Finding Lost Thai Relatives

[n0mad]

Help needed,

My Thai girlfriend is trying to find her half sister. her grandfather only had outdated phone numbers and her sister doesn't visit him often. She has the name of her sister and her sister's father only. Does anyone know ideas of how to track down thais. i can't find any white pages online and both of us living in sydney makes it even harder.

regards

N0mad

[bkkjames]

Help needed,

My Thai girlfriend is trying to find her half sister. her grandfather only had outdated phone numbers and her sister doesn't visit him often. She has the name of her sister and her sister's father only. Does anyone know ideas of how to track down thais. i can't find any white pages online and both of us living in sydney makes it even harder.

regards

N0mad

Only guessing but if your gal is from upcountry, she would have more luck getting in touch with one of her friends there to do some asking around.

[n0mad]

Help needed,

My Thai girlfriend is trying to find her half sister. her grandfather only had outdated phone numbers and her sister doesn't visit him often. She has the name of her sister and her sister's father only. Does anyone know ideas of how to track down thais. i can't find any white pages online and both of us living in sydney makes it even harder.

regards

N0mad

Only guessing but if your gal is from upcountry, she would have more luck getting in touch with one of her friends there to do some asking around.

unfortunately she is from Bangkok, her grandfather lifes upcountry however her sister never grew up there. last contact details her grandfather had were a mobile number not in service and a business number for her sister's father which no one there know's who he is (i'm thinking very outdated)

[Farma]

She might have success asking a Thai language webboard like Pantip etc.

[Maizefarmer]

Outdated phone number - how outdated (years)?

Full name or part name - Thai or Thai Chinese?

Village/Province of Birth?

last known address?

[Boo]

Please remember that thaivisa does not allow missing persons threads so please do not post any of this persons personal information here.

Thanks

[Thanyaburi Mac]

Help needed,

My Thai girlfriend is trying to find her half sister. her grandfather only had outdated phone numbers and her sister doesn't visit him often. She has the name of her sister and her sister's father only. Does anyone know ideas of how to track down thais. i can't find any white pages online and both of us living in sydney makes it even harder.

regards

N0mad

If your g/f has the half sister's name IN THAI, just take it down to the local amphur office, ID card & tambien ban section, and ask them to run it through the computer. That'll often work fine, won't tho if she's gotten married and changed her last name. In that case, try the half sister's father's name.

No real "privacy" laws here and I've found that amphurs are actually quite accommodating when asked such questions, even by a farang, me.

Mac

[sassienie]

Help needed,

My Thai girlfriend is trying to find her half sister. her grandfather only had outdated phone numbers and her sister doesn't visit him often. She has the name of her sister and her sister's father only. Does anyone know ideas of how to track down thais. i can't find any white pages online and both of us living in sydney makes it even harder.

regards

N0mad

The problem is, many Thai people share the same names and some actually use other names or even nick names rather than their birth names.

From Australia I don’t think you have much hope of tracing your G/Fs sister.

You mention that the sister sometimes visits the grandfather, perhaps the only option is to give your contact details to the grandfather and ask him to pass them on to the sister (if & when she visits) and that your G/F wishes to hear from her.

Edited February 6, 2009 by sassienie

[Tyree D.]

I was hoping to find good information here too. Before I was born, my father had two children in Thailand. He said he wrote to them in the '80s and they returned. My mom prevented him from further contact.

When I was in Thailand, my mission to find them failed. The address didn't exist and the phone number was one digit less. The name looked Thai but nobody recognized it. I try not to think about it. I didn't know one existed until I was 15 then I didn't know about the other until I was 20. This is why I hate when people ask if I have any brothers or sisters.

[Heng]

Help needed,

My Thai girlfriend is trying to find her half sister. her grandfather only had outdated phone numbers and her sister doesn't visit him often. She has the name of her sister and her sister's father only. Does anyone know ideas of how to track down thais. i can't find any white pages online and both of us living in sydney makes it even harder.

regards

N0mad

The problem is, many Thai people share the same names and some actually use other names or even nick names rather than their birth names.

True but you can almost certainly find the general area where most people of the same surname are concentrated in. At that point, all you have to do is ask around. Have had to do it on more than one occasion tracking down outstanding debts.

As for name changes, it doesn't matter because people can't change their ID #'s, which stay the same. IMO it's rather easy to track down Thai citizens. Very few degrees of separation in most cases. Illegal Thais, that's another issue.

(as a tangent to this thread that's probably one reason why Tiger and Tiger Wood's mom generally stay out of Thailand... because it would take the local press about an hour before they started asking why she says she's from Bangkok but all of the Punsawads are from Korat and clearly not of Thai/Chinese/Dutch ancestry... but it certainly "sounds" cosmopolitan eh?)

Edited February 8, 2009 by Heng