About

Hugh first came to Thailand in 1969 as a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer and lived here on-and-off since; teaching at Chiang Mai University and as Director of Chiang Mai’s American University Alumni  Association’s language school. His two sons, Darin and Warren were born in Chiang Mai.

Starting in 2001 Hugh and his wife Pikun lived in Chiang Mai Thailand during the winter months and returned to their home in Seattle during the summer. Since 2007 they have lived in Thailand full time as retirees.

Hugh has written a retirement column for Chiang Mai City Life magazine called “A Retiring Attitude”, and hosted his own website, retire2thailand.com with an accompanying blog that since its inception has had over 250,000 visitors. He also contributes to a column on Thai language for womenlearnthai.com called “Thai Language/Thai Culture”. Hugh is also the author of the English language series Professional English for Thailand, Silkworm Press. He has also written a number of eBooks on living in Thailand and learning to speak and read Thai.

In Seattle Hugh worked as a computer programmer (Oracle databases), and now has forgotten everything he once knew about computers to the point that his son Darin had to teach him how to use his new smart phone.

Now entering his 7th cycle (72nd year, year of the dog) Hugh spends his time continuing to share thoughts on retirement, life in Thailand, staying healthy, and learning to play rock & roll on the piano and walking around the golf course whacking at little white balls. Pikun is the gardener and the builder in the family but she does allow Hugh to carry bags of cow manure whenever she needs them.

Every winter Hugh still cheers for his Seattle Seahawks (when he often wakes at 3am to watch the games on the Internet). And if Hugh is not at his computer he is probably braving the Thai traffic and  driving around on his Honda PCX.

I don’t wanna pickle
Just want to ride on my motor-sycle
– Arlo Guthre