personally I'd use the US$ to buy
cheap BTC on Intersango atm in these present rather exceptional times & if you were lucky enough to get a (panic) seller by placing an attractive bid there, then wait a few days for this to all blow over while you look in to if it's easier to cash out via Mt.Gox or Bitcoinica, both in Asia so maybe helpful for Thailand, then hopefully next week you can then get more $ than by just withdrawing them by wire now, if your friend isn't in a mad rush that is
alternatively, once bought, ask Goat or someone in Thailand if they'd like to buy them for a local Thai bank transfer or Bhat cash
Edit: atm there's 60 BTC on offer there < $4.67 while Mt.Gox is @ $4.6 & highest Intersango bid is $4.5 so you might pick some up between say $4.55 & $4.65
in fact that's just reminded me when I went to see the price that I had left some GBP balance sitting on Intersango, *places bids*