Yeah, I can't recall seeing many hitchhikers in Thailand, or anywhere I've been in Asia really. It was quite common in most parts of the Carribean when I lived there. Possibly because they're all islands and people tend to feel safer. I guess it's quite common in the Netherlands too, but I would never dare hitchhike there, I did pick up a few at times though. Here in Ireland people hitchhike quite a lot I think. On a good day you could see a few on the side of the road. Sometimes it's just people going into the next town for their groceries. They do it every week! People are quite helpful here. When you have car trouble, you usually never have to wait long before someone stops to see if you need help. I was stuck in the middle of nowhere a few weeks ago with a flat tyre and I didn't have the right size tool to remove it. Two guys stopped and tried to change the tyre for about 20 minutes and then when that didn't work, they drove us home with two cars! And when you offer to give them money, they almost always act offended hehe.