22 February 2003
There are few signs in the national park, and those that do exist are only in Khmer so it is not easy to get around unless you speak Khmer and are able to ask many times where you are and where different sites are. The center of traffic in the park is this vendor area, a sort of crossroads.
As we tried to find out directions to various sites within the park, we bought some snacks from this woman: rice, jackfruit, and coconut wrapped in a banana leaf and roasted on the little grill to her left. The large green objects on the platform are jackfruit.
The vendor area is located near Waterfall #1, and many park patrons buy food from the vendor stalls and take it to these small shelters spaced along the stream that creates Waterfall #1. Most American picnickers would consider the surrounding shelters too close for comfort, but for Asians who tend to favor community and rarely experience being alone, having another group immediately on either side is no problem at all.
Various friends had spoken in glowing terms of the three waterfalls of Kirirom park. We went only to Waterfall #1 (not a very captivating name!) but it was lacking something--water. In the present dry season, the water flow was only a trickle. The whole setting of the stream and fall (actually more of a rapids here) made us want to return in the rainy season, though.
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