I never think of Thailand and spiritual journey in the same vein.
More like Thailand and child trafficking.
Welp, ... now you know... LOL
There's just lots more to deal with here, life is hard for most people living on $10 a day, people are sick, dying, struggling... hence it makes you think about life, your way of life, your future, etc, much more...
NZ is easy and pretty safe so you don't ponder 'life' as much IMO.