As a friend of Bao Bai, I must confess that he secretly kept in touch with me for all these months, although he never disclosed his exact whereabouts. After he disappeared from the Orient last year, I received an email from him in March reassuring me that he was safe and sound and having a good time at an Olympian festival in Greece. About a month later, I heard from him again. His typing was a bit sloppy and if I didn't know him better, I'd swear he'd been drinking. He said he was on some sort of "beverage tour", tasting (and seeing) things I would never believe! The whole summer went by with no more emails from him and just when I was starting to really worry, he contacted me again, this time raving incoherently about attending a festival where he got lost in a maze with some rather nasty warriors, a wild animal who nearly ripped him to shreds, and some strange fairy-queens came out of a hill at the end. No wonder I wasn't surprised when the next email arrived and described a feast in The Underworld! Well, at least Bao Bai was keeping in touch, even if his messages often sounded crazy. I feared he might have decided to stay in the Underworld, especially if the feast involved bamboo, but during the holiday season Bao Bai turned up in my email box again. All his message said was "Io! Io!" Soon after that, however, I got a more coherent note that wished me a God Jul. Hmm! At last I recognized a pattern here.

I hiked up the hill where Bao Bai was last seen in the Orient. There was a strange clicking sound coming from his den. It was dark in there except for an eerie pale light. Bravely I went in. The clicking sound grew louder.

"Bao Bai, are you home?" I called out to him. Way at the back of his den, a dim light shone out to reveal this amazing sight. Bao Bai had never left the comfort of his bamboo-sheltered home! There he sat in front of a computer. On the screen was the familiar black and gold of Ancient Worlds!

Bao Bai had become a mouse-potato!! He had traveled around the world via a cheap laptop. After I recovered from the shock, I hugged him anyway because I was glad he was safe. Then I sat down beside him and we enjoyed the rest of the Orient's Lunar Festival 2007.

P.S. When it is over, I am taking him straight to a panda-psychologist for treatment of his internet and AW addiction!