A hawker who ran an economic bee hoon stall in Tampines has died suddenly.
He was on a holiday in China when he suddenly fainted, his wife said.
Source: Shin Min Daily News
69-year-old Mr Xie Tianci (transliterated into Mandarin) had joined an 87-person tour group travelling to Urumqi, the capital of China’s Xinjiang province.
He was accompanied by his wife and close friends who had formed a group of 10 to go on the holiday.
Source: Shin Min Daily News
The group left Singapore on 6 Sept and were set to return on 17 Sept.
At about 6.30pm on 11 Sept, the group was preparing to leave after visiting Sailimu Lake in a remote area of Xinjiang.
However, Mr Xie suddenly fainted just a few steps away from the tour bus.
His 64-year-old wife Chen Zhuhua (transliterated from Mandarin) told Shin Min that she’d heard that her husband had fallen to the ground and rushed over to check on him.
She found him covering his face with a hand and bleeding from his mouth and nose.
She tried opening his eyelids and treating him with acupuncture but it didn’t help.
Although emergency assistance was rendered to Mr Xie, it took 30 minutes for an ambulance to arrive due to the remote location.
When he arrived at the hospital, it was already late at night, Mdm Chen said.
At 9pm, a local doctor informed them that he had passed away.
Mr Xie’s youngest son Xie Jielong (transliterated from Mandarin) told Shin Min that when he heard the bad news, he booked a 3am flight to Nanjing that night.
The 29-year-old then transferred to another flight to Urumqi and travelled five hours by car to reach Bole city to collect his father’s body.
While it was suggested that Mr Xie be cremated in China and his ashes brought back to Singapore, his son insisted on bringing the body home.
However, as his father was born in Malaysia and is a permanent resident of Singapore, the administrative procedures were complex.
As it was also the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, it took some time for them to transport the body from Urumqi to Beijing, then from Beijing to Singapore.
Mr Xie was finally brought back to Singapore on Friday (20 Sept) night. His funeral will take place on Wednesday (25 Sept).
Source: Shin Min Daily News on Facebook
His son thanked the local authorities and the embassies of Singapore and Malaysia for their assistance.
Mr Xie was known for being the boss of Ah Hua’s Kitchen Economic Bee Hoon and Nasi Lemak, located at a coffee shop in Block 826 Tampines Street 81.
He had run the stall for close to 35 years before handing it over to his children.
Source: Google Maps
According to an online recommendation, the stall is one that residents who have recently moved to Tampines “should not miss”.
It has “probably the longest queue” among all the stalls in the coffee shop during breakfast hours, it said.
Source: @ilovetampines on Instagram
After retirement, Mdm Chen said the couple had travelled the world together, going on holiday eight or nine times a year.
In fact, they were planning to go to Genting and Norway next month, Harbin in December, Hainan next February and Chongqing next March.
Now he’s gone, life has become “meaningless”, the grieving widow said, adding that she probably would find it difficult to travel alone.
According to Mr Xie’s obituary, he leaves behind his wife, two sons, a daughter and four grandchildren.
Also read: Founder of ‘Ah Pui Satay’ dies aged 66, stall closed till 28 July
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Featured image adapted from Shin Min Daily News and Shin Min Daily News on Facebook.
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