Sequestered on a hill about a 40-minute drive from Chiang Mai, Proud Phu Fah doesn't attract young urbanites so much as families and others looking for a quiet puff of Thai mountain air. Yet that's not to say that the hotel lacks contemporary style. The first clue to its existence comes on a bare, green stretch of road in the Mae Rim Valley, where a small sign beckons: HIP HOTEL AND RESTAURANT. The next is a gate in an isolated grassy lay-by, where soft jazz pipes from the trees. "We wanted to try a new concept," says co-owner Siriphen...