snagged and chewed up.
• Long sleeved shirt and long pants were very nice to have while bushwhacking through catclaw, and combined with a bandana under the hat worked well enough for sun protection. But I do wish I had brought sun gloves.
• Frogg Toggs was sufficient 😕, both for wind and rain protection. Definitely got a few holes but it's still usable as an emergency layer. Rain skirt was unnecessary.
• A small square of mesh fabric prefilter came in handy to keep the big chunks out the Sawyer (bugs, algae, etc.).
• The Suunto Clipper was totally adequate as a compass. I kept it clipped to my watch band and was constantly checking that this trail/canyon/wash was heading in the right direction.
• You could probably use microspikes in the Pinaleños, and possibly in other mountains too. Even in a low snow year like 2020 there were still spots I would have felt more comfortable with traction.
• 7 liters water capacity was overkill. 4-5 L should be sufficient.
• Perfectly happy with Altra LP 4.0, which still had plently of life left at the end.

TL;DR: Walked at least a little bit through all 10 mountain ranges of the traverse, but skipped some of the harder bits due to foot pain and general laziness. Saw a whole lotta cows, and some snakes, turkeys, javelinas, and deer. Got soaked in a hailstorm on top of a ridge and noped out but generally had a blast exploring some of the most isolated places I've ever been.

Comprehensive Guide for Shanghai TI9 Visitors

Heya /dota2, your resident bilingual Dota fan here, who brought you Chinese memes and interview translations over the past few TI's. With the advent of The International 9, many fans who are looking to attend the event live but have never visited Shanghai would understandably have many questions and concerns regarding the city. This guide was painstakingly written by yours truly to give ya'll an idea of what to expect during your visit and answer some common questions and concerns. Be warned that this is a REALLY long guide (9k words, no biggie) aimed towards first timers in Shanghai, if you’re a ticket holder and this is your first time visiting, make sure to read the whole thing as a fair few parts are interconnected.
 
If you have any specific questions that this guide doesn’t cover, feel free to ask any questions in the comments section or via the Shanghai TI9 Discord.
 

Introduction

Shanghai is one of the largest cities in the world, with a population of more than 24 million. Situated along China’s eastern coastline, Shanghai has a warm temperate climate, with July and August being our hottest months averaging 25-35 degrees Celsius. Rainy season usually ends by late June so we would expect typical hot summer weather during the event period, so dress accordingly.
 
Air pollution in Shanghai has seen a drastic reduction since 2010 in an effort to improve the city's image. Despite this improvement, it is still considered fairly polluted by global standards, and sensitive people might experience respiratory irritation, though if you’re from a developed city you probably won’t notice much difference. Also, indoor smoking has been recently banned in Shanghai, so smoking is only allowed in open-air environments or designated smoking areas.
 
In terms of commodity costs, China isn't as cheap as it used to be, and Shanghai’s definitely on the pricey end of the scale. That being said, you can always find a good deal on accommodation and food if you’re resourceful enough, though you might need a local friend to help you with that.
 
Compared to other parts of China, Shanghai has one of the highest overall prevalence of English speakers. Younger generations have at least a rudimentary grasp of English, and there’s a fairly large number of proficient users. Communication for basic things like directions and purchases shouldn’t be an issue.
 
One thing to note is that Shanghai isn’t just a tourist location for you, it’s a tourist hotspot for the rest of China as well. There’s easily a couple million domestic tourists in Shanghai on any given day, and to them, YOU are a tourist attraction, so try not to be bothered by the looks and attention. People in China are generally very welcoming and friendly towards foreigners, so if you’re in a pinch, just ask for help from passer-bys (particularly younger folk).
 

Preparations

1. Visa
Before one books a flight to Shanghai, first thing you will need to do is look up the Visa application process to obtain a tourist visa to China. China’s visa application process is pretty straightforward without any particular hurdles, just fill up the relevant forms and attach the required documents. The main items you will need to prepare for the application would be your flight itinerary and hotel booking. Please note that in some countries, you may have to submit the application form in person or via mail to specific visa application centers, so make sure you do your research on the due process beforehand.
 
[Cost]
Visa cost may vary between countries, usually ranging between USD$90 – 110, though I’ve seen some places pricing it at 150. Agency fees will apply if you apply through a travel agent, but that may be preferred to simplify the process if you find it hard to navigate through the embassy resources.
 
[Duration]
Officially, visa processing time is slated to be 10-14 days, but it can often be processed as quickly as 2-3 days, depending on how busy the embassy is. Again, check with your country’s authorities, you may have to return to the visa application center to pick-up your passport/visa.
 
[Misc]
Singapore, Brunei and Japan passport holders can enter China without a visa for a stay no more than 15 days. For those of you from countries with powerful passports, you may be unused to the paperwork to fill out, but it’s pretty simple to handle and shouldn’t take more than 15 minutes of your time.
 
2.Flight
For flight booking, simply use your preferred website, skyscanner, booking, etc, to find the lowest fare available.
Shanghai is a cosmopolitan city so there wouldn’t be any problems booking flights there, Pudong Airport is one of the busiest airports in the world. Note however that there are two airports in Shanghai, Pudong International Airport (PVG) and HongQiao International Airport (SHA). Nowadays, HongQiao Airport is mostly for domestic flights, but if you’re flying from Eurasia, your flight may transit via another major inland city in China, which will possibly land you in HongQiao. If you’re travelling with friends via different flightpaths, make sure everyone’s booking to the right airport, because the two airports are pretty far apart on opposite ends of the city.
 
Should the air tickets to Shanghai be in short supply, alternative flight routes include flying to Hangzhou or Nanjing and taking a high speed rail to Shanghai. The high speed rail service in China is world-class and easy to navigate (do inquire if you’re going for this option, I’ll add another section if it’s in high demand), and it’s less than 2 hours travel time via the rail to Shanghai. If you wish to take this chance to tour around China a bit, this would be a good choice as you can visit multiple cities and see their unique history, culture and attractions (such as West Lake in Hangzhou).
 
3.Venue:
Before we get to the hotel and accommodations, the venue needs to be looked at since I’m sure a lot of you will be looking to stay somewhere nearby. First off, here’s a google map of the venue and its surroundings.
The stadium is conveniently located right beside a Metro station, China Art Museum Station. You will see the iconic Mercedez Benz Arena (MBA) building immediately when you step out of the station via exit 4 (I've personally verified it), and it is a mere 30 second walk to the stadium.
 
Located along the bank of the Huangpu River, the MBA is part of the expo grounds developed during the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai. It boasts spectacular views of the city and the river, has a gorgeous park right next to it where you can go for a leisurely stroll, stunning architecture in every direction and rows upon rows of restaurants available in the adjacent River Mall Area 5. The entire area was developed for event purposes and its facilities are specifically constructed to cater to those needs.
 
HOWEVER, this also means that there are no hotels or residences within the immediate vicinity, since the district was entirely purposed as exhibition grounds. The nearest available accommodation would be budget hotels approximately 1km away, with decent hotels (4-stars) at least 1.5km away. Given how efficient the Shanghai Metro is, it is strongly recommended that you widen your hotel search radius and take advantage of the Metro system.
 
Please also note that food and drinks are not allowed to be brought into the Arena. While there is some leeway for small finger foods and mineral water, it is up to the discretion of the organizers/guards (i.e. if the venue ends up being a mess on day 1, they might enforce a stricter ban day 2 onwards. Keep the venue clean everyone!). Things like a Mcdonalds takeout bag are definitely not allowed. Food and drinks are available for sale inside the Arena, but at a hefty premium compared to standard local retail prices. For reference, a bottle of water sold inside would be about 15-18 rmb (2.50 USD), a grilled sausage is 10rmb (1.50 USD) etc.
 
4. Hotels/Accommodation
In a city of 24 million, hotels are aplenty around Shanghai, with options available across all prices. As a reminder, your passport is mandatory for checking into any public accommodation in Shanghai, be it hotels or AirBnB. Also, while AirBnB is rising in Shanghai, unless you have a local friend helping you out, you may encounter communication issues with due processes during your stay, hence I would recommend sticking to hotels where formality is assured.
[Edit] I've been informed that due to the new recycling laws enacted in July, budget and mid-range hotels no longer provide bathroom amenities by default, but are available on request. Please remember to ask for them before flaming them!
 
[Location Selection]
The main priority you would have when choosing a hotel for the TI event would be the ease of commute to the venue. It is highly recommended that you search for a hotel that is close to a Metro line. To recap for those who skipped straight to this section, it is due to these main reasons:

• The Arena is located in a special use district, with no hotels in the immediate vicinity
• The closest hotels are approximately 1km away, and higher grade hotels even further.
• With almost 18,000 spectators leaving the venue at the close of each day, you’ll face massive wait times for Uber. Public Transportation is your best bet. Check the transportation section for guidelines on how to access and navigate the metro.

 
The Arena’s station lies on Line 8 (blue line), which runs vertically through the city. You can reduce the hassle of changing lines by selecting accommodation solely along this metro line, but it would limit your options. I recommend that you use the map view when booking your hotels on your booking site of choice and try to find hotels within walking distance of a metro station (which honestly isn't hard because of the extensive metro coverage - see transportation section).
The main locations where hotel prices are higher would be in the strip stretching from People’s Square to LuJiaZui (highlighted in yellow in the above link), due to their premium location in the heart of Shanghai’s iconic tourist hotspots. Beyond these areas, hotel prices are generally fairly uniform across the city.
 
[Hotel Grades & Chains]
i.Budget hotels (USD 35-70)
While there are even cheaper options, I would not recommend them as they run the risk of being sketchy motels or hostels with nothing but a bed. Most of them likely won’t have English-speaking staff either, and honestly you likely won’t find them on international booking sites, so don’t worry.
There are a few budget hotel chains in Shanghai, such as HANTING and JINJIANG. These are typical budget hotels offering a simple room with standard utilities and daily room service, but likely do not include breakfast nor any sort of catering service (they might on the upper price end). Note that even within the same hotel chain, the quality of the hotel may vary significantly, so keep an eye on the photos when booking. In some low-budget cases, the room might not have an exterior window, but gaming addicts don’t need sunlight anyway.
 
ii.Midrange Hotels (USD 70-120)
This is where you’ll find some international brands like Holiday Inn. These hotels are generally 3-4 star caliber, and would match international standards in terms of room quality. Typical hotels, not much to comment about them.
 
iii.Luxury Hotels (USD 120+)
As a cosmopolitan city, Shanghai sports luxury hotels from all international hotel chains, such as Mariott, Ascott, Intercontinental etc. Beyond the luxuries these hotels offer, they are usually situated in shopping hubs or tourist hotspots, and you can be assured that they would have staff proficient in English. A personal recommendation I would make is the Jumeirah Himalayas Hotel, which is absolutely stunning and located right next to Metro line 7, taking a mere 25 minutes to arrive at the Mercedes-Benz Arena.
 
If you have any queries or questions about the hotel you’re booking, feel free to ask on Discord where Shanghai locals (myself included) will be able to answer you.
 
5.VPN and Data Plans
Due to censorship laws and the Great Firewall of China, many commonly used social media platforms and search engines are blocked and/or throttled in China. Facebook, Google, Snapchat, Twitter, Youtube are all completely blocked. Google translate and maps are usable (via its Chinese platform translate.google.cn and maps.google.cn), Whatsapp is kinda-sorta banned but messages do go through occasionally (pictures and media definitely can’t). Reddit’s in the same boat, it’s banned but… sometimes it’s not? Anyway, bottomline is, if you want to access the internet as you do back home, there are two options:

1. Your home country’s local carrier has global roaming, and you’re fine with coughing up the dough for usage abroad. Check with your service provider to see if this is available. If you’re visiting for a short duration (i.e. main event only), this would be a good choice and price would vary based on your mobile plan. Because you’re using the network provided by your own country’s carrier, the global roaming is NOT subject to the firewall and you’d retain full access to the internet, which saves a lot of hassle.
   
2. If you use a network in China, such as connecting to local wifi/using a local sim card you purchased, you will have to utilize a VPN to access the blocked content. Contrary to popular belief, VPNs are NOT illegal to use in China. (What is illegal is if you sell a VPN service as a corporate entity without approval granted by the authorities). There are tons of VPNs available on the market, however the GFW is no slouch and do periodic banwaves that kills of a bunch every now and then. Make sure you do careful research on which ones are reliably usable before purchasing; the free ones tend to be either shady (data selling) or unreliable (unusable/poor connection). If you use a VPN service, make sure to install and ensure that it is working first before arriving in Shanghai, as those service providers’ websites might be blocked.
   

 
Protip: If you’re a University student, look up your university’s tech resources to see if they have a uni-access VPN for students abroad, particularly if your university has a strong Asian demographic. Given the large number of Chinese students abroad and the endemic problem of being unable to access University resources whilst on holidays back home, many Unis have set up official VPNs for use by their Chinese students, which you can make use of in this instance. Most US/CA/UK/AU institutions have this function and you can look it up.
 
6. Apps to prepare

1. Google Translate: Your best buddy if mandarin is basically moonrunes for you. Helps with basic communication which should cover most things you’ll encounter on your trip.
   
2. Pleco: Your second best buddy to help with communication, comes with voice functions, optical character recognition functions (when you see a signboard and have no clue what it means and you can’t type it out either), handwriting input (you can draw moonrunes into it) and many other functions that helps you overcome the language barrier
   
3. Didi: Basically Chinese Uber. Allows foreign credit card payment so one of the rare few apps that foreigners can work with. Visa/Mastercard/UnionPay only, not sure about AMEX.
   
4. Wechat: Chinese Whatsapp and Facebook rolled into one, you should set it up beforehand. This is THE most used app in China, just about everyone uses it and it is an essential means of communication. If you meet anyone you want to stay in touch with, add them through Wechat and you’re good to go. Perhaps someday you might even discover the fabled meme trove of China that is Wechat Stickers…
   

 
7.Money
This warrants a special section because Shanghai has a unique case of being an essentially “Cashless” city. E-commerce is the predominant form of transaction in Shanghai, with virtually everyone making payments and transfers via wallet apps such as Alipay and Wechat. This has resulted in much lower amounts of circulated cash, and oftentimes small retails and cabbies may not hold enough spare change since barely anyone uses cash these days. While highly convenient, this becomes a challenge for foreign visitors as the process for linking the wallet app to a credit card requires verification from a local bank.
There are a few ways one can make payments in China:

1. Domestic payment platforms such as Wechat/Alipay, if you are able to complete the verification process. This may be possible for some SEA nations with banks that are partnered with Unionpay.
   
2. Some international payment platforms such as ApplePay, SamsungPay are also accepted at larger chains (Starbucks, Mcdonalds etc)
   
3. Credit Cards are accepted at most large retail outlets, stores and restaurants, but some cards may not be accepted (Visa/Mastercard/Unionpay are fine)
   
4. Cash – ATM’s around the city do cater to foreign cards but there are transaction costs and withdrawal limits, I believe it’s around 2000 RMB per transaction (300USD) for foreign cards.
   

See also the section on transportation below for further information regarding travel payments.
 

Arrival in Shanghai

Once you have made the necessary preparations for your trip to Shanghai, next comes the part where you plan what to do while you’re here.
 
1.Airport Services
There are a few things to take note of when you arrive at the Shanghai Airport. Security is pretty standard per international standards, and you won’t be subjected to TSA-style unsolicited colonoscopies. You may be requested to open your bags for a brief inspection, so please do not attempt to smuggle contraband (see section on China Law). If the border officer asks the purpose of your visit and doesn’t understand e-sports, just tell them you’re here to attend an exhibition.
PSA due to recent bs on worldnews: No, you will NOT be asked to hand over your phone or electronic devices. No, you will not have any bullshit spyware forcibly installed on your phones, apple/google already did that for you. No, security doesn’t give a shit if you have porn on your devices. These measures are only applied to specific border crossings in one specific part of western China that is prone to conflict, and do not apply to 99% of China’s ports.
Once you leave the gates, there might be a swathe of tourist peddlers asking if you need a cab, do make sure to ignore them and just follow the signs to the public transport facilities. The information desks at the airport all have English assistance so you can look to them for help. There are 3 main transportation options from Pudong Airport to the city – Cabs, Metro and the Maglev, as follows:
1. Cabs/Uber: The fare from Pudong Airport to the venue is approximately 150RMB (22USD), subject to variation based on time (night rate, peak hour jams etc). Depending on where your hotel is, you can approximate what your fare would likely be. I recommend that you print out the hotel address (In Chinese characters) for easy navigation with the driver.
2. Metro: Metro lines are available in both HongQiao and Pudong Airports, and easily accessed after exiting the gates. This is by far the cheapest option, costing a mere 3 – 5 RMB a trip (45-75 cents), though you will likely be facing a rather packed train. If you’re looking to minimize costs or if your hotel is near a metro line, this is the recommended way, though you will have to navigate your way through the metro map to the right station.
3. Maglev: The Shanghai Magnetic Levitation Rail, available only in Pudong Airport, is a short-distance rail that takes you from the Airport to Longyang Station, a transport hub close to the city. Costing 40 RMB (6 USD) for a ticket, the Maglev is a state-of-the-art transport that goes up to 430+ kph, covering the 30+ km (19miles) between stations in 7 minutes (which the metro line would otherwise take 40 minutes to traverse). If this is your first time in Shanghai, I highly recommend taking it at least once for the experience, not just for the speed but also that surreal /futurology moment when the magnets hum to life and you feel the train levitating.
 
2.Currency Exchange
Next thing you might worry about is currency exchange. In the case that you did not prepare local currency, there is a currency exchanger in the airport; however the airport rates tend to be pretty pricey. In China, currency exchange is government controlled, which means there are no private retail currency exchangers as one might find in other countries. Instead, all currency exchange are performed through the banks. The bank’s rates all uniformly follow the central bank’s rate, which is highly competitive, and in most cases the exchange rate will likely be far better than in your own countries due to regulations against banks placing a premium on currency exchange. You may have to bring your passport to prove your identity, but beyond that you won’t need to worry about any procedural obstacles. A yearly exchange cap of US$50,000 per person applies for foreign cash exchange (does not apply to credit card transactions), but I don’t think that would apply to most of us attending the event.
 
3.Transport
A. UbeDiDi
Didi, which is basically Chinese Uber, is the go-to app in Shanghai for vehicular transport. There are other alternative apps but Didi is the most integrated in terms of english availability and, more importantly, allows use of international visa/mastercard credit payment.
While Didi is a very convenient mode of transport around Shanghai, do note that it may not be the best choice for the event, as you’re looking at over 15,000 people leaving the venue at the close of each day, of which a sizable portion will be hailing private fares. If you rely on Didi/Uber, you might find yourself placed 200+ in the queue with an estimated wait time of over 2 hours… which is why I recommend seeking public transport to the venue.
 
B. Public Transport – Metro
The Shanghai Metro is the most convenient form of transport in the city. With a huge network spanning across the city, there are few places in the metropolitan area that are beyond a 15 minute walk from any given station. One of the most efficient systems in the world, the Metro runs at intervals of approximately 3 minutes, down to 30 seconds during peak hours (commuters wanted more but safety concerns limited the frequency), so you don’t have to worry about missing one. Most lines operate between 5am to 11pm, with Line 2 (which connects to the airports/railway stations) running as late as 1.30am. During the late hours though, taxis/didi would be your only option.
 
All stations have signs in both English and Mandarin so you shouldn’t have many issues navigating your way around, though you should take note of which exit you want to take as some major stations can have over 20 exits and span a long distance. The metro can be really packed during peak hours – while not at Japan levels of sardine packing, you may find yourself queueing and missing a few trains before being able to board one yourself. Peak hours is usually 8am-9:30am and 5pm-6:30pm.
 
To use the Metro, you will need to purchase a Public Transport Card which looks like THIS. The card can be purchased at any metro station including the airport and costs 20 RMB (3 USD) that can be refunded upon return. You can then top up the card with whatever value needed. Do note that the Public Transport Card is usable across all official public transport (Metro, Buses, Official Taxis, Maglev) which makes it particularly convenient as you won’t have to worry about spare change, you can pay by just scanning the card, so keep that in mind when topping it.
When refunding the card at the station upon leaving the country, do note that there will be a 5% surcharge on refunds above 10 RMB when returning the card.
 
C. Public Transport – Taxi
There are a few different taxi companies in Shanghai, but the main reputable ones are 大众 (Cyan colour), 强生(Yellow or Red colour). The main taxi companies are affiliated with the Department of Transportation, allowing them to accept payment via the public transport card as described above. It is highly recommended to obtain a card for this purpose as many Taxi drivers might not keep much spare change for cash transactions, given the cashless city phenomenon. You can also book a taxi directly using Didi, which may sometimes be faster than finding a dedicated driver.
 
Change Taxi's if the taxi does not have a meter or if the driver asks to keep the fare off-meter. Do note however that it is customary for the driver to not activate the meter immediately out of courtesy to the passenger – they usually activate it after driving a few meters or after completing a u-turn, so don’t be alarmed. You shouldn't have to bargain for your fare, and never pay up-front. Some drivers may prefer not to pick up foreigners due to bad experiences with past passengers (drunken fare-skipper incidents etc) and many cabs are pre-booked via booking apps, so don’t be surprised when an empty cab appears to ignore you.
 
Unfortunately, most taxi drivers will not understand the slightest bit of English, so if you don't speak Mandarin, it's very useful to have a 'taxi card'. Most hotels will provide you with one, which contains the hotel's address for your return trip. It's best to keep small bills or change for taxi's, as taxi drivers won't usually have change. Taxi drivers do not expect a tip, nor will they ask for one, but they do appreciate if you round up the bill / forego the change.
 
D. Relevant Traffic laws and customs:
Shanghai is notorious for its cutthroat driving etiquette where many drivers don’t use blinkers and the right of way goes to whoever gives less fucks. While the traffic culture has improved over the years with increased traffic police oversight, there are still many things that may take visitors for a surprise. If in doubt, stick to a crowd and you’ll be fine.
First off is the right-turn rule in China, where cars can do a right turn (small turn) on a red light. So if you’re at a traffic junction, don’t assume safety of passage once the pedestrian light turns green, take note of your surroundings for ignorant drivers to ensure it is safe to cross. Alternatively, stick to a crowd and you’ll be fine.
Secondly, there are a lot of cyclists/scooterists in Shanghai, and they have a tendency to think themselves above traffic laws with their maneuverability. I can’t count the number of times I’ve had a close shave with some asshole on a scooter blatantly ignoring a red light. There are bicycle lanes on most roads around Shanghai, so keep an eye out there when crossing roads, or just stick to a crowd and you’ll be fine.
 
4.Food
Being a cosmopolitan city, Shanghai caters to all sorts of tastes and preferences when it comes to food. Local signature dishes include steamed soup dumplings, pan-fried buns, soysauce braised pork, baked sweet potato, drunken chicken and many others, while also sporting some of the best hotpots around. There are also innumerable restaurants serving foreign cuisines, ranging from Japanese, Korean, Western, Indian and various Southeast Asian cultures. There are restaurants that cater to vegetarians and halal requirements, and if all else fail, we have the bastions of American nutrition, McDonalds/KFC/Burger King.
 
[Food Hygiene and Sanitation]
One might be understandably concerned about the sanitary conditions of food in China. Shanghai’s town council has aggressively tightened hygiene regulations over the past years, particularly after major food scandals which pretty much killed the street food business due to public fear (unethical assholes ruining things for everyone as usual). While there are definitely seedy places out there with questionable sanitation, you would be perfectly safe sticking to larger establishments. As a rule of thumb, find places with a decent crowd and you’re good to go. Largefancier restaurants are very safe as they do have a reputation to maintain, and most expat/tourist areas are closely vetted; generally if the restaurant has a budget for English menus it’s pretty safe.
 
[Water]
Tap water in Shanghai needs to be boiled before consumption. Your hotel should have complementary drinks (you can always ring the reception for more, though budget/midrange hotels might limit it at two per day) and there is no shortage of convenience stores across the city where you can purchase drinks.
 
[Exotic Foods]
Shanghai’s on the moderate end of the scale when it comes to exotic foods, so you won’t be finding some of the more extreme foodstuffs that shows up on fear factor. If you’re feeling adventurous during your stay however, you can try some of the local delicacies which oftentimes involve parts considered unusual in western culinary cultures. Braised chicken feet (called Phoenix Claws) is a hugely popular dish, along with pork liver, blood pudding, pork ears, ox tail soup and many more. China has a rich culinary culture with many recipes passed down over innumerable generations, and many dishes have some sort of background story behind them.
 
[Tipping]
Some restaurants refuse tips, mostly because they’re unused to it and are accustomed to fully returning your change. However, tipping is becoming more common in the city, but mainly in high-end restaurants where a 10-15% service charge may be added to the bill. Elsewhere it is not expected.
 
[Misc]
While food in Shanghai’s metropolitan area is quite clean by international standards, it is recommended that visitors bring some diarrhea medication along just in case of upset stomachs. For allergies, there are over-the-counter medications available in local pharmacies, but anything with adrenalin or corticosteroid (epipens etc) will require a doctor’s prescription at the hospital. (See section on Medical Services)
For street food/small eateries, unless you have a Chinese E-wallet app, you will likely have to use cash payments as vendors may not have SWIFT payment available, so keep some loose change on you.
 
5.Alcoholic Beverages
The legal drinking age in China is 18, and the Chinese are no strangers to the world’s favorite poison. Most restaurants serve beers which tend to be local brews like Tsingtao pale lager, priced around USD$1.5-3 a bottle. If you prefer western drinks, there are also several western bars in Shanghai, usually clustered around expat areas. A quick google search of shanghai bars will give you a rough idea of where they are, these places tend to be streetfront and very popular so you don’t have to worry about seedy joints. Keep in mind though that imported drinks will have a hefty premium tagged on them if you’re buying from a bar, so don’t expect cheap prices in this regard.
 
If you’re feeling adventurous, you can try the local Baijiu (White Wine or Chinese Vodka), which is a spirit typically around 52% alcohol content (though some brands go as low as 38 and as high as 64). Keep in mind that Baijiu has a different “role” compared to western liquor - despite also being served in small glasses (about half a standard shot), it is usually consumed during a meal, as a complement to your course rather than a standalone beverage, though it also can be consumed that way.
 
Buyers beware, however, as Baijiu comes in many different varieties and grades, ranging from thousands of dollars a bottle to 4 dollars for a 5 Litre drum. Just like how vodka’s cheaper than water in Russia, some of the lower end brands are ridiculously cheap. However you get what you pay for, and I honestly cannot recommend the cheap brands in good faith, as they’re considered “fake wine” by locals (just a shitty alcohol mix, not a savory brew), so unless you’re really motivated to abuse your body and taste buds, I’d advise to stick to the more mainstream brands recommended by your Chinese peers or stores. For reference, a decent bottle would typically have a retail price of around 400+ RMB (60+USD), with more popular brands going past 800 RMB (120USD).
 
6.Sightseeing
Shanghai, being a highly developed city, has a skyline predominantly filled with skyscrapers and vast expanses of concrete jungle, so sightseeing here is a pretty similar experience to say, New York City. I’ll briefly list a few popular tourist hotspots here – there are already many tourist guides out there for Shanghai that gives you a wealth of information, so I’ll keep this section simple.

1. The Bund - Pretty much the iconic heart of Shanghai, a must-see.
   
2. Lu Jia Zui/Oriental pearl Tower – The financial center on the opposite coast of the Bund, with most of Shanghai’s iconic skyscrapers and buildings.
   
3. Nanjing Road – The quintessential shopping avenue, stretching from the Bund to People’s Square (Note: You can directly take the metro from the Mercedez Benz Arena to People’s Square, then tour via People’s Square – Nanjing Road – The Bund. It’s a easily navigated path following one main road, and particularly beautiful at night. Highly recommended.)
   
4. Yu Garden – Classical Chinese Garden and tourist hotspot
   
5. Shanghai Museum / Shanghai Science and Technology Museum
   
6. Shanghai Wild Animal Zoo – I highly recommend a visit if you can spare the time, as they feature a safari-like experience where you travel in a bus directly through an open pasture where tigers roam freely. Oh and you can purchase a live chicken to feed the tigers with.
   
7. Zhujiajiao* – A classical old Chinese town with traditional Dynasty-era architecture. A fair distance away from the city center but worth a visit.
   
8. SheShan* – A thematic tourist area with a huge park, golf courses, and the recently opened Intercontinental Wonderland Hotel – the hotel that is built within an abandoned quarry, featuring a unique “pit” environment as well as underwater rooms. Highly recommended for Underlord spammers.
   

*: As these places are fairly far from the city center, it is recommended that you seek a tour guide or tour group when visiting, if only to help with communication and navigation.
 
7.Chinese Law
This is probably the section that will attract the most memetic responses so I’ll keep it straight and simple – please be a responsible adult, as you would be when visiting ANY country. You’re here to attend an Esports event and have a good time watching some top-notch dota with the rest of the world. This enjoyment is similarly shared by everyone in the stadium regardless of race, country or culture. Everyone is here to celebrate something we all enjoy in equal measure, so please don’t let any political or cultural disagreements get in the way, because it doesn’t belong here.
That being said, there are certain laws that a visitor should keep in mind:
 
1. Drugs & Contraband
All narcotic substances are a BIG no-no here in China, and this includes marijuana. China has a zero-tolerance policy towards drugs after being subjected to massive narco-terrorism campaigns by colonial powers, which inflicted grievous damage to the nation and resulted in deep social and cultural enmity towards substance abuse. Please do not attempt to bring any narcotics into the country, even if they are legal in your home country. If caught in possession of drugs, you will be arrested on the spot, with penalties ranging from 15 days imprisonment (smoking weed) to capital punishment (trafficking heroin). This is the one line you REALLY do not want to fuck around with while in China, so don’t do it.
 
2. Censorship of politically sensitive topics
I’ll first clarify one thing: It is NOT illegal to engage in discussions about certain politically sensitive topics in China, unlike what popular opinion on /worldnews claims. However, broadcasting it would put you at risk of getting in trouble with authorities (looking at you edgelords who wants to put dumb political discourse on camera at a Dota event), as it can be considered public disruption or even instigating public unrest, which may get you detained for a couple days while your embassy sorts you out.
If you are particularly concerned about this for some reason, the below links provides a pretty good picture of what you can expect when discussing sensitive topics in China:
Link 1 Link 2
 
If it is your first time in Shanghai, you may well find the local populace to be very different from your preconceived notions, especially for younger generations who are generally more connected and well-informed of international news. I recommend that you keep an open mind coming into this beautiful city, and enjoy some awesome dota with the local fans.
 
[Cont]Nightlife/Safety/Police/Hospital
 
Due to hitting the 40,000 character cap on reddit, the remaining sections are posted in the link above. Please make sure to read them as well!
 
Again, if you have any questions, you can ask me in this thread or via PM, or through the Shanghai TI9 Discord where several locals are available constantly to answer any queries you have. You can also find more information through a quick google or youtube search, there are many resources that explains things you might encounter on a visit to Shanghai. One thing though, don’t ever use /China as a source of info, it’s a heavily biased (if not openly racist) cesspool.
 
To close things off, I hope this guide would be helpful to those of you visiting Shanghai, and it wasn't too much of a bore to read. This guide ended up being far lengthier than I predicted when I started it as a voluntary work, but it'd be worth it if it can help dota fans who are coming over from all around the world enjoy TI9 just a bit more. Shoutout to David from Newbee for keeping me on track over the past weeks and Icefrog for nerfing Doom to the point that I stopped playing Dota and could actually pump this guide out. Can you unnerf him now please?
P.S. If any team orgs would like assistance in setting up a social media presence in China on chinese platforms (to perhaps connect with and build up your chinese fanbase), do drop me a message via reddit DM!

Comprehensive Guide for Shanghai TI9 Visitors [UPDATED]

With TI9 less than 2 weeks away, there are some who are still ironing out their travel plans, hence I have reposted this mega guide as an effort to reach more audiences who may have missed the first iteration. For those who have read the first one, give this version a skim as well as a few new sections that have been added, based on feedback and suggestions from the previous thread.
 
Heya /dota2, your resident bilingual Dota fan here, who brought you Chinese memes and interview translations over the past few TI's. With the advent of The International 9, many fans who are looking to attend the event live but have never visited Shanghai would understandably have many questions and concerns regarding the city. This guide was written by yours truly to give ya'll an idea of what to expect during your visit and answer some common questions and concerns. Be warned that this is a REALLY long guide (9k words, no biggie) aimed towards first timers in Shanghai, if you’re a ticket holder and this is your first time visiting, make sure to read the whole thing as a fair few parts are interconnected.
 
If you have any specific questions that this guide doesn’t cover, feel free to ask any questions in the comments section or via the Shanghai TI9 Discord.
 

Introduction

Shanghai is one of the largest cities in the world, with a population of more than 24 million. Situated along China’s eastern coastline, Shanghai has a warm temperate climate, with July and August being our hottest months averaging 25-35 degrees Celsius. Rainy season usually ends by mid July so we would expect typical hot summer weather during the event period with occasional light rain. Note that rainy days in Shanghai can cause a sharp rise in humidity due to its coastal proximity, so dress accordingly.
 
Air pollution in Shanghai has seen a drastic reduction since 2010 in an effort to improve the city's image. Despite this improvement, it is still considered fairly polluted by global standards, and sensitive people might experience respiratory irritation, though if you’re from a developed city you probably won’t notice much difference. Also, indoor smoking has been recently banned in Shanghai, so smoking is only allowed in open-air environments or designated smoking areas.
 
In terms of commodity costs, China isn't as cheap as it used to be, and Shanghai’s definitely on the pricey end of the scale. That being said, you can always find a good deal on accommodation and food if you’re resourceful enough, though you might need a local friend to help you with that.
 
Compared to other parts of China, Shanghai has one of the highest overall prevalence of English speakers. Younger generations have at least a rudimentary grasp of English, and there’s a fairly large number of proficient users. Communication for basic things like directions and purchases shouldn’t be an issue.
 
One thing to note is that Shanghai isn’t just a tourist location for you, it’s a tourist hotspot for the rest of China as well. There’s easily a couple million domestic tourists in Shanghai on any given day, and to them, YOU are a tourist attraction, so try not to be bothered by the looks and attention. This is particularly prevalent when you go to common tourist attractions such as Disneyland Shanghai where the predominant demographic are domestic Chinese tourists, some of whom may be a bit rowdier than the norm. Overall though, people in China are generally very welcoming and friendly towards foreigners, so if you’re in a pinch, don’t be afraid to ask for help from officials or passer-bys (particularly younger folk).
 

Preparations (If you haven’t done these preparations yet, HURRY UP!)

1. Visa
Before one books a flight to Shanghai, first thing you will need to do is look up the Visa application process to obtain a tourist visa to China. Costing approximately USD$90-110, China’s visa application process is pretty straightforward, just fill up the relevant forms and attach the required documents. The main items you will need to prepare for the application would be your flight itinerary and hotel booking. Please note that in some countries, you may have to submit the application form in person or via mail to specific visa application centers, so make sure you do your research on the due process beforehand.
 
Officially, visa processing time is slated to be 10-14 days, but it can often be processed as quickly as 2-3 days, depending on how busy the embassy is. Again, check with your country’s authorities, you may have to return to the visa application center to pick-up your passport/visa.
 
Singapore, Brunei and Japan passport holders can enter China without a visa for a stay no more than 15 days. For those of you from countries with powerful passports, you may be unused to the paperwork to fill out, but it’s pretty simple to handle and shouldn’t take more than 15 minutes of your time.
 
2.Flight
For flight booking, simply use your preferred website, skyscanner, booking, etc, to find the lowest fare available.
Shanghai is a cosmopolitan city so there wouldn’t be any problems booking flights there, Pudong Airport is one of the busiest airports in the world. Note however that there are two airports in Shanghai, Pudong International Airport (PVG) and HongQiao International Airport (SHA). Nowadays, HongQiao Airport is mostly for domestic flights, but if you’re flying from Eurasia, your flight may transit via another major inland city in China, which will possibly land you in HongQiao. If you’re travelling with friends via different flightpaths, make sure everyone’s booking to the right airport, because the two airports are pretty far apart on opposite ends of the city.
 
Should the air tickets to Shanghai be in short supply, alternative flight routes include flying to Hangzhou or Nanjing and taking a high speed rail to Shanghai. The high speed rail service in China is world-class and surprisingly easy to navigate (do ask on discord if you want more information about this, where other locals can help you), and it’s less than 2 hours travel time via the rail to Shanghai. If you wish to take this chance to tour around China a bit, this would be a good choice as you can visit multiple cities and see their unique history, culture and attractions (such as West Lake in Hangzhou).
 
3.Venue:
Before we get to the hotel and accommodations, the venue needs to be looked at since I’m sure a lot of you will be looking to stay somewhere nearby. First off, here’s a google map of the venue and its surroundings.
The stadium is conveniently located right beside a Metro station, China Art Museum Station. You will see the iconic Mercedez Benz Arena (MBA) building immediately when you step out of the station via exit 4 (I've personally verified it), and it is a mere 30 second walk to the stadium.
 
Located along the bank of the Huangpu River, the MBA is part of the expo grounds developed during the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai. It boasts spectacular views of the city and the river, has a gorgeous park right next to it where you can go for a leisurely stroll, stunning architecture in every direction and rows upon rows of restaurants available in the adjacent River Mall Area 5. The entire area was developed for event purposes and its facilities are specifically constructed to cater to those needs.
 
HOWEVER, this also means that there are no hotels or residences within the immediate vicinity, since the district was entirely purposed as exhibition grounds. The nearest available accommodation would be budget hotels approximately 1km away, with decent hotels (4-stars & above) at least 1.5km away. Given how efficient the Shanghai Metro is, it is strongly recommended that you widen your hotel search radius and take advantage of the Metro system.
 
Please also note that food and drinks are not allowed to be brought into the Arena. While there is some leeway for small finger foods and mineral water, it is up to the discretion of the organizers/guards (i.e. if the venue ends up being a mess on day 1, they might enforce a stricter ban day 2 onwards. Keep the venue clean everyone!). Things like a Mcdonalds takeout bag are definitely not allowed. Food and drinks are available for sale inside the Arena, but at a hefty premium compared to standard local retail prices. For reference, a bottle of water sold inside would be about 15-18 rmb (2.50 USD), a grilled sausage is 10rmb (1.50 USD) etc. Given that the tournament is a full-day event, you would presumably be allowed to leave the venue for lunch and return back to the arena, but whether its single entry or multiple entry hasn’t been announced yet.
 
4. Hotels/Accommodation
In a city of 24 million, hotels are aplenty around Shanghai, with options available across all prices. As a reminder, your passport is mandatory for checking into any public accommodation in Shanghai, be it hotels or AirBnB. Also, while AirBnB is rising in Shanghai, unless you have a local friend helping you out, you may encounter communication issues with due processes during your stay, hence I would recommend sticking to hotels where formality is assured. Please also note that due to the new recycling laws enacted in July, budget and mid-range hotels no longer provide bathroom amenities such as toothbrushes by default, but are available on request. Please remember to ask for them at the service desk before flaming them!
 
[Location Selection]
The main priority when choosing a hotel for the TI event would be the ease of commute to the venue. It is highly recommended that you search for a hotel that is close to a Metro line. To recap for those who skipped straight to this section, it is due to these main reasons:

• The Arena is located in a special use district, with no hotels in the immediate vicinity
• The closest hotels are approximately 1km away, and higher grade hotels even further.
• With almost 18,000 spectators leaving the venue at the close of each day, you’ll face massive wait times for Uber. Public Transportation is your best bet. Check the transportation section for guidelines on how to access and navigate the metro.

 
The Arena’s station lies on Line 8 (blue line), which runs vertically through the city. You can reduce the hassle of changing lines by selecting accommodation solely along this metro line, but it would limit your options. I recommend that you use the map view when booking your hotels on your booking site of choice and try to find hotels within walking distance of a metro station (which honestly isn't hard because of the extensive metro coverage - see transportation section).
The main locations where hotel prices are higher would be in the strip stretching from People’s Square to LuJiaZui (highlighted in yellow in the above link), due to their premium location in the heart of Shanghai’s iconic tourist hotspots. If this is your first time in the city and you don’t mind forking out a little more, I highly recommend staying in these districts as they offer a much more immersive experience of the city’s attractions. Beyond these areas, hotel prices are generally fairly uniform across the city.
 
[Hotel Grades & Chains]
i.Budget hotels (USD 35-70)
While there are even cheaper options, I would not recommend them as they run the risk of being sketchy motels or hostels with nothing but a bed. Most of them likely won’t have English-speaking staff either, and honestly you likely won’t find them on international booking sites, so don’t worry.
There are a few budget hotel chains in Shanghai, such as HANTING and JINJIANG. These are typical budget hotels offering a simple room with standard utilities and daily room service, but likely do not include breakfast nor any sort of catering service (they might on the upper price end). Note that even within the same hotel chain, the quality of the hotel may vary significantly, so keep an eye on the photos when booking. In some low-budget cases, the room might not have an exterior window, but gaming addicts don’t need sunlight anyway.
 
ii.Midrange Hotels (USD 70-120)
This is where you’ll find some international brands like Holiday Inn. These hotels are generally 3-4 star caliber, and would match international standards in terms of room quality. Typical hotels, meals and standard services fully available.
 
iii.Luxury Hotels (USD 120+)
As a cosmopolitan city, Shanghai sports luxury hotels from all international hotel chains, such as Mariott, Ascott, Intercontinental etc. Beyond the lavish facilities these hotels offer, they are also usually situated in shopping hubs or tourist hotspots, and you can be assured that they would have staff proficient in English.
 
If you have any queries or questions about the hotel you’re booking, feel free to ask on Discord where Shanghai locals (myself included) will be able to answer you.
 
5.VPN and Data Plans
Due to censorship laws and the Great Firewall of China, many commonly used social media platforms and search engines are blocked and/or throttled in China. Facebook, Google, Snapchat, Twitter, Youtube are all completely blocked. Google translate and maps are usable (via its Chinese platform translate.google.cn and maps.google.cn), Whatsapp is kinda-sorta banned but messages do go through occasionally (pictures and media definitely can’t). Bottomline is, if you want to access the internet as you do back home, there are two options:

1. Your home country’s local carrier has global roaming, and you’re fine with coughing up the dough for usage abroad. Check with your service provider to see if this is available. If you’re visiting for a short duration (i.e. main event only), this would be a good choice and price would vary based on your mobile plan. Because you’re using the network provided by your own country’s carrier, the global roaming is NOT subject to the firewall and you’d retain full access to the internet, which saves a lot of hassle.
   
2. If you use a network in China, such as connecting to local wifi/using a local sim card you purchased, you will have to utilize a VPN to access the blocked content. Contrary to popular belief, VPNs are NOT illegal to use in China. (What is illegal is if you sell a VPN service as a corporate entity without approval granted by the authorities). There are tons of VPNs available on the market, however the GFW is no slouch and do periodic banwaves that kills of a bunch every now and then. Make sure you do careful research on which ones are reliably usable before purchasing; the free ones tend to be either shady (data selling) or unreliable (unusable/poor connection). If you use a VPN service, make sure to install and ensure that it is working first before arriving in Shanghai, as those service providers’ websites might be blocked.
   

 
Protip: If you’re a University student, look up your university’s tech resources to see if they have a uni-access VPN for students abroad, particularly if your university has a strong Asian demographic. Given the large number of Chinese students abroad and the endemic problem of being unable to access University resources whilst on holidays back home, many Unis have set up official VPNs for use by their Chinese students, which you can make use of in this instance. Most US/CA/UK/AU institutions have this function and you can look it up.
 
Purchasing a Sim Card for local use:
If you wish to purchase a Sim card from a local carrier (China Telecom or China Unicom), there are retailers present in the airports for convenient access. Sim cards plans are generally quite cheap, ranging around 6-15 USD a month, and usually with unlimited data. Might be a little more expensive for short-term prepay usage. Also, do note that passport identification is necessary for purchasing a number, so make sure to bring your passport along.
6. Apps to prepare

1. Google Translate: Your best buddy if mandarin is basically moonrunes for you. Helps with basic communication which should cover most things you’ll encounter on your trip.
   
2. Pleco: Your second best buddy to help with communication, comes with voice functions, optical character recognition functions (when you see a signboard and have no clue what it means and you can’t type it out either), handwriting input (you can draw moonrunes into it) and many other functions that helps you overcome the language barrier
   
3. Didi: Basically Chinese Uber. Allows foreign credit card payment so one of the rare few apps that foreigners can work with. Visa/Mastercard/UnionPay only, not sure about AMEX.
   
4. Wechat: Chinese Whatsapp and Facebook rolled into one, you should set it up beforehand. This is THE most used app in China, just about everyone uses it and it is an essential means of communication. If you meet anyone you want to stay in touch with, add them through Wechat and you’re good to go. Perhaps someday you might even discover the fabled meme trove of China that is Wechat Stickers…
   

 
7.Money
This warrants a special section because Shanghai has a unique case of being an essentially “Cashless” city. E-commerce is the predominant form of transaction in Shanghai, with virtually everyone making payments and transfers via wallet apps such as Alipay and Wechat. This has resulted in much lower amounts of circulated cash, and oftentimes small retails and cabbies may not hold enough spare change since barely anyone uses cash these days. While highly convenient, this becomes a challenge for foreign visitors as the process for linking the wallet app to a credit card requires verification from a local bank.
There are a few ways one can make payments in China:

1. Domestic payment platforms such as Wechat/Alipay, if you are able to complete the verification process. This may be possible for some SEA nations with banks that are partnered with Unionpay.
   
2. Some international payment platforms such as ApplePay, SamsungPay are also accepted at larger chains (Starbucks, Mcdonalds etc)
   
3. Credit Cards are accepted at most large retail outlets, stores and restaurants, but some cards may not be accepted (Visa/Mastercard/Unionpay are fine)
   
4. Cash – ATM’s around the city do cater to foreign cards but there are transaction costs and withdrawal limits, I believe it’s around 2000 RMB per transaction (300USD) for foreign cards.
   

As visitors likely won’t go through the trouble to set up e-commerce for a short trip, you will have to stick to cash and credit card payments. Just keep note of my comment above regarding low amounts of circulated cash, so if you’re predominantly using cash, try to keep a fair bit of spare change on you to avoid issues. See also the section on transportation below for further information regarding travel payments, as you will be using a metro card to pay travel fares.
 

Arrival in Shanghai

Once you have made the necessary preparations for your trip to Shanghai, next comes the part where you plan what to do while you’re here.
 
1.Airport Services
There are a few things to take note of when you arrive at the Shanghai Airport. Security is pretty typical of international standards, and you won’t be subjected to TSA-style unsolicited colonoscopies. You may be requested to open your bags for a brief inspection, so please do not attempt to smuggle contraband (see section on China Law). If the border officer asks the purpose of your visit and doesn’t understand e-sports, just tell them you’re here to attend an exhibition. Make sure to follow the signs for foreign visitors prior to the immigration checkpoint, as you will have to fill out an entry card and register your fingerprint scans as part of due process.
PSA due to recent bs on worldnews: No, you will NOT be asked to hand over your phone or electronic devices. No, you will not have any bullshit spyware forcibly installed on your phones, apple/google already did that for you. No, security doesn’t give a shit if you have porn on your devices. These measures are only applied to specific border crossings in one specific part of western China that is prone to conflict, and do not apply to 99% of China’s ports.
Once you leave the gates, there might be a swathe of tourist peddlers asking if you need a cab, do make sure to ignore them and just follow the signs to the public transport facilities. The information desks at the airport all have English assistance so you can look to them for help. There are 3 main transportation options from Pudong Airport to the city – Cabs, Metro and the Maglev, as follows:
1. Cabs/Uber: The fare from Pudong Airport to the venue is approximately 150RMB (22USD), subject to variation based on time (night rate, peak hour jams etc). Depending on where your hotel is, you can approximate what your fare would likely be. I recommend that you print out the hotel address (In Chinese characters) for easy navigation with the driver.
2. Metro: Metro lines are available in both HongQiao and Pudong Airports, and easily accessed after exiting the gates. This is by far the cheapest option, costing a mere 3 – 5 RMB a trip (45-75 cents), though you will likely be facing a rather packed train. If you’re looking to minimize costs or if your hotel is near a metro line, this is the recommended way, though you will have to navigate your way through the metro map to the right station.
3. Maglev: The Shanghai Magnetic Levitation Rail, available only in Pudong Airport, is a short-distance rail that takes you from the Airport to Longyang Station, a transport hub close to the city. Costing 40 RMB (6 USD) for a ticket, the Maglev is a state-of-the-art transport that goes up to 430+ kph, covering the 30+ km (19miles) between stations in 7 minutes (which the metro line would otherwise take 40 minutes to traverse). If this is your first time in Shanghai, I highly recommend taking it at least once for the experience, not just for the speed but also that surreal /futurology moment when the magnets hum to life and you feel the train levitating.
 
2.Currency Exchange
Next thing you might worry about is currency exchange. In the case that you did not prepare local currency, there is a currency exchanger in the airport; however the airport rates tend to be pretty pricey. In China, currency exchange is government controlled, which means there are no private retail currency exchangers as one might find in other countries. Instead, all currency exchanges are performed through the banks. The banks’ rates uniformly follow the central bank’s rate, which is highly competitive, and in most cases the exchange rate will likely be far better than in your own countries due to regulations against banks placing a premium on currency exchange. You may have to bring your passport to prove your identity, but beyond that you won’t need to worry about any procedural obstacles. A yearly exchange cap of US$50,000 per person applies for foreign cash exchange (does not apply to credit card transactions), but I don’t think that would apply to most of us attending the event.
 
3.Transport
A. UbeDiDi
Didi, which is basically Chinese Uber, is the go-to app in Shanghai for vehicular transport. There are other alternative apps but Didi is the most integrated in terms of english availability and, more importantly, allows use of international visa/mastercard credit payment.
While Didi is a very convenient mode of transport around Shanghai, do note that it may not be the best choice for the event, as you’re looking at over 15,000 people leaving the venue at the close of each day, of which a sizable portion will be hailing private fares. If you rely on Didi/Uber, you might find yourself placed 200+ in the queue with an estimated wait time of over 2 hours… which is why I recommend seeking public transport to the venue.
 
B. Public Transport – Metro
The Shanghai Metro is the most convenient form of transport in the city. With a huge network spanning across the city, there are few places in the metropolitan area that are beyond a 15 minute walk from any given station. One of the most efficient systems in the world, the Metro runs at intervals of approximately 3 minutes, down to 30 seconds during peak hours (commuters wanted more but safety concerns limited the frequency), so you don’t have to worry about missing one. Most lines operate between 5am to 11pm, with Line 2 (which connects to the airports/railway stations) running as late as 1.30am. During the late hours though, taxis/didi would be your only option.
 
All stations have signs in both English and Mandarin so you shouldn’t have many issues navigating your way around, though you should take note of which exit you want to take as some major stations can have over 20 exits and span a long distance. The metro can be really packed during peak hours – while not at Japan levels of sardine packing, you may find yourself queueing and missing a few trains before being able to board one yourself. Peak hours is usually 8am-9:30am and 5pm-6:30pm. Do note that there are baggage scans in every station, and anything larger than a purse will have to be scanned.
 
To use the Metro, you will need to purchase a Public Transport Card which looks like THIS. The card can be purchased at any metro station including the airport and costs 20 RMB (3 USD) that can be refunded upon return. You can then top up the card with whatever value needed. Do note that the Public Transport Card is universally usable across all official public transport in Shanghai (Metro, Buses, Official Taxis, Maglev) which makes it particularly convenient as you won’t have to worry about spare change, you can pay by just scanning the card, so keep that in mind when topping it.
When refunding the card at the station upon leaving the country, do note that there will be a 5% surcharge on refunds above 10 RMB when returning the card.
 
C. Public Transport – Taxi
There are a few different taxi companies in Shanghai, but the main reputable ones are 大众 (Cyan colour), 强生(Yellow or Red colour). The main taxi companies are affiliated with the Department of Transportation, allowing them to accept payment via the public transport card as described above. It is highly recommended to obtain a card for this purpose as many Taxi drivers might not keep much spare change for cash transactions, given the cashless city phenomenon. You can also book a taxi directly using Didi, which may sometimes be faster than finding a dedicated driver.
 
Change Taxi's if the taxi does not have a meter or if the driver asks to keep the fare off-meter. Do note however that it is customary for the driver to not activate the meter immediately out of courtesy to the passenger – they usually activate it after driving a few meters or after completing a u-turn, so don’t be alarmed. You shouldn't have to bargain for your fare, and never pay up-front. Some drivers may prefer not to pick up foreigners due to bad experiences with past passengers (drunken fare-skipper incidents etc) and many cabs are pre-booked via booking apps, so don’t be surprised when an empty cab appears to ignore you.
 
Unfortunately, most taxi drivers will not understand the slightest bit of English, so if you don't speak Mandarin, it's very useful to have a 'taxi card'. Most hotels will provide you with one, which contains the hotel's address for your return trip. It's best to keep small bills or change for taxi's, as taxi drivers won't usually have change. Taxi drivers do not expect a tip, nor will they ask for one, but they do appreciate if you round up the bill / forego the change.
 
D. Relevant Traffic laws and customs:
Shanghai is notorious for its cutthroat driving etiquette where many drivers don’t use blinkers and the right of way goes to whoever gives less fucks. While the traffic culture has improved over the years with increased traffic police oversight, there are still many things that may take visitors for a surprise. If in doubt, stick to a crowd and you’ll be fine.
First off is the right-turn rule in China, where cars can do a right turn (small turn) on a red light. So if you’re at a traffic junction, don’t assume safety of passage once the pedestrian light turns green, take note of your surroundings for ignorant drivers to ensure it is safe to cross. Alternatively, stick to a crowd and you’ll be fine.
Secondly, there are a lot of cyclists/scooterists in Shanghai, and they have a tendency to think themselves above traffic laws with their maneuverability. I can’t count the number of times I’ve had a close shave with some asshole on a scooter blatantly ignoring a red light. There are bicycle lanes on most roads around Shanghai, so keep an eye out there when crossing roads, or just stick to a crowd and you’ll be fine.
 
4.Food
Being a cosmopolitan city, Shanghai caters to all sorts of tastes and preferences when it comes to food. Local signature dishes include steamed soup dumplings, pan-fried buns, soysauce braised pork, baked sweet potato, drunken chicken and many others, while also sporting some of the best hotpots around. There are also innumerable restaurants serving foreign cuisines, ranging from Japanese, Korean, Western, Indian and various Southeast Asian cultures. There are restaurants that cater to vegetarians and halal requirements, and if all else fail, we have the bastions of American nutrition, McDonalds/KFC/Burger King.
 
[Food Hygiene and Sanitation]
One might be understandably concerned about the sanitary conditions of food in China. Shanghai’s town council has aggressively tightened hygiene regulations over the past years, particularly after major food scandals which pretty much killed the street food business due to public fear (unethical assholes ruining things for everyone as usual). While there are definitely seedy places out there with questionable sanitation, you would be perfectly safe sticking to larger establishments. As a rule of thumb, find places with a decent crowd and you’re good to go. Largefancier restaurants are very safe as they do have a reputation to maintain, and most expat/tourist areas are closely vetted; generally if the restaurant has a budget for English menus it’s pretty safe.
 
[Water]
Tap water in Shanghai needs to be boiled before consumption. Your hotel should have complementary drinks (you can always ring the reception for more, though budget/midrange hotels might limit it at two per day) and there is no shortage of convenience stores across the city where you can purchase drinks.
 
[Exotic Foods]
Shanghai’s on the moderate end of the scale when it comes to exotic foods, so you won’t be finding some of the more extreme foodstuffs that shows up on fear factor. If you’re feeling adventurous during your stay however, you can try some of the local delicacies which oftentimes involve parts considered unusual in western culinary cultures. Braised chicken feet (called Phoenix Claws) is a hugely popular dish, along with pork liver, blood pudding, pork ears, ox tail soup and many more. China has a rich culinary culture with many recipes passed down over innumerable generations, and many dishes have some sort of background story behind them.
 
[Tipping]
Some restaurants refuse tips, mostly because they’re unused to it and are accustomed to fully returning your change. However, tipping is becoming more common in the city, but mainly in high-end restaurants where a 10-15% service charge may be added to the bill. Elsewhere it is not expected.
 
[Misc]
While food in Shanghai’s metropolitan area is quite clean by international standards, it is recommended that visitors bring some diarrhea medication along just in case of upset stomachs. For allergies, there are over-the-counter medications available in local pharmacies, but anything with adrenalin or corticosteroid (epipens etc) will require a doctor’s prescription at the hospital. (See section on Medical Services)
For street food/small eateries, unless you have a Chinese E-wallet app, you will likely have to use cash payments as vendors may not have SWIFT payment available, so keep some loose change on you.
 
5.Alcoholic Beverages
The legal drinking age in China is 18, and the Chinese are no strangers to the world’s favorite poison. Most restaurants serve beers which tend to be local brews like Tsingtao pale lager, priced around USD$1.5-3 a bottle. If you prefer western drinks, there are also several western bars in Shanghai, usually clustered around expat areas. A quick google search of shanghai bars will give you a rough idea of where they are, these places tend to be streetfront and very popular so you don’t have to worry about seedy joints. Keep in mind though that imported drinks will have a hefty premium tagged on them if you’re buying from a bar, so don’t expect cheap prices in this regard.
 
If you’re feeling adventurous, you can try the local Baijiu (White Wine or Chinese Vodka), which is a spirit typically around 52% alcohol content (though some brands go as low as 38 and as high as 64). Keep in mind that Baijiu has a different “role” compared to western liquor - despite also being served in small glasses (about half a standard shot), it is usually consumed during a meal, as a complement to your course rather than a standalone beverage, though it also can be consumed that way.
 
Buyers beware, however, as Baijiu comes in many different varieties and grades, ranging from thousands of dollars a bottle to 4 dollars for a 5 Litre drum. Just like how vodka’s cheaper than water in Russia, some of the lower end brands are ridiculously cheap. However you get what you pay for, and I honestly cannot recommend the cheap brands in good faith, as they’re considered “fake wine” by locals (just a shitty alcohol mix, not a savory brew), so unless you’re really motivated to abuse your body and taste buds, I’d advise to stick to the more mainstream brands recommended by your Chinese peers or stores. For reference, a decent bottle would typically have a retail price of around 400+ RMB (60+USD), with more popular brands going past 800 RMB (120USD).
 
6.Chinese Law
This is probably the section that will attract the most memetic responses so I’ll keep it straight and simple – please be a responsible adult, as you would be when visiting ANY country. You’re here to attend an Esports event and have a good time watching some top-notch dota with the rest of the world. This enjoyment is similarly shared by everyone in the stadium regardless of race, country or culture. Everyone is here to celebrate something we all enjoy in equal measure, so please don’t let any political or cultural disagreements get in the way, because it doesn’t belong here.
That being said, there are certain laws that a visitor should keep in mind:
 
1. Drugs & Contraband
All narcotic substances are a BIG no-no here in China, and this includes marijuana. China has a zero-tolerance policy towards drugs, after a ugly period of being subjected to massive narco-terrorism campaigns by colonial powers, which inflicted grievous damage to the nation and resulted in deep social and cultural enmity towards substance abuse. Please do not attempt to bring any narcotics into the country, even if they are legal in your home country. If caught in possession of drugs, you will be arrested on the spot, with penalties ranging from 15 days imprisonment (smoking weed) to capital punishment (trafficking heroin). This is the one line you REALLY do not want to fuck around with while in China, so don’t do it.
 
2. Censorship of politically sensitive topics
I’ll first clarify one thing: It is NOT illegal to engage in discussions about certain politically sensitive topics in China, unlike what popular opinion on /worldnews claims. However, broadcasting it would put you at risk of getting in trouble with authorities (looking at you edgelords who wants to put dumb political discourse on camera at a Dota event), as it can be considered public disruption or even instigating public unrest, which may get you detained for a couple days while your embassy sorts you out.
If you are particularly concerned about this for some reason, the below links provides a pretty good picture of what you can expect when discussing sensitive topics in China:
Link 1 Link 2
 
If it is your first time in Shanghai, you may well find the local populace to be very different from your preconceived notions, especially for younger generations who are generally more connected and well-informed of international news. I recommend that you keep an open mind coming into this beautiful city, and enjoy some awesome dota with the local fans.
 
[Cont]Sightseeing/Nightlife/Safety/Police/Hospital
 
Due to hitting the 40,000 character cap on reddit, the remaining sections are posted in the link above. Please make sure to read them as well!
 
Again, if you have any questions, you can ask me in this thread or via PM, or through the Shanghai TI9 Discord where several locals are available constantly to answer any queries you have. You can also find more information through a quick google or youtube search, there are many resources that explains things you might encounter on a visit to Shanghai. One thing though, don’t ever use /China as a source of info, it’s a heavily biased (if not openly racist) cesspool.
 
To close things off, I hope this guide would be helpful to those of you visiting Shanghai, and it wasn't too much of a bore to read. This guide ended up being far lengthier than I predicted when I started it as a voluntary work, but it'd be worth it if it can help dota fans who are coming over from all around the world enjoy TI9 just a bit more. Shoutout to David from Newbee and everyone who has contributed suggestions to make this guide more complete. I look forward to seeing you all at TI9!

As promised, here is the first version of the ultimate guide to get to know this year's new queens. The final (and updated) one will be posted in /rupaulsdragrace after the cast announcement.
The links, in general, are arranged based on what I recommend more / what I think is more relevant appearing first. If you find anything wrong or out of place, let me know so I can correct it. If there's content (new or not) that is not included here and you think should be, comment below. Same goes for the text entries: if you know relevant information that's left out or stuff I wrote that's incorrect, let me know.
Take the opportunity to comment what are your favorite looks, which performances you recommend most, the most interesting interviews etc.
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A'KERIA CHANEL DAVENPORT

Texas pageant drag at its finest, A'keria – or The Ruler, as she frequently calls herself – serves incredibly tight lipsync, polished over-the-top drag looks and a lot of poise. Having Armani Nicole Davenport as her mother, she's linked to Kennedy and Sahara as their drag niece and specializes in slow, controlled R&B numbers. Some of her titles include Miss Black Universe and Miss International Vogue. She's made a drag career for herself in Dallas and has recently moved to Houston.
Looks: A selection, Instagram, Facebook photos
Performances: "Take Time" by Ledisi, "Air Mail Special" by Ella Fitzgerald, "How Can I Ease The Pain" by Lisa Fischer, Lil Kim number, "Crazy" number, Gospel number at Miss Black Universe, "Beggin & Pleadin" by Brandy, "Back & Forth" by Aaliyah, "Tired" by Kelly Price, "Be With You" by Beyoncé, "Window Seat" by Erykah Badu, Xscape mix, "We Can't Be Friends" by Deborah Cox, "Bodak Yellow" by Cardi B, "Love Under New Management" by Keke Wyatt
Personality/Interviews: Hanging out on Facebok Live, short video of her winning Miss Black Universe

ARIEL VERSACE

Self-proclaimed New Jersey's life sized Bratz doll, Ariel is known for huge fluffy hair, expertise in makeup and colorful outfits. She's a YouTube and Instagram sensation, with a variety of makeup tutorials and polished drag looks, describing herself as sexy, campy and energetic. Even though she comes from Cherry Hill, NJ, she is currently based in Philadelphia, where she's made a name for herself in the local drag scene. She makes her own hair and has a custom wig company called Drag by Chariel.
Looks: A selection, Instagram, Facebook photos, her wig company's Instagram and Facebook photos
Makeup Tutorials: Soft Pink Glam, Peachy F**king Queen, Starry Eyed, Bubble Gum Bitch and basically this entire YouTube channel
Performances: Princess Peach mix, "Salute" by Little Mix, "Havana" / "I'm a Slave 4 U", Telephone mix, "Lose My Breath" by Destiny's Child (snippet), Jester mix
Music: "Venomous"
Personality/Interviews: What's In My Mouth Challenge with Farrah Mascara, Transformation video with Laganja, Old video from Drag4Wars, Queerty article about her controversial 9/11 number, also check the "Makeup Tutorials" section above as she also shows her personality in those

BROOKE LYNN HYTES

Brooke is a real life ballerina who found her way to drag through dance, which she had been doing professionally for over ten years and in three different continents. Her talent and pursuit of perfection have earned her the title of Miss Continental on her second try, when she was still relatively new to the drag world. She's the first canadian queen on the show, having moved to Nashville to further her drag career. Even though she's most known for the delicate ballet numbers, she's able to pull off several different styles of performance.
Looks: A selection, Instagram, Facebook photos, Eyebrow blocking tutorial
Performances: Black Swan number at Miss Continental 2013, Disco mix, "Chandelier" by Sia, Britney mix at Miss Continental 2014 (she won), "Telephone" by Lady Gaga, "Elastic Heart" by Sia, "Frozen" by Madonna, "Feed Me Diamonds" by MNDR, "Ready For It?" by Taylor Swift, "Applause" by Lady Gaga, "Cold" by Annie Lennox at Miss Continental 2015, "Lean On" by Major Lazer
Personality/Interviews: At Shot With Soju with Jasmine Masters, on the Hey Human podcast, at Out & About Nashville, on DailyXtra magazine, on the Drew Rowsome blog

HONEY DAVENPORT

One of the big names in the NYC scene, Honey is a dedicated performer and has navigated through very different styles of drag in her career, starting off as more of a genderfuck performer (hence also being known as Sir Honey Davenport) and having won several pageants. She is a singer and has been part of an electro/pop/rock band in drag, also regularly singing in her talent presentations. She is the drag mother of Monét X Change and has Kennedy and Sahara as her drag aunts, having mentioned Sahara as her biggest inspiration.
Looks: A selection, Instagram, Facebook photos
Performances: "Revolution" by Diplo, "Easy Love" by Sigala, Sex mix, "Bodak Yellow" by Cardi B, "BURNITUP!" by Janet Jackson, "American Boy" by Estelle, Pray mix, "I Can't Wait" by Stevie Nicks, "Gypsy Woman" by Crystal Waters, "Whip It" by Nicki Minaj, "Let's Dance" by David Bowie
Music: Singing live "I'm Here" from The Color Purple, singing and dancing "History Repeating", "T.R.O.U.B.L.E" music video, "Indestructible" music video, rapping on "Body" by Jayse Vegas, singing "I Am What I Am", singing and dancing in an Ella Fitzgerald number, performing "Feel So Close" by Calvin Harris with her band, performing "Dangerous" live with her band, singing "Indestructible" live
Personality/Interviews: In-depth interview for Grizzly Kiki, Interview for Randy Rainbow, Reviewing Drag Race episodes at The Finish Line: S06E01, S07E01, S07E12, S08E01, S08E02, S08E03, S08E04, S08E05, S08E06, S08E07-08. Talking about her band, Interview at The Latex Ball

KAHANNA MONTRESE

This year's Vegas queen is a performer first and foremost, specializing in choreographed numbers of divas like Beyoncé and Janet Jackson, while also giving you glamour and fish face. She is Coco Montrese's daughter and started drag eight years ago because of a bet, having had experience as a professional dancer before that. Besides Coco, she's worked regularly with other past seasons' Vegas alumni like Shannel and India Ferrah.
Looks: A selection, Instagram, Facebook photos
Performances: Janet Jackson impersonation number, a bit of gymnastics, "Don't Cha" by The Pussycat Dolls, Beyoncé mix, "Rolling In The Deep (snippet), "Acapella" by Kelis, another Beyoncé mix, "Hot Sugar" by Tamar Braxton, "Problem" with Coco Montrese, "When I'm Dancing" by Soraya Vivian, "Can't Remember To Forget You" with Mariah Spanic, another Janet number
Personality/Interviews: Livestream getting ready

MERCEDES IMAN DIAMOND

Minneapolis' own Mercedes Iman Diamond is fun, charming and lighthearted, having african origins and being the show's first muslim queen. Her name is not for nothing, as she makes jewelry and likes to wear a lot of jewels herself. Despite her short stature, she can make an impact on stage with her moves. She's won local pageants like Miss Gay 90's and Miss City of the Lakes, having also been second alternate to Miss Minnesota Continental.
Looks: A selection, Instagram, Facebook photos
Performances: Indian performance, Talent at City of The Lakes Pageant 2017, "S&M" by Rihanna, Nicki Minaj mix, "Right Now" by Rihanna and David Guetta, "I Remember" by Keyshia Cole, another Nicki Minaj mix, Cardi B mix
Personality/Interviews: Hanging out with friends on Facebook Live (1, 2, 3), Livestreams doing her makeup (1, 2, 3, 4), also all these 26 other videos

NINA WEST

Fun, shamelessly campy and community oriented, Nina truly is a drag icon in the US. Having won Entertainer of the Year in 2008, she's known for her old school camp, her intricate musical numbers and organizing big drag productions in Columbus. A philantropist for at least 16 years, she has raised over $2 million to charity through her shows and the Nina West Fund. Her list of celebrity endorsements include Lady Gaga, Barbra Streisand, Adele and Sia, besides being somewhat of a local hero in Ohio, praised by the community and state representatives.
Looks: A selection, Instagram, Facebook photos, Dress reveal at Entertainer Of The Year 2008 (the one Sia copied and credited her for)
Performances: "Supercalafragilisticexpialidocious" from Mary Poppins, Amish Dance Medley, "Hyper-Ballad" / "Move Your Body" (Parachute Dress), "This Is Me" by Keala Settle, Canada number, "Single Ladies" by Beyoncé, "Scientology", Handmaid's Tale number, "Kill The Lights", "Cheap Thrills" by Sia, Mommie Dearest mix
Comedy: Nina West Pop Star?, Impersonating Paula Deen, "Take On Me" remake, "Laundromat of Love", Horror skit (acting), Angel Wings (acting), Shart-Nado Trailer, Nina West For President?, "Motherlover" remake, The Wrestler spoof (acting), The Bearded Clam (acting), Hesitation (perfume ad)
Music: Singing Usher's "O.M.G." with a twist, "I Kissed a Bear" ("I Kissed a Girl" parody), singing "Born This Way" (acoustic), "James Franco", "Dumber" ("Umbrella" parody), "Jeni's (Ice Cream Shop)", "Hitchcock" ("Peacock" parody), "Necromancer" ("Commander" parody), "Pizza Shop" ("Thrift Shop" parody)
Personality/Interviews: News report about her achievements, Hallmark Ornament Day, Interview for Michelle Visage, Banter in one of her shows, Interview for Dragaholic, The Man Behind the Queen with The Columbus Dispatch, Interviewing people at pageants (1, 2, 3, 4, 5), all the episodes of DragCast (her podcast)

PLASTIQUE TIARA

Soft, sexy and sophisticated, Plastique can give you the illusion of a lady like very few others, with her polished looks having gotten her a big following on social media. She is not just a look queen, being able to turn tricks on stage, including splits, dips and hair flips. She is 21 and the youngest queen this season, works as a hairstylist by day and makes her own wigs. Alyssa decided to adopt her after buying one of her wigs and seeing her perform, making Plastique officially part of the House of Edwards.
Looks: A selection, Instagram, Facebook photos
Performances: Drag Race mix, "Break Free" by Ariana Grande, "One Last Time" by Ariana Grande, "Let It Go" / "Hello Bitches", Feather fans number at Rose Room
Music: Singing "Ðâu Chi Riêng Em" by MY TÂM, Singing "Duyên Mình Lõ" by Huong Trâm
Personality/Interviews: Livestream answering fan questions, Interview for Soju at DragCon 2017, First livestream after filming S11, Livestream from March 2018

RA'JAH O'HARA

This Dallas queen can own a stage with controlled and precise dance moves and has been doing drag for at least eleven years. She is connected to Kelexis Davenport (and as a result the rest of the Davenport family) through her mother, Silkie O'Hara Munro, and A'keria refers to her as "big sis". She is a seamstress and does paintings, with her artwork being available for purchase on her social media. Ra'jah won several local and regional pageants, including Miss Texas FFI, a title that Kennedy, Asia and Alyssa have all won.
Looks: A selection, Instagram, Facebook photos
Performances: "Do It Well" by Jennifer Lopez, "When Love Hurts" by JoJo, "1 Thing" by Amerie, "Partition" by Beyoncé, "Chandelier" by Sia, "Sorry Not Sorry" by Demi Lovato, "Why Don't You Love Me" by Beyoncé, "Like This" by Brandy, "I Decided" by Solange, "Radio" by Beyoncé, "Videophone" by Beyoncé
Music: Singing "Diamonds" by Rihanna, singing Happy Birthday
Personality/Interviews: Hanging out with CoacHCouture (in 2010)

SCARLET ENVY

Self-titled the cheapest woman with the highest price tag, Scarlet looks like a glamorous old Hollywood actress, but without losing the irreverence that is characteristic of Brooklyn. Hailing from Kentucky, she moved to NYC to study in the Fashion Institute of Technology and drag made her stay, starting to work as a full time queen not long after graduating. She can do silly, tongue-in-cheek lipsyncs as well as more gracious numbers, while also frequently playing with androgyny.
Looks: A selection, Instagram, Facebook photos
Performances: "Young And Beautiful" by Lana Del Rey, Comedy lipsync sketch with Daphne Always, "A Piece of Sky" by Barbara Streisand, "Alive" by Sia, Mandy Moore / Cascada / Gwen Stefani number, "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)" by Sonny Bono, "Bring On The Men" from Jekyll & Hyde, "Sweet Dreams" / "Swish Swish", "For Good" from Wicked with Ruby Roo, "Manicure" by Lady Gaga (snippet), "We Can't Stop" by Postmodern Jukebox
Personality/Interviews: Talking about Princess Diana, Talking to Grizzly Kiki at Bushwig 2015, In-depth interview on Grizzly Kiki, At Straight Talk with other queens (she's the one with the Ariel top) (1, 2, 3, 4), Asking people questions on with Daphne Always, Acting as honest Hillary Clinton (the one in white)

SHUGA CAIN

Shuga is one of the main up-and-coming queens in the New York drag scene nowadays, taking the city by storm with her charm, sass and captivating performances – which often incorporate live singing. Self described as "just a latin boy in drag tryna make it in this world", she's originally from California and won Bob's club competition Miss Look Queen, like Aquaria and Dusty before her. Out of drag she is a triathlete and loves everything sweet, baking cakes professionally.
Looks: A selection, Instagram
Performances: Voodoo Witch performance, Gaga Superfan mix, Bellatrix Lestrange number at Look Queen, Nasty Woman mix, Janet Jackson mix, "Run The World" (group number), Mexican Alarm Clock number, Don't Touch My Hair mix, Dreamgirls number with Dusty Ray Bottoms (snippet), Opera number (snippet), "Blazin" by Torqux, Chola Snatched number, Celia Cruz tribute, "Wings" by Little Mix, "Lady Marmalade" as Lil Kim, Ariana Grande / Cupcakke number
Music: Singing Shangela's "Uptown Fish", Singing / lipsyncing as the substitute teacher, "Rumor Has It" / Benita Butrell number, Rap verse for "Read U Wrote U" (starting at 12min10sec)
Personality/Interviews: Livestream with Dusty Ray Bottoms, Hosting at a gig (starting at 2min50sec), Backstage interview for WERRRK, Drag Babies project with Bob, Peppermint and Chi Chi, Interview for the Broke-Ass Stuart blog

SILKY GANACHE

Fun and silly, Silky Nutmeg Ganache is at the same time your regular friendly church lady and a grade A entertainer, being one of the big girls that are known to dance and give energy on stage. She's well versed in pageants, having competed in over 100 of them and won titles like Miss Latina Continental Plus, Miss Unlimited Newcomer and Miss Gay Indiana University. With a powerful voice, she has a degree in music and can play the piano. She's originally from Mississipi, but now lives in Chicago.
Looks: A selection, Instagram, Facebook photos, Evening Gown at Miss Continental Plus 2018
Performances: "Last Dance" / "Can't Turn You Loose", Precious number, Talent at Miss Unlimited 2015, "Last Dance" / "Can't Turn You Loose" (baton version), "Disco Inferno" from Glee, "Schoolin Life" by Beyoncé
Music: Singing "Summertime" / "Over The Rainbow", Singing gospel music and chatting
Personality/Interviews: Fooling around at traffic, Talking about wearing nails, Facebook livestreams (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and many more), Talking at the Thots & Share podcast, Having fun with "Last Dance"

SOJU

Known in the drag world for her YouTube interviews with other queens, Soju is a Chicago girl who built her own platform by giving one to her peers. She likes to incorporate her korean origins to her drag, using her black belt taekwondo abilities and frequently performing K-Pop songs – to the point of creating a K-Pop drag party in her home town, which she has taken to other big cities in the US. With a characteristic way of drawing her lips, she can also serve polished looks and creative makeup.
Looks: A selection, Instagram, Facebook photos
Makeup Tutorials: Korean Drag Look, Anime Inspired Look, Green Halo Eye
Performances: "Fate" by Sohyang, Nunchaku K-pop number, "Taking Chances" by Céline Dion, Grimes medley, "It's All Coming Back To Me Now" by Céline Dion, Old School K-Pop Medley, "Fighter" by Christina Aguilera, Barbra Streisand medley, "Everytime We Touch" by Cascada, "Loved Me Back to Life" by Céline Dion, Performing as Lil Poundcake with Alaska
Music: "So Juicy" Music Video, "Together Alone"
Personality/Interviews: Interview at Hey Qween!, Look At Huh!, Talking about Shot With Soju, Livestream answering questions, "So Juicy" Music Video Behind The Scenes, DragCon LA 2018 Walkthrough and the entire rest of her YouTube channel

VANESSA VANJIE MATEO

This one needs no introduction. After originating arguably the biggest meme of the franchise, she traveled the country, became a fan favorite and is now one of RuPaul's most notable obsessions. She's been developing her style since Season 10 and, besides the outstanding charisma, has up her sleeve considerable experience as a trained dancer and a professional makeup artist from before getting on the show.
Looks: A selection, Instagram, Facebook photos, Makeup tutorial for VH1
Performances: Miss DragCon 2018 number, "I'm Beautiful" medley, "Call Me Mother" mix, Performing with Alexis Mateo, "Dirrty" by Christina Aguilera
Music: "I'm Vanjie"
Personality/Interviews: Whatcha Packin with Michelle Visage, Talking about her elimination, Queen To Queen with Kalorie Karbdashian Williams, Talking to Soju at DragCon, Interview for Mic, A livestream, Another one, In-depth interview for Grizzly Kiki, Interview for Bob and Monét and much much more

YVIE ODDLY

This queen likes to push the boundaries of drag and is known for outrageous looks – which can range from a pretty lady to terrifying alien creatures – and her signature loud cackle. Her flexibility, strength and long limbs make for entertaining and energetic performances, always willing to give the audience something they haven't seen before. Representing Denver, she's worked with Nina Flowers, who has actively tried to uplift Yvie in the local scene. She calls herself a cheap queen and constantly works with unconventional materials.
Looks: A selection, Instagram, Facebook photos
Performances: Mix for Ultimate Queen competition, Aerial Adele number, Drag Toons performance, Queen Cake performance at Drag Nation, Performing as RuPaul, "Needed Me" by Rihanna, "That Laughing Track", "Africa" by Toto, "Barbie Girl" by Aqua, Number at Denver Pride 2015, "I Am The Best" by 2NE1, "Amazing" by Hi Fashion, Rihanna mix, CL medley
Personality/Interviews: Talking about her drag, Another similar interview, Participating on Met on Weekend, Interview for W3 Live News, Interview for Westword, Article on Out Front Magazine, Article on The Denver Post (paid)

Housekeeping:

• I ran a survey last week on soft-paywalls, here are the results. I am going to continue linking to sources behind soft-paywalls if they broke the news.
• Guide to the new format: Roughly organized by subject. For those that want quick highlights, skip the bullet points. Feedback welcome!
• There’s a mailing list for notifications when this review is posted plus a link. To be added, send me PM with your email address. If you signed up already, check the spam folder just in case
• If you’d like to donate a dollar a month, I’d appreciate it: patreon. Reviews will continue regardless.

On to the review...

Week of March 25 - 31: What we Learned in the Russia Probe

Mueller investigation

In a new court filing in the sentencing of attorney, and son-in-law of a Russian oligarch, Alex van der Zwaan, Mueller revealed the most direct connection between Trump and the Russians that we know of so far.

• Van der Zwaan lied about his knowledge of direct communications between Rick Gates (cooperating with Mueller now) and a person identified as “Person A,” who is most likely Konstantin Kilimnik. Kilimnik was an aide to Gates and Manafort in Ukraine, and is allegedly a former Russian Intelligence Officer with GRU. Gates apparently described Kilimnik as such, according to van der Zwaan. Mueller further states in the documents that Gates and Kilimnik continued to converse in 2016, meaning Gates (and Manafort) had contact with someone they knew to be a Russian intelligence officer during the Trump campaign and/or transition.
• Remember, a GRU officer is also thought to be responsible for hacking the DNC, Guccifer 2.0.
• We know Manafort had been in contact with Kilimnik during the 2016 campaign. He met with “him at least twice and [asked] him to provide private briefings” about the election to Oleg Deripaska, a Russian oligarch with close ties to Putin.
• Here's a simplified web of connections between Trump and Putin that includes Kilimnik that might help you visualize the relationships.

The FBI has in their possession a second report written by Christopher Steele that alleges Putin has sanctioned killings of Russians on U.S. soil.

• RT founder and “Putin’s media czar” Mikhail Lesin’s body was found on Nov. 5, 2015 in his Washington, DC, hotel room. The official coroner's report “determined that he had died from blunt force injuries to the head and had also sustained blunt force injuries to his neck, torso, upper extremities, and lower extremities.” A federal investigator stated his death was an accident; Lesin died alone in his room due to a series of drunken falls “after days of excessive consumption of alcohol.”
• The next day, Lesin was scheduled to meet with US Justice Department officials to talk about the inner workings of Russian state media.
• Steele’s report states that Lesin was bludgeoned to death by enforcers working for an oligarch close to Putin. The were not supposed to kill him, but reportedly they went too far.
• Three other independent sources have confirmed Steele’s reports to the FBI.

There are two other suspicious Russian deaths on U.S. soil (plus over a dozen on U.K. soil) that I know of. I’m sure there are more. Here are the ones that occurred in the states:

• Sergei Krivov: Russian diplomat. Found just before 7 a.m. on Election Day 2016, lying dead on the floor of the Russian Consulate on the Upper East Side with head injury. Initial reports said he plunged from the roof of the consulate. Consular officials quickly changed their story, saying he’d suffered a heart attack in the security office, and died. The New York Medical Examiner concluded he died of internal bleeding due to a tumor.
• Vitaly Churkin: Russian ambassador to the UN. Died at work in New York in 2017, by what Russian officials called a heart attack. The Medical Examiner said further study was needed, but was silenced by the US State Department.

Mueller is probing Russia contacts at that occurred at the Republican National Convention in 2016.

• His team has specifically asked about an event attended by both Russia’s U.S. ambassador and Jeff Sessions and any discussions the two had at the Mayflower Hotel. They have also been asking about how and why “Republican Party platform language hostile to Russia was deleted from a section of the document related to Ukraine.”

In attempting to obtain cooperation from Rick Gates, Mueller has reportedly been pushing him for information on Trump’s contacts with Russia rather than information on Manafort.

• This indicates that (1) Trump remains a central target of the investigation, and (2) Mueller doesn’t need any help in putting Manafort away.

Infowars contributor & Trump campaign associate Ted Malloch was detained by the FBI as he arrived at the Boston airport from London. He was questioned about about Roger Stone and Julian Assange, and was subpoenaed to testify before Mueller's D.C. grand jury on April 13th.

• “Malloch said the federal agents who stopped him and separated him from his wife “seemed to know everything about me” and warned him that lying to the FBI was a felony.”

Kirill Dmitriev, the Russian financier Erik Prince met with in the Seychelles in January 2017, has closer ties to Putin than previously known.

• Six sources “say Dmitriev’s wife, Natalia Popova, is close friends with Putin’s younger daughter, Yekaterina Tikhonova, and also serves as the deputy director of her Innopraktika foundation.” This information renews concerns that the meeting was organized to set up a secret Kremlin backchannel with the Trump administration.

European counterintelligence officials have revealed that Papadopoulos had meetings with Greek Defense Minister Panos Kammenos, who is close to Putin, both before and after the election. They state that these meetings should concern the U.S.

• Kammenos has also been photographed at events with Reince Priebus and Steve Bannon. A month before Bannon met with Kammenos, Papadopoulos sent an email to Bannon and Flynn describing his contacts with the Greek Defense Minister.
• Allowing Papadopoulos to meet with Kammenos, “At a minimum, they said, it showed the Trump campaign was naive in allowing a representative to meet with him.” A European counterintelligence official stated: “Either they knew officials were meeting with a [Ministry of Defense] in Athens that has a big black mark next to it due to Russian infiltration, or they didn’t know what meetings were being taken.”

George Nader, a political adviser to the UAE and now a cooperating witness, paid Trump fundraiser and former RNC chairman Elliott Broidy $2.5 million last April. Broidy then made large donations to U.S. lawmakers considering legislation targeting Qatar, UAE’s rival.

• Sources say this was an effort to persuade the U.S. to take a hard line against Qatar. It seems at least some of the donations paid off, as a month later GOP Rep. Ed Royce introduced legislation that would brand Qatar as a terrorist-supporting state.
• The blockade of Qatar began in June of 2017, 3 months after Broidy received the payments.
• “In October, Broidy also raised the issue of Qatar at the White House in meetings with Trump and senior aides.”

John Dowd, Trump’s former lawyer, reportedly spoke to Flynn and Manafort about Trump pardoning them for their crimes.

• This could have been an attempt to influence their decision on whether to cooperate or not at a time when Mueller was offering leniency in exchange for information, suggesting that Trump and his lawyers were concerned about what the two men might reveal. Dowd has denied these discussions took place.

Manafort is reportedly betting on receiving a presidential pardon, not planning on cooperating with Mueller.
The jet of Oleg Deripaska, a Russian oligarch and Putin ally, arrived in the US (in New Jersey) within hours of a meeting between Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and the former Russian military intelligence officer Konstantin Kilimnik. This occurred just weeks after Manafort offered "private briefings" about the Trump campaign to Deripaska.

Russian interference

CNN’s Jim Acosta reported on Twitter that NSC spokesman Michael Anton confirmed the administration has still not enforced any sanctions against Russian oligarchs, contradicting Raj Shah’s statement at Monday’s press briefing. There is already criticism that the announced sanctions do not touch Putin’s oligarchs or government officials.
In response to the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and daughter in the U.K., the Trump administration has expelled 60 Russian diplomats/spies and ordered a Seattle Russian diplomatic compound to close. However, the State Department has confirmed original reporting by Julia Davis that the expelled diplomats/spies can be replaced by others, in a loophole that greatly reduces the impact of Trump’s actions.

• Yulia Skripal, who was poisoned with a nerve agent along with her father), is now conscious and talking.

A former Russian double agent has reported that he found out he was on a Kremlin hit list with Skripal, just weeks before Skripal was poisoned. Also on the list were several other ex-KGB agents, Bill Browder, and Christopher Steele.
After months of trying to convince Trump to sign off on a plan to supply new U.S. weapons to Ukraine, National Security advisers finally got him to approve the plan. However, Trump told his aides not to publicly tout his decision because he didn’t want to anger Putin.
The $380 million included in the omnibus spending bill for election security is likely not going to end up fixing key election security issues in all states.

• The reason: the money is “going to be allocated based on the same population-based formula laid out in the 2002 Help America Vote Act.” This means that only 2 of the 13 states that use machines that lack an auditable paper trail (Arkansas and Delaware) could receive enough money to fully replace them. Most states won’t get more than 60% of the money required to to fully replace paperless systems.

Congress

Mark Zuckerberg has decided that he will testify before Congress, but is sending representatives to testify before the U.K. Parliament. He is going to be asked questions about Facebook’s relationship with Cambridge Analytica, a company that harvested the data of 50 million users without their knowledge.
House Dems have called for the FBI to investigate claims that Kushner leaked classified information to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman. Reportedly, the prince has said that Kushner revealed Saudi leaders who were disloyal to him, resulting in their arrest and perhaps torture.

Other

In 2015, the FBI looked into Trump plans in 2010 to build a hotel in Latvia with Putin supporter Igor Krutoy. The plans were abandoned after Krutoy and an associate were questioned by Latvian authorities as part of a major criminal inquiry there. The Guardian states that, “ Latvian investigators also examined secret recordings in which Trump was mentioned by a suspect.”

• Krutoy attended the 2013 Moscow Miss Universe pageant and has written music for Emin Agalarov, whose father hosted the contest. The Agalarovs were involved in setting up the 2016 Trump Tower meeting.

Kushner has called newly-named National Security Adviser John Bolton on numerous occasions for advice and to brief him on key national security issues.
To note…
Ecuador has cut off Julian Assange’s internet connection at the embassy in London, “after his recent activity on social media decrying the arrest of a Catalan separatist politician.”
Stormy Daniels’ 60 Minutes interview aired last Sunday. The new piece of information we learned is that Stormy and her daughter were threatened about Trump in a parking lot in 2011.

• Trump’s employees have a habit of threatening people who cross him. A lawyer representing investors in Trump's casino after it went bankrupt in 2009 got a phone call saying “we’re going to your house for your wife and kids” if he didn’t stop “fucking with Mr. Trump.” The lawyer speculated the man on the other end of the phone was Trump’s bodyguard (not clear if this would have been Keith Schiller, but the man identified himself as “Carmine”...other people have suggested it was Trump himself). The FBI investigated and found that the call came from a pay phone across the street from the theater David Letterman films in, where Trump was appearing only 2 hours later.

Trump has lost arbitration to win back control of the former Trump International Tower & Hotel in Panama. The owners of the hotel evicted the Trump Organization earlier this month over allegations of "horrific" mismanagement.
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