Sampans in George Town, circa 1968

I'm really in a reminiscence mood! This is an old picture of sampans at the old George Town waterfront, taken from the Church Street pier. It probably dated back to 1968 or so. Those two buildings in the distance are still standing but the one in the centre is in a terrible state of disrepair. To the left of the clump of trees is the Customs building.


In the background, the double-storey building on the right is today the Wisma Yeap Chor Ee. At that time, the huge roof-top neon sign for Ban Hin Lee Bank had still not been erected yet. That appeared only in the second half of the 1970s. "Your needs ... our concern", that was Ban Hin Lee Bank's famous motto: a small neighbourhood bank that placed the customers first before anything else. Later, that advertisement was to become a welcomed sight for people crossing the channel, especially in the evenings. You either watched it loom large before you as the ferry neared the Raja Tun Uda Pier or watched it recede away as the ferry moved away towards the Sultan Abdul Halim Pier in Butterworth. The green building in the centre also still stands today.