1 Day Salavan Town Biking Tour

Remnants of Salavan Town’s war-torn past can be seen on a short biking tour, including the UXO Lao Office, which houses scores of defused unexploded ordinances (UXOs). Tourists can also inspect the skeletons of two bombed temples and admire a stupa built with small rocks to honour a local national hero.

Start the day at sunrise to see all the action at the Salavan Market, the province’s commercial hub, where locals purchase manufactured products, clothes, and textiles from Laos, China, Thailand, and Vietnam, as well as locally grown vegetables.

Then, step past a 2-metre-tall, 3,000-pound bomb at the entrance to the UXO Lao’s Office, and inspect the explosive display inside. A case holds a collection of clumsy-looking land mines, miniature rockets, and homemade devices made of jars and cans with origami birds as fuses. Inside the “Big Bomb Meeting Room”, posters show bombies, how they were deployed, and the actual explosions.

Next, visit Vat Simongkhoun on the Xe Don River. Built over 200-years ago, bombers hit the original in 1972. Its remnants and stupa can still be seen in the town’s northeast, though vines and shrubs try to hide it. The temple’s riverbank sala stores longboats used during the annual boat racing festival.

Close by, Ong Keo Stone Stupa commemorates one of Laos’ first revolutionaries to fight against French colonialists. To honour Ong Keo, villagers constructed a short, square stone wall, but lacking cement, they simply began placing rocks inside. The pile turned into a pyramid, and locals return every year to place more stones on the stupa for making merit and showing respect.

While cycling around, you’ll find a temple’s skeleton under a tree in a field. Upon closer inspection, you’ll see holes blasted in the walls by bullets and larger ordinance.

A new Handicraft Centre sits near the Phongsavanh Bank and sells a variety of products including woven fabrics, sins (traditional Lao skirts), shoulder bags, baskets, and bamboo and rattan goods.

For those seeking a longer adventure, cycle across the Xe Don River in the town’s northeast, and continue some 16 km along rough dirt paths to Nong Boua (Crocodile Lake). Known for its spirits and crocodile ghosts, the lake is home to three known crocodiles and other wildlife including several bird species.