George Town, 53 years apart

This is a picture of George Town in 1968, taken from Penang Hill and attributed to a photographer named Philip Tracy. I took it from the Penang Heritage Trust (PHT) Discussions page on facebook. 

The city was relatively flat in 1968 with very few tall buildings jutting out from the uniformity of the old pre-war houses. The Customs clock tower stood out prominently against the waters of the Channel. The KOMTAR tower was more than a dream away because the general election was still unheld and Penang hadn't been captured by Lim Chong Eu's Gerakan party yet. More significantly, the mainland side of the state was greened by large tracts of padi fields except for the strip along the coastal area occupied by Butterworth. 

Compare the above picture with a more recent picture (below) from about a lookout point on Jalan Tuanku Yahya Petra in Penang Hill. I had taken this picture on the 21st of April - last month - when I enjoyed an overnight stay at the Bellevue Hotel. The KOMTAR tower juts out prominently from the high-rise buildings below it, and there are many! All haphazardly built in whatever fashion and in whatever way. That's development for us and we shall have to live with it. Because of all these developments, the Customs clock tower is no longer a prominent landmark and has blended into the mess that's called George Town today. Butterworth is now significantly developed and the North Butterworth Container Terminal occupies the mainland side of the Channel.

I might as well complete this story with a picture of the city at night. Taken from the Bellevue Hotel at about 11 o'clock at night, much of the city lights were already switched off. However, the KOMTAR tower was bathed in glowing red to reflect that Penang was in a red zone during this coronavirus pandemic.