FCC Angkor by Avani

Though there’s still more than a hint of colonial history about the place — the FCC group is named for the Foreign Correspondents Club in Phnom Penh, and this chapter, in Siem Reap, is housed in the old French Governor’s residence — the FCC Angkor is anything but fixated on the past. Behind the walls of this Indochina Art Deco mansion is a sophisticated high-design boutique hotel, made of simple modern materials and decorated in a sedate contemporary-Eastern style, far indeed from the conventional picture of the colonial luxury hotel.

Guest rooms look out over either the orderly gardens of the old French mansion or the hotel’s stunning centerpiece, a black-bottomed salt-water swimming pool. Interiors are dark and masculine, minimal, outfitted in hardwoods and Cambodian silks, with palatial bathrooms built around heavy stone tubs. Flat-screen televisions and high-speed internet access are standard, another sign of progress since the colonial days.

There’s an excellent modern-Cambodian restaurant, a stylish cocktail bar complete with billiards table, and even a small spa offering massages and bath treatments. And there’s plenty to do outside the hotel’s doors — the location is central for exploring Siem Reap, and should all this modern minimalism get you down, the temple at Angkor Wat is close by enough for an easy day trip.