Losing your passport whilst overseas must be one of the biggest nightmares for anyone on holiday, but at least there are two options. The route that CBM's friend took was to apply to Hong Kong for the new passport, but as Fred says, if you need to travel urgently you can get the Emergency Travel Document. The Emergency Travel Document is often restricted to a one way passage by date and destination, but on very rare occasions can incorporate multiple destinations.

Personally, I bear two valid and separate British Passports which would probably help me out a little in that situation (would still be severe). The second passport is due to the frequency of my travel and requirement to have one passport in for visas whilst travelling on the other, and required quite a lot of hassle to obtain.