Having worked in the FCO, I can imagine 
Things hopefully have changed since.
A lawyer friend of mine was attached to Malawi many years ago on behalf of the British FO and he had some very interesting tales to tell of his time there.
He was a private pilot and regularly hired a high wing Cessna 172 to get about (great for landing/take off in the bush) and often found bullet holes in the wings when returning the plane to the hiring facility 
The three of us consultants of Afghan Media Resource Centre - 2 x USA 1 x UK - wore shalwar kamise in Peshawar. It was a heatwave summer - temps of 40C+ for 7 months, dropping to 37C-40C with horrendous humidity for my final 2 months.
Trying to make life as cool as possible I took a pair of scissors to the sleeves and hacked them back to short-sleeve. My Afghan pals were horrified. Even as a male, to show that much arm was ānot doneā.
In Port of Spain Trinidad - āCome for Christmas. Stay as long as you likeā ā¦ 
hmmmm ā¦ the āChristmas Breezesā and dry season failed to come on. It was a monstrously sweaty 30C every day. I took to wearing a sarong.
My āhostessā had words. "The cleaner keeps on at me about āyo frenā wearinā a skirt nahā. I refused to wear trousers or even shorts chez nous on the basis that several hundreds of millions of men wore sarongs or something similar, east of Suez.
On the other, chillier, hand, a photographer I worked for told me of a shoot he did in Alaska. Being a Brooklyn guy with an adversion to āoutdoorsā he had no Alaska-rated clothing. He bought some, including an expensive fur-lined parka.
When he submitted his account the bean counters in the agency objected to paying for this coat. He asked for his paperwork back to amend it. In place of the coat he put āTo rental of alligatorā. They couldnāt object to the expense of a prop, even if it never featured in any of the final picture selection.