Good call on the corruption. It was one of those issues that came up but didn't survive the cull between draft to final article. I feel corruption's a big enough topic to warrant its own series of articles. Having lived most of my life in Southeast Asia, though, I feel petty corruption - things like bribing a cop or paying a dodgy visa agent - is something avoidable, at the cost of some inconvenience. From my experience, no matter how dirty the cop is, they have their performance targets as well - and if they feel they can't get through to you in asking for a bribe, they're likely to just issue you the ticket or wave you on out of frustration.

Grand corruption - as in politicians embezzling billions of dollars of taxpayer money - is an entirely different story.

I'm curious about your dismissal of medical care in Southeast Asia, though. As I understand it, it can be decent - depending on where you are - but is, of course, hit and miss. But you could say the same elsewhere in the world.