By Ling Hui
SIBU, March 23: Certain sections of the Sarawak Pan Borneo Highway are, perhaps, not as bad as they used to be.
Yesterday (March 22), the D’Drift team drove some 440km from Kuching to Sibu, stopping at Serian and Lachau for petrol and a loo break, respectively.
Despite the short stops, the team made it to Sibu in exactly five hours, travelling at an average speed of 90km/h.
From Serian to Melugu, the drive on the four-lane dual carriageway was seamless, except for certain short sections of the roads temporarily half-closed for the installation of road barriers.
Traffic was smooth until then. Somewhere past Melugu, driving became a somewhat ‘snaky’ experience due to road diversions.
The roads did not improve a lot from that point. The familiar view of patchy road surfaces as well as grimy-looking red and white safety barriers surfaced occasionally.
More and more frequently, our 4-wheel-drive vehicle had to slow down for turns, ups and downs, as well as bumps.
Overtaking a four-vehicle moving queue on a single carriageway only saw us ending up behind yet another multi-vehicle line ahead. Patience was tested, bums were sore, and shoulders were stiff.
Past Saratok and approaching Sarikei, were the uneven roads. Our vehicle’s suspension was not able to fully cushion us driver and passengers from the effect of the rocky surface, our bones thoroughly shaking, rattling and rolling along with our four-wheel drive on the road as dust swirled wildly in the air outside all around.
To save ourselves time and further misery, the team took the shortcut into Sarikei town and headed northeast to Sibu from there.
Overall, the Kuching-Sibu section of the Sarawak Pan Borneo Highway was not too bad, especially when compared to road conditions some years back, but it definitely could still be much better. — DayakDaily
