"After spending a weekend in Singapore and Indonesia, I left Bangkok to explore one of the architectural wonders of the world tucked away in the jungle of the kingdom of Cambodia. My destination was Angkor Wat, the ancient temples built in the 12th century.

This was one of the most amazing experiences I had while studying abroad. Everything about Cambodia was mind-blowing.

My arrival at Siem Reap, a border town of Angkor Wat, was overwhelming. It was an impoverished town, dusty and covered in trash where children ran after me begging for water, food, and the almighty American dollar. Upon arrival, I was taken to a guest house which, to my surprise, had modern amenities like clear running water and a fan. After my roughly 13-hour bus trip from Thailand to Cambodia I crashed for the night.

When I awoke the next morning, I began my exploration of Angkor Wat. What a picturesque and moving place. The sheer size of Angkor Wat was breathtaking. Angkor Wat is basically a long series of enormous temples. It was overwhelming to behold. As I trekked in and out of these gorgeous ruins, I observed sculptures, ornate carvings and huge trees that had grown into the temples and twisted around the stones.

Angkor Wat is truly so unique that I was utterly astonished over the mood that lingered in my mind. I had been exposed to something that seemed to have been super-humanly created. The temples seemed to reveal that the Khmer civilization had a concept of living that was dedicated to a much more outer worldly awareness – an awareness that could not be fully grasped from textbooks, postcards, pictures, or films.