Nepal. Make local friends there before you go. Consider something like a home stay like himanshu homestay. I have friends i met through them AND some friends from ilam and I have spent time with them, talk to them weekly now. A place where kids can wander their local town with no risk of harm, a place where you can walk around at night in most places outside of kathmandu and even in some areas of kathmandu.

Nepalese are very spiritual, and Nepal is probably for me one of the ultimate destinations that will thrash the pants off of any mainstream tourist destination, especially when you have made local friends.

Very third world, but has a soul.