A google search seems to suggest that most Thai bauhinias are some variety of Bauhinia pottsii. And the images I've found via google do seem to match the leaf.

Does your friend or friend of friend know what colour the blossoms are? If it blooms will you post a follow up photo?

I don't think it's B. pottsii as that has leaves with blunt lobes. The acuminate lobes on Marcelo's plant are distinctive.

I have spent quite a lot of time in Thailand in the last 18 months and have seen this same bauhinia a number of times in dry, scrubby, mostly deciduous forest in several provinces. Here's a pic of it in Phu Wiang National Park ...
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The stem these leaves are attached to is quite amazing, looking like this ...
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I saw these same bauhinia stems used in large quantities for decoration at a hill resort south of Nakon Ratchasima. Here is a sample ...
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But I have not seen it in flower and still don't know its name! The only species I could find with pointed leaf lobes was B. pulla, but that seems a rather doubtful match.

A list of Bauhinia from the Thai Royal Forest Department

tonyfromoz, those photos look a lot like a Bauhinia glabra (monkey ladder), though that's a S. American plant.

Thanks for the input, Tony and Daai Tou Lam. B. pulla sounds like a good candidate. Tony, your photos are awesome. The first photo is exactly what mine resemble. I wish we could get a confirmative ID for these!

Marcelo