As we stood in the musty stone house about twice the size of a room in an average HDB flat, Third Uncle said: "This is the house your mother's father lived in, that his father passed down to him."
He showed me the corner where pigs were once reared and pointed out the area where Ah Kong (grandfather) and his family slept.
Listening to my China relatives tell me stories about the family in Teochew, a dialect I have heard and spoken my entire life, I felt like a child again.
Last month, I visited Shantou city in the southern province of Guangdong with more than 150 members of the Teochew Poit Ip Huay Kuan on Jetstar's inaugural flight there. The group included well-known names such as Members of Parliament Cynthia Phua and Ellen Lee, and BreadTalk boss George Quek.
Previously, one had to fly to Guangzhou or Xiamen and take a bus from there, or take a connecting flight from Hong Kong, in a journey that took a total of 10 hours. Now, you can fly to Shantou in less than four hours.
The Chaoshan region, which comprises Shantou, Chaozhou and Jieyang, is the ancestral home of Teochew people. There are an estimated 25 to 30 million Teochews worldwide, including more than 600,000 in Singapore.
Chaoshan's most famous son is probably billionaire Li Ka Shing, who comes from Chaozhou. Like many overseas Chinese, he has not forgotten his roots. His foundation has helped fund Shantou University since it opened in 1981.
In Singapore, the most well-known Teochew is probably the late C.K. Tang, founder of the department store Tangs, who was born in Shantou.
Well-known Chinese poet Rong Zi lived in Singapore for many years before moving back home to Shantou.
She told me that while she was glad to see the new flight to Shantou, it also aroused "complicated feelings" in her.
"If there had been a direct flight 20 years ago, more could have come. Back then, it took as long as two days to get here. Many of them have passed on and the people who come now only know that their fathers and grandfathers were from Shantou," she added.
The Huay Kuan organises twice-yearly trips to Shantou, taking about 200 people with them. For many of the group, it was their second or third visit there.
"Singaporeans are no strangers to us," said our guide Cai Weijian, a Chaoshan native who has led tour groups from Teochew associations for 14 years. He added that increasingly, Shantou people are sending their children to Singapore to study.
With Jetstar being the first foreign carrier to fly into Shantou's Waisha Airport, our group was given a grand welcome.
As we stepped out of the plane under foggy skies, a lion dance, large bouquets of flowers and television cameras were there to greet us. Reporters got on the buses to interview the MPs, while a police escort followed us everywhere we went.
There was even a Rolls Royce to drive the Huay Kuan president around.
Visitors are certainly welcome. While Shantou was one of the original Special Economic Zones set up in the 1980s, locals readily confided in us that the economy had not been doing well for the past decade.
The economy is largely driven by manufacturing. Garments and toys are some of its principal products, while tourism is still in the development stages.
Things seem to be getting better though - one resident said that there are now fewer beggars on the streets.
At the official banquets, we quickly found out that, contrary to what many may think, Teochew cuisine consists of a lot more than simply muay (plain porridge) or chai po (preserved radish).
We were treated to lavish meals of 12 to 15 courses such as crab meat noodles, goose liver, abalone, green tea biscuits and a lighter, tastier version of oyster omelette, though there was a curious lack of rice.
Asking for rice or porridge is akin to telling the host that he has not served you enough food, I was told. If the plates are empty at the end of the meal, it is an indication that you have not eaten enough.
Even an ordinary kuai can (quick meal) eaten at a roadside stall, comprising porridge, meat and vegetables and costing only S$2, was fresh, tasty and filling.
Yet somehow, amid all the extravagant meals we ate, nothing tasted quite as good as a meal shared with the extended family in Third Uncle's kitchen.
I met First Uncle and First Auntie when they visited Singapore last year. First Uncle and six other siblings are the descendants of Ah Kong's uncle, and my mother's cousins once removed.
Ah Kong, an only child, was born in 1911 in Xia Ge Zhou, a village that may date as far back as 500 years. It is in Chao'an, one of the counties of Chaozhou.
After marrying my grandmother, he came to Singapore in 1937 and set up a business selling toys and clothes. They had two sons and four daughters, including my mother.
The children were sent back to Shantou for months or even years at a stretch and would often play with their cousins. Ah Kong eventually returned himself and built another house, which still stands there.
While the inhabitants of Xia Ge Zhou continue to leave to find work elsewhere, Third Uncle owns a small plot of land on the outskirts of the village on a 50-year lease. He also owns a pottery next to his house, which he has rented out.
His daughter and son-in-law run their own ceramic glaze factory near the village and live in a large apartment above the factory floor.
Sitting and chatting over the ubiquitous cups of tea, I experienced some complicated feelings of my own.
Here in the ancestral homeland, childhood memories of my grandmother and the Teochew operas she played on cassette tapes came to mind.
Yet, my connection to Shantou is remote, even tenuous. I was born and bred in Singapore to first-generation Singaporeans and it took me almost 30 years to pay my first visit here.
I found myself embarrassed by my inadequate Teochew and less than fluent Mandarin. Nevertheless, even though most of my relatives were meeting me for the first time, they embraced me in the way that only family can.
Even if you do not have family in Shantou, Chaoshan is still worth a visit. There are historical sights and things to see and do.
One of them is the almost 1,000- year-old Xiang Zi Qiao, near the East Gate of Chaozhou and one of four great bridges in China.
Linking the two shores across the Han River, it has a gap in the middle to allow boats to pass. The gap is bridged by planks laid across a series of small boats.
Other historical sights include the Hakka commune at the almost 500- year-old Dao Yun Lou, an octagon- shaped village where as many as 600 residents once lived.
Kai Yuan Si, a Buddhist temple which dates back to the Tang dynasty and has since been reconstructed more than 10 times, also entertains many visitors.
You can also pay a visit to the open-air hot springs at Dansuao Hotspring Resort, which is about an hour's drive from Shantou.
Owned by a Chinese-Singaporean group, it costs 99 yuan to enter and stay for the entire day. It has a variety of restaurants and massage services.
Perhaps the most surprising discovery though, was the traditional siheyuan (courtyard surrounded by four buildings) in Jieyang, one of the stops on our official itinerary.
Reams of firecrackers were set off in the central courtyard to welcome us on our arrival and gifts of oranges and preserved vegetables pressed into our hands as smoke filled the air.
Yet the owner was nowhere in sight - it was populated only by the workers who upkeep the place. The place seemed to be shrouded in mystery and the workers shied away from our cameras.
Strolling in the large compound, we were struck by the elaborate carvings that decorated the concrete walls and tiled roof. A series of doors decorated with Chinese proverbs led to different rooms, where our camera flashes lit up the interior.
Then we heard whispers that it had been built by a businessman in Singapore, apparently an oil tycoon, with ties to Shantou.
Certainly, monuments and buildings put up by overseas Chinese abound all over China. Still, it was the first house I had seen where the only residents are the servants.
As I bade farewell to my relatives, laden with gifts for the family back home, the words of our guide Cai suddenly seemed to ring true for me: "Teochew people value their roots. Wherever they go in the world, they will always pack up their things and go home eventually."
