Owner reunited with lost Chinese envelopes

PHUKET: A stack of red envelopes filled with cash left behind at a Phuket Town restaurant were returned to their original owner within a few hours with the help of a Facebook post last night.

The red envelopes, known as ‘hóngbao‘, are generally distributed to employees, or to children during the Chinese New Year celebrations.

“At about 4pm yesterday, I posted a picture of the envelopes after a good Samaritan dropped them off to our station,” said Maj Natthananwat of Phuket City Police. People started sharing my post to help locate the owner.”

By 7:30pm, Issarapown Khanongsuwan, 48, arrived and showed proof of ownership to Lt Col Rachan Panwai, who was at the police station at the time.

“Ms Issarapown told us that she had had breakfast at the restaurant in a hurry and left the envelopes behind. She searched her office and checked CCTV footage but couldn’t find them. Then she saw the post on Facebook and came here,” explained the Colonel.

“These are for my employees at my jewelry store – It makes me truly happy to see that there are still good people around to help one another,” said Ms Issarapown.

— Winai Sarot