Okay... Now that I'm officially back in Baltimore - home from my two-week whirlwind of a tour that took me through five different countries and economies - I feel like I can be honest with you.
I don't think all this growth is a good idea. I mean, when you're in an emerging market, you expect certain things, like second-class toilets and cash-only bars. You don't expect evil technology to throw you under a bus, or down an escalator, as was in my case.
I was minding my own business, making my way through what appeared to be a run-down train station from the late 1970's. By the way, switching trains enroute to your destination is about a common as crossing the road here in the States.
Anyway, I'm with a group of tourists headed from the lower platform to the arrivals area where I'll find out where my next train is leaving from. Everything was running smoothly. There are two escalators headed to arrivals: one is moving up and the other is stationary. I think it's broken.
So while a group of folks step on the up escalator, I decide to get a hike in and head up the stationary side.
Big mistake, and I've got the bruises to prove it.
I wasn't alone in my decision... Two fellows climed ahead of me. I had made it to the middle of the "steps" when the first guy gets to the top and triggers a sensor. Yes, this escalator was one of those new-fangled modern, energy efficient killers that starts working once someone crosses the fancy light sensor at the top.
Of course, this side of the escalator is headed in the opposite direction I am.
A battle ensues between little ol' me, with my massive pack on my back, and the evil escalator. A mere three steps from the top, my legs are burning, and I'm stretching forward to reach the top.
Unfortunately, my heavy bag shifts forward, and I stumble onto my hands and knees like a drunk trying to hail a cab.
Not pretty.
And to top it all off, I'm so friggin' tired, I can't get back up! I end up riding the escalator all the way down to get on the right side, which I should have just done in the first place.
You get my point, don't you? Emerging markets shouldn't just plop some new technology into old surroundings. They should warn you, or something. I much prefer the low expectations of places like, say, underground bars with unusual names.
Take the Alligator, for example.
A small bar in Bratislava, Slovakia - which I hit up because I needed to relax after my epic battle with the evil escalator - looks unassuming... At first, anyway.
The door from the street opens to this tunnel down to a cellar. (As an aside, in Eastern Europe, if the bar is underground, you know it's a good bar.) In the smokey haze, the bartenders are serving big draft beers and hard liquor with classic heavy metal and hard rock playing in the background.
Well, background is the wrong term... You can't hear yourself think in the Alligator.
In other words, it's the perfect bar.
At midnight, the show really starts, though. I'm out on the dance floor, rockin' out to Queen's "We Will Rock You" with a local brew in my hand, when suddenly all the lights go out. It's pitch black in this smokey, windowless cellar, and a hush comes over the two-hundred-odd folks crowded into the Alligator.
The silence lasts only a minute before a driving beat comes through the speakers.
A German metal band starts growling lyrics, and in the midst of this heavy dark cellar, the bartenders light the bar on fire.
A finger-licking guitar solo flares as the lines of lighter fluid burst into a wall of flame. I feel like I'm in Pandora's Box, sweating in the press of people as they throw up devil horns and bang their heads to the gutteral refrain, "Du hast mich!"
Never would you find a place like this in the States...
But with new technology creeping into these fresh markets, will places like the Alligator "go up in flames?"
I sure hope not, but change is coming. All around Krakow, new tram lines were being put in. In Budapest, major construction and renovation was upgrading one of the most touristy thermal baths in the city. The tiny town of Tatranska Lomnica is getting a brand new ski resort, and every little hotel I stayed at on this trip had a WiFi network.
It's really crazy how quickly technology and modernity spread.
And evil or not, it's helping these emerging markets leap frog into the investment hot seat.
I'm preparing a full special report on the five countries I visited on this trip for Taipan Trader subscribers. Investment opportunities are everywhere, but I've chosen the best-performing sectors and you might just be surprised at what I pick.
