KUALA LUMPUR, Oct. 13 -- The lift at Raffles Grand Hotel d'Angkor is a timber-and-iron cage that groans upward like an artifact itself-one of the oldest working elevators in Southeast Asia. You step into it and the century peels back. Built in 1932 for French archaeologists, explorers, and royalty, the hotel still exudes that colonial hush: broad verandas, teak floors, and a stillness punctuated only by the clink of ice and the distant chorus of geckos. Staying here isn't about luxury in the modern sense-it's about inhabiting history, about stepping into the same world that greeted Henri Mouhot when he "discovered" Angkor for the West in 1860.

And that journey, so quick and seamless, felt like a gift.

Today, the only direct flight from ...