This is the day we have been looking forward to… 'The Top Gear Experience'. Our next stop was Hoi An, instead of getting the bus we hired the motorbikes again, you drive down about 140km of the same route as Jeremy Clarkson and co on the 'Top Gear Vietnam Special'. It was so cheap, 500000 Dong, which is £14.44, but then we did have to pay for fuel which set us back another 3 quid… killer!! They also deliver our big ruck sacks to the next city on a bus so we just take essentials and valuables in our small bags.

We wanted to make a whole day of it so we got up at half 6 to get our free breakfast, then got to the rental place by half 7. There's no faffing around we just sign a contract, give them our bags and that's it we get on the bikes! We followed one of the men that worked for the rental company to the petrol station where we filled up then he points us in the right direction and that's it were off!

There are four places to stop along the way, a lagoon, Lang Co fishing village, the Hai Van Pass and Danang Beach! The first stop we were told was about 30km and its easy to find, we had a very basic map and a very notes written down, but we were going and going and couldn't find this lagoon for love nor money! The road signs are also very vague, we saw signs for something called Laguna so we followed them but that just took us to a golf hotel complex, very nice but not what we were looking for! We asked the security guard there where we were on the map, after a lot of trying to work out what each other meant we worked out we were way past the lagoon. And quite close to the next stop, so we thought we can't be bothered to drive all the way back to where it is and still maybe not find it!

So next we started looking for the fishing village. On the way we spotted an all weather football pitch, we brought a ball as we knew we were going to the beach later so thought we would try our luck and go in the cage for a little kick about. There were a few locals there that ran the pitch, they gave us a ball and were more than happy to let us play! Bit of 'Heads n Volls' was the game, Ben lost so it was a free shot each to hit him on the arse, all three of us missed though! It was really hot yesterday so we were drenched in sweat, we had already said we would buy a bottle of water each off the people for letting us play, you'd be amazed how happy it makes the locals just buying a 25p bottle of water from them. So after a bit of crossbar challenge we brought some water, downed it, and set off again.

The fishing village wasn't much further. It was beautiful, a mass of shallow water where you can see the sand about a foot below the surface for miles. There are hundreds of gondola type boats with a couple of people on each one with the cone hats on all sorting out their nets and stuff. They fish for cockles and oysters with a weird technique of putting hundreds of cycle tyres in the water, then they all stick to them.

We were getting really hungry by now so we started looking for somewhere half decent for something to eat. Before we knew it though we were at the Hai Van Pass, this is a mountain with roads that twist right round to the top of the mountain and back down the other side. It was such a good ride, we now all understand what they mean on 'Top Gear' now when they say that is a great bit of road. There were smooth bits, bumpy bits, long straights, hair pin turns and best of all the most amazing views we have ever seen! We must have stopped about 20 times just to get off and take photos! The best view was right at the top where there is a big rock you can get on top and see a beautiful bay. We could have sat there all day.

There were a few local women there trying to sell us stuff from their little tray of goodies, Tim brought a bracelet for 30000 Dong after a bit of haggling, he gave her a 50000 note but she tucked it up her sleave and pulled out a 10000 note, she was no David Blaine with her slieght of hand put it that way. She tried to claim that Tim had only given her 10000 but he was having none of it. He let her keep the 50000, the original price she said and off we rode again. There were just as many views on the way down the other side, we may have been a bit trigger happy with the old camera today.

Now starving, especially Ben, who seems to just want to eat all the time for some reason, we were set on finding something to eat. We were cruising down a nice bit of road when Lloyd pulled to the left to over take another bike and my back wheel felt a bit weird, I went in front of ben and said does anything look wrong with my back wheel, and he said 'I think it's a bit flat'. We all pulled over and yeah, great, a puncture, that's just what we needed! Lloyds bad luck with bikes continues! We were on quite a quiet road and had gone off the main road so there was no one about, so we slowly made our way back to the main road to see if we could find a garage or just someone that could maybe fix it! I think quietly we were all thinking to ourselves, there is no chance were gonna get this fixed! Luckily we were wrong, the first person we asked pointed us just down the road about three shops/houses down and there was a tiny bike garage! Thank god for that, he took the tyres off pulled the innertube out and it was an old repair job that had come off! Never did rate puncture repair kits! The bloke showed me a 100000 Dong(£3) bill and pointed at it indicating how much it would cost, as he could speak no English! We were there about 20mins in all and we were back off on the hunt for a restaurant. Result! That could have been a lot worse!

Eventually we found a nice restaurant right by the beach, sat outside and ate some great food! Forgot to say on the last blog that we ordered fried frog so we could all try it at lunch, it wasn't horrible just really bland, it's the thought of it though that just makes you feel a bit weird! Tim and Ben had a noodle seafood dish with lots of weird things in, including tentacles etc…. Lloyd had a large mackerel!

After lunch, we worked out we were quite close to Danang Beach, which is where we wanted to stay for a bit before driving the last 30km to Hoi An to drop the bikes off. We were told it is one of the top 10 most beautiful beaches in the world! Either we were in completely the wrong place or who ever told us it was one of the top 10 must have not been to many beaches! There was rubbish everywhere, no people random boats dotted about and a few fishermen! But we thought we wanted a few hours on the beach so we got our swim shorts on got the ball out and had some beach fun anyway! We were all in the sea playing volleyball then we noticed a local walking towards us so we went a bit closer to the shore just in case he went for our bags we would be able to get out quick. But weirdly he just crouched down like all Asians do and just started watching us. We were like that's a bit weird, saying stuff like 'he's checking us out' (jokingly). We got out the sea and started doing kick ups on the beach, we said hello just to be nice. Then he came closer, we were finding it really weird now, couldn't keep the ball up at all as we couldn't concentrate. He then out of nowhere gestured to Tim to take his shorts off, we wasn't really sure what was going on and we laughed it off, but then he pointed at Lloyd and made another gesture which was a bit like shaking salt into your mouth with your tongue in your cheek….( no idea what he meant ) !!! We burst out laughing but that was where we drew the line and told him to 'go away' in a bit of a less friendly way!

After the beach we knew we only had 30km left so thought we would just do the whole stint in one! It was really weird, most of the rest of the way was like a big main road but then all of a sudden it just stop and it's a bumpy, pot holey, small road with loads of bikes again! We had to drive through a couple of small towns before Hoi An. We went past school in one just as all the kids were leaving. It's crazy, hundreds of kids all cycling home, some bikes having like four on each. There were also some kids that looked as young as 6 cycling down the road on their own. Very surreal! But they are all so happy, all of them wave as we go past, even the kids that are riding a bike with three mates on the back try waving then nearly fall off!

When we finally made it to Hoi An, we wanted to find the hostel first so we knew where to get a cab to after dropping the bikes off. We forgot to pick up the card for it at the last hostel so didn't even have an address, and of course no one about had any idea where it was. We had to resort to David using his 3G on his phone to find the address. Turns out its just outside the main city centre over the river! When we got there we were asked what room we wanted, we didn't mind, but they showed us to a room with 2 kingsize beds in, a massive en suite, fridge and a TV…. Overlooking the river from a massive window! We were like yeah we'll have a bit of this! Luxury compared to the last few and still only about £3.50 a night with free breakfast, which isn't just egg and bread, we can have whatever we wanted on the breakfast menu! Also has free pool, darts and a swimming pool. Felt like a proper hotel, it's called 'The Sleepy Gecko'…. And we've seen loads of these since being in Vietnam.

Next we had to find the rental place to take the bikes back and hopefully get our big bags back. We had the address for this place so it was a lot easier to find, even though we did make a couple of wrong turns. We found it I'm the end and as soon as we got there we could see all four bags, which was a bit of a relief! It was just as simple as when we left in the morning, dropped the bikes off picked up our bags and that was it, cheers, see you later! We jumped in a cab back to the hostel all and much needed showers and got ready to go out!

We went to an indian restaurant to brave our first curry! It was really nice. They asked if we wanted it spicy, so we all said no thanks, when it came out all of our mouths were still on fire, we thought, imagine if we said we did want it spicy!! The beers are even cheaper here than north Vietnam, we heard there is a club that does 80000 Dong, about £2.50 all you can drink. I know you all think we are drinking too much but on here it does sound worse than it is. We don't mention the nights that we don't drink! We are being sensible, promise! So the plan was go to a couple of bars by the river for happy hour then get to the volcano club. And that's what we did! Had a really good night. Once again meeting loads of different people!