Desperately seeking Pap!

phrajao wrote:

Hello,

My wife and I were married in my friend Pap's home in Luang Prabang in 2002. It was an unbelievably beautiful traditional Lao wedding and was probably the best moment (week!) of my life. Unfortunately, since leaving Laos, we have not been able to get hold of him.

It was certainly challenging to contact him back in 2001-2002 (phone is the only thing that worked, and only twice!) but soon after returning home, we found that even his phone didn't work. We have sent many letters/packages/gifts to what we thought was his address but I'm pretty sure we weren't writing it correctly (it was written in Lao). I have searched the internet for Luang Prabang forums or news groups or ANYTHING that might allow us to get hold of him, but there just doesn't seem to be a good way of finding him.

Does anybody know of any directories, phone-books, or anything that might assist us in figuring out a way of contacting him? I can provide his full name and what may or may not be his address (by PM) if anyone in Luang Prabang thinks they can help out in finding him. Pap and his family did so much to make our wedding absolutely amazing and it breaks our hearts that we haven't been able to so much as send any pictures of the wedding.

Any assistance anyone could provide would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

G&E

You definitely have a hard task ahead of you. There are no forums that I know of that are specific to Luang Prabang. You could try a Google search for phone book or perhaps try to contact the post office in Luang Prabang for information. Government departments there may be worth contacting along with local police as people are required to have ID cards and there are now new photo ID drivers licences.   

Perhaps your Embassy in Laos can offer some guidance.

Hi Stumpy, thanks for the quick reply and the suggestions.

Yeah, I've picked through many pages of Google results for "Luang Prabang phone book," "Luang Prabang directory," "Luang Prabang news group," etc. I even looked at Facebook and other social media even though I know that's very unlikely. I'm starting to accept that the only way I'll be able to find him is with boots on the ground--unfortunately, it'll be a while before I'm able to go there just because it's so dang expensive to fly there from here. I like the idea of contacting the post office though--I hadn't thought of that.

Thanks again!

phrajao wrote:

Hi Stumpy, thanks for the quick reply and the suggestions.

Yeah, I've picked through many pages of Google results for "Luang Prabang phone book," "Luang Prabang directory," "Luang Prabang news group," etc. I even looked at Facebook and other social media even though I know that's very unlikely. I'm starting to accept that the only way I'll be able to find him is with boots on the ground--unfortunately, it'll be a while before I'm able to go there just because it's so dang expensive to fly there from here. I like the idea of contacting the post office though--I hadn't thought of that.

Thanks again!

Another train of thought may be to see if you can find an English speaking lawyer in LP, give him the info and see how it pans out. You will have to pay the man but it would be cheaper than boots on the ground here.
A Google search should come up with someone,even a real estate agent may be a help.

Thanks Stumpy, I think that's the best idea yet! Will give it a try.

Thanks again!

@phrajao

Got the ball rolling.Any luck yet ??

No luck yet, though I have to admit I haven't done much over the last week (work M-F and visiting the in-laws over the 3-day weekend). One very promising lead though: I found out that there is a Facebook page for expats in Laos that has over 600 members, so I'm going to check in there to see if anyone has crossed paths with him or might know any local tuk-tuk drivers who know him--he drove a tuk-tuk for a while but, when I last saw him, he said he was getting out of that business, but I figure it might be a good place to start.

Also, in the process of looking around for English-language lawyers, I found a few other businesses that appear to do quite a bit of business with falang, so I've started making a list of companies that may be worth reaching out to, perhaps willing to do a little sleuthing side-project.

Thanks again for all the help and if you have any more ideas, I'm certainly open to all suggestions!

@phrajao

Keep us posted. 
Perhaps give us the facebook page link so that others can hook up.