How to Visit Kirrirom

I tried to only take happy photos

My partner often schedules team-building activity days. Last year we went to Odong Mountain (where I saw the body of a mummified monk...long story). This year Kirrirom was chosen. As it so happened, Kirrirom was also on my "must see before leaving list." Kirrirom means "Happy Mountain" which might be the reason I was instantly attached to the idea of visiting.

There are several national parks in Cambodia. My colleagues cannot seem to name that many, which might be an indication of other issues. Kirrirom seems to be the most popular. It's about two hours south towards the beach. In the Cardamom Mountains means that there are something akin to hills which served as hideouts during the Khmer Rouge.

We went on the worst day possible. It was rainy and drizzly and I was cold and grumpy (anything below 80F makes me cold and grumpy). My first impression was absolute awe at seeing pine trees. My second impression was that the location was littered with rubbish.

We drove directly to a waterfall picnic area. Picnic areas in Cambodia are very different from what I wish they were. They are little sheds with more little sheds close by where people live and prepare food for these picnics. It's more like a restaurant. The waterfall had been renovated with surrounding bungalows where you could pay to use the space and have food prepared. These people are trying to make a living so I'm empathetic. Viable traces of so many people living in this area is highly noticeable, particularly because trash collection services do not extend to national parks and because they cut down park trees to build all the local structures. Many of the park dwellers pick the wildflowers to make wreathes which are sold to visitors (including my colleagues).

We sat in these bungalows while it drizzled. We paid the park residence to prepare a lunch for us. We played some team building activities. Later I went on a walk (accompanied, because colleagues are always concerned with my safety). I admired the trees and found myself increasingly angry by the rubbish sprawled everywhere and the clearly missing trees. Thankfully, my walking companion colleague shared my angst.

The experience of this park would not have been nearly so memorable if I hadn't been reading Collapse by Jared Diamond at the same time. This 525+ page treatise explores why societies choose to fail or succeed; Easter Island, Rwanda, Greenland, Iceland, among others (the Angkor Kingdom included!). The common denominator for all these societies was ecological mismanagement. Easter Island completely deforested the island. Greenland wouldn't switch to a local meat source. Iceland destroyed the ecosystem via sheep farming. Rwanda mismanaged their farmland. The resounding message is this: You run the risk of destruction if you don't protect your natural resources.

Reading about Iceland while looking at the heaps and heaps of rubbish inside a national park was upsetting. Is this where Cambodia is headed? They lost their Angkoran superpower status to deforestation and bad water management. Even today, Cambodia struggles with conservation. Current hot issues are mostly resource-based; evictions, rapidly expanding agribusiness, air and water pollution, and factory runoff. It's painful to see, and painful to think of the long-term consequences. When people are living on the edge, the slightest shift can push them even further.

So, an excellent day in my Cambodia adventures. An unexpectedly educational day. It wasn't completely a "happy mountain" but there is ever so much potential. The goal was the build a stronger team. Well, I slightly ruined that slouched behind a massive book.