Asia and central/south America are a total different ballgame.
In costa rica the banks were guarded by men in body armor and fully automatic weapons.
If you walked the wrong backstreet at night you will get robbed or kidnapped,
And I believe I narrowly avoid being robbed one night in Costa Rica.
Here in SE Asia the passive attitude of their religion combined with a strong family network makes it a hundred times safer here than many places in the world.
In costa every house and hostel are surrounded by spiked fences and barbed wire.
Here when they close an outdoor bar or shop, they don't even lock anything up (in the small rural places of course)
They put a sheet or tarp over the goods and leave for the night.
You could steal anything here but noone does because the social standard is pretty high.
If you were caught stealing from people you knew all your life, you could never live down the shame here.
Honor and community respect are such strong values here because life is still based on the ability of a community to work together to survive.
It's a primitive lifestyle but the way people treat each other in this environment has been a huge eye opener for me...