Always allow more time for recruitment, transcription and analysis than you would in other countries. The multitude of different accents and the use of different local slang makes transcription a specialized and longer job than in places where focus group participants come form similar backgrounds. To a lesser, but still very significant extent, the same occurs with females in a group of males. Especially in places like Thailand and India, always keep your sexes segregated. And in all your countries, break up groups by age and social class as much as possible.
Laughter is always the best medicine in places like Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia.
Seating arrangements need not be such an issue if you have divided up your groups as above. But in cases where you cannot divide up according to sex or age, be aware of the advantages in carefully considered seating arrangements. The Western-style focus group invariably involves sitting in a circular arrangement without a table in front. The Asian style invariably provides desks or tables for participants. Part of this is due to culture.