Satu Rokok Saja (One Cigarette Away)

Jungle trekking is common in Sarawak, with a population of less than 3 millions, many areas still cover with green.

If you travel often to most outskirts parts of Sarawak, you may know what ‘satu rokok saja’ means to you.
‘satu rokok saja’ describes the distance you can travel on foot in the time need to smoke a cigarette.
My friend, Robert Wong, first told me the story of ‘satu rokok saja’ when engaged in the rural school electrification works many years back in Saratok, a small town in Sarawak.
However the phrase seemed like a joke to him rather than the distance of measurement. The ‘guide’ told him that the school was just ‘satu rokok saja’ away (many parts of rural schools in Sarawak still do not have proper access road); he reached the place about two hour.

Later he realized the ‘satu rokok saja’ estimation needed to be taken in account of whether the cigarette was lighted or not, or whether the cigarette had been extinguished by rainwater.
The ‘satu rokok saja’ in the past was actually sometimes used as a unit of distance in rural areas. When Hilux and Samsung became popular in most rural areas of Sarawak, today, only some aged native in remote kampung or village might still use it; and for us, amateur jungle trekkers, we use the phrase as a joke and motivation.

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