[kimchi]

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OP,

It sounds like the general consensus here is that running a legit business over there could be a lot different than here. Maybe its not even possible. Forget about strip clubs for a bit, and try to meet any white man running any kind of business over there. That would be a good place to start.

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I met a Canadian girl working in a cafe she owned near the river in PP (I think it was above the foreign correspondent's club, which was closed and being refurbished the last time I was there). She hadn't long been in business but had to pay 'taxes' to the police. These taxes were just an accepted part of doing business over there and were very normal. I imagine those taxes helped prevent her business suffering from fire, theft, and the like. Her cafe was prohibitively expensive to locals (and to me since I was traveling on a shoestring at the time) but she paid her staff and treated then well. She was also a very likeable person and someone who you couldn't have a grudge or a problem with. She often dined with influential people (important connections) such as embassy staff and always gave the police (and their lady friend(s)) free food and drinks whenever they swung by.

Your behaviour and friends/contacts go further than the legitimacy of what you do in many Asian countries. It doesn't matter so much if you're a professional lolly-pop robber or you give all your profits to land-mine victims. Who you know and how you behave is so important in Asia - and I imagine even more so in impoverished and/or corrupt states.