Strangler vines

filming in the jungle of kbal spean

Today we went to the River of a thousand lingam in Kbal Spean, within the Angkor area of temples, but remotely located. As this area was used by Khmer Rouge soldiers for staging attacks, the whole area is mined with land mines. But the clear water stream was beautiful and inspiring with many views.

huge strangler vines abound

The trees were dominated by a weird assortment of powerful strangler vines that created a mad tangle of roots that grew down out of the trees and branches that snaked along the ground. I see these complicated vines as a metaphor for Cambodian history, a byzantine labyrinth of tangled connections impossible to unwind.

You can clearly see the struggle of trees and vines in this dense forest. This also reminds me of a verse from Bhagavad-gita that explains that The entanglement of this material world is compared here to a banyan tree. For one who is engaged in fruitive activities, there is no end to the banyan tree. He wanders from one branch to another, to another, to another. The tree of this material world has no end, and for one who is attached to this tree, there is no possibility of liberation.