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Places that transport you to another era
The backstreets, canals, and elegant merchant houses of historic Takayama, one of Japan's best-preserved medieval towns. • Zhujiajiao, outside Shanghai, one of many "water towns" built along the extensive canal system created during the Tang dynasty. • Beijing's wonderfully evocative hutongs (narrow residential lanes), where residents gather to play mah-jongg or Chinese chess or sing folk songs. • The dusty lanes of Luang Prabang, Laos, a palimpsest of every century since the 14th. • The colorful, crumbling façades of Hoi An, still the most charming village in Vietnam. • Hanoi's Sofitel Metropole (15 Ngo Quyen St.; 800/763-4835 or 84-4/826-6919; www.sofitel.com; doubles from $248), a 1901 landmark straight out of a Graham Greene novel. • A long, languorous ride from Bangkok to Singapore on the luxury train Eastern & Oriental Express (800/524-2420; www.orient-express.com). • Stirring the ice in your Sling under the ceiling fans at the fabled Long Bar at Singapore's Raffles Hotel (1 Beach Rd.; 65/6337-1886).
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