Roots live underground, plants above. Right! And the Why of it is also familiar: roots feed/nourish the plant in growing trunk, branches, leaves, seeds, roots ... the cyclical process. Right. The wheel of life, so to speak. Familiar to me too, until a visit to Cambodia, to a religious site, called Angkor Wat in Siem Riep. That magical place topsy turvyed my head.

A temple complex from the 12th Century that stretches many kilometers into a tropical jungle. Once proud testament to the high level of civilization expressed in the building of religious edifices. Forgotten until the 19th Century when French colonialists stumbled upon the rubble - human made structures devoured by the jungle over many centuries. The region had for some reason been abandoned.

My touristy eyes in 2023 fixed in awe upon the power of these monstrous roots, sometimes the size of elephant trunks and larger, as they languish over roofs of temples, thrust holes in walls, crawl savagely through openings that could once have been doors. Structures of rocks shaped to particular sizes and carefully fitted onto each other by human hands. These buildings at the mercy of nature. Nature feeding itself by destroying man's intrusion into their space.

The still ongoing international restoration project at Ta Prohm Temple complex not only created a thriving tourism. The lives and living conditions of locals were and are still negatively affected.

Uncovering the past does not happen without self-sacrifice from the local communities. Easier discussed by the world who wants to see and learn, than living the experience by those who need to find alternative living space. Progress another form of strangling?