The road to Baolo (left) and Baolo countryside

Willy Foo had come to Haikou prepared. He had the address of his relative’s house. He had a telephone number. He had also located the village on Google map and we knew roughly where it was.

Boh Hui however didn’t need “Gu Ge”. Born in Wenchang, the same city where Willy’s village was located, he knew where we had to go.

The roads in Haikou are impressive and well-posted. Once out of the city, the scenery quickly turns pastoral. Rice fields, banana plantations, pineapple fields – Hainan isn’t known as the Hawaii of China just for its beaches, but for its sweet pineapples as well.

Famous Wenchang chicken

Other than being famous for its chicken, Wenchang is known as the place where the Soong sisters were born, one of whom married the Chinese revolutionary and political leader Dr Sun Yat Sen. It is also home to the largest emigrant population from southern China and indeed, locals will tell you there are more Wenchang Hainanese residing abroad than in Wenchang itself.

We learnt all this and more when we stopped for lunch at a local restaurant in the city centre. Lucas had arranged for his grand-niece (Boh Hui’s sister) and her boyfriend, Li Sichang, (pictured right) to join us for lunch. She works in a bank and he teaches English in a local school. Sporting a T-shirt that says, “English is the path to the future”, he clearly enjoyed relating stories of Wenchang to us.

Lunch was quite a spread. The soup came from the biggest earthernware container I’ve ever seen. It sits right outside the restaurant. We had chicken (of course), as well as duck and mutton which are also local delicacies. My favourite was the fish head steamed in a soy chllli sauce.

As we left the restaurant, on our way to Baolo, Sichang said to us, “Today, you’ve not only eaten Wengchang food, you’ve also eaten Wenchang history.” That boy’s got a bit of a poet in him, I suspect.

Poetry was not on our mind though but rather more pressing matters as to what presents we should bring our relatives. We opted for firecrackers and fireworks and loaded our car boot with at least 20kg of explosives.

“You think they’ll be okay in the back?” asked Lucas. “It’s pretty hot. What if they blow up?”

Willy (left) and distant uncle, Xue Sen

Thankfully they didn’t and we arrived in Baolo in one piece. Willy’s relative, a distant uncle, was waiting for us at a tea shop. We stopped for coffee. I remember my father warning me about the local coffee – “it’s very strong and very different”. It was so strong you could stand a spoon in it. We asked for condensed milk and were laughed at by the old woman who ran the shop. “Is that how you drink it over there?” she asked.

From the tea shop, it was 20 minutes to Willy’s village which was at the end of a rather long narrow road seemingly going nowhere. Rice fields and grassland surround the village.

Willy's kin leading us to her home (left) and Xue Sen's son showing us his toy

Willy’s uncle Xue Sen pointed out Willy’s grandmother’s house but advised against dropping in unannounced. He told was it would be bad form to show up without warning and without gifts in hand.

As we drove up, his wife was waiting for us and she showed us around her home. Inside the courtyard is a huge satellite. They’ve got two teenage boys. The house is simple. They have a farm and we saw some really fat chickens – now we know why Wenchang chicken tastes different.

The beam is the most important part of the house

I could see Willy taking it all in. I don’t think he had any idea what to expect and I suspect he was rather emotional about this first visit to his ancestral roots. Growing up, he told me, his father never really talked about their family in Hainan. “My father was brought up with the English education system. He spoke Hainanese but not Mandarin,” he said.

It was Willy’s mother who maintained contact and she’s been to visit a few times. But to Willy, they remained distant – until now.

I could see the beginning of a yearning to want to unearth more. It happened to Lucas the first time he returned in 1991 and it happened to me in 2005.

Once you know, you know and you want to know more.

“I will return with my mother,” said Willy.

Watch Willy's own account at the video (below)

Next week: The trek to Mountain Village

• Photos courtesy of Willy Foo, video courtesy Yeoh Siew Hoon