I’ve been writing about Central and Eastern Europe a little bit recently for Taipan Insider, and I decided to take a trip down memory lane.

As you know, on my trips, I take a lot of pictures. Sometimes it’s hard to share them all with you, so we’ve created a Flickr account to post them all… Well, most of them, anyway. I’ve still got some photos from my trip to Vietnam and Singapore, and from Spain and Morocco to post, but you can find my Eastern Europe trip and my South America trip already posted.

I’ll also be taking the video camera and digital camera to South Africa, which is my next trip early next month. Like trip South America trip I’ll be compiling an in-depth investment video for you, but don’t forget to check out any photos on the Flickr site.

And feel free to send along any comments or questions! Use the form on the blog, or email me at insider@taipanpublishinggroup.com.

I had lunch with the Taipan Publishing Group’s executive publisher, Sandy Franks, today. I collaborate with Sandy on my Taipan Insider articles that come out every Tuesday and Thursday.

We talked about my next trip… I’d been considering Australia, and contributing editor Archie Bayvel has offered to help me put together some great contacts, but he said I’d have to be nuts to come visit during “The Wet.” So I’ve pushed that trip back.

In the meantime, South Africa is on my radar.

In the past few days, I’ve seen a number of negative articles about Africa:

• Botswana Diamond Firm Shuts Mines
• South Africa Sees Economy Shrink
• Zambian Miners Hit by Copper Slump
• Wilting Flower Ecports Hit Zambia
• Economic Ill Winds Hitting Africa

So my goal will be to find out how South Africa, the economic hub and biggest market south of the Sahara, is fairing. South Africa is supposed to be hosting the World Cup in 2010. That means a lot of hotel construction and infrastructure investments. I have to say, there’s been a lot of discussion about whether or not the country will be ready in time, but tickets have already gone on sale, and there’s no turning back.

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The World Cup scheduled for 2010 in South Africa is showing deep cracks in the country’s economy — positioning investors to reap gains of 129%.

FIFA and UEFA (that’s Fédération Internationale de Football Association and Union of European Football Associations to non-football folks) are becoming increasingly vocal about South Africa economic woes.

You see, South Africa’s having a bunch of problems this year, and some authorities are saying the problems aren’t going away anytime soon. Here’s what I mean…

– GDP growth came in a 2.1% (compared to expected growth of 4%) in Q1 2008.
– Inflation hit a five-year high of 10.1% year-on-year in April (interest rates were raised to 11.5%).
– Unemployment is incredibly high (at between 20% and 40% - that’s official vs. unofficial numbers).

But for the soccer organizations perhaps the worst drawback is South Africa’s undependable electricity supply.

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